January 24, 2008

January 24, 2008

Dear Fifth Grade Parents,

Next week is Catholic Schools Week! Please have your child wear their uniform to Church on Sunday to kick off Catholic School Week. On Monday 5A has chosen “Secret Agent Day” so the kids will come to school dressed very “secretly” that day!

February 5th is the Camp Meeting for Parents. (6:00pm-7:00pm in the Library)

Math
Friday: Lesson 60, Finding a Fraction to Complete a Whole
Monday: Test #11
Tuesday: Investigation #6
Wednesday: Lesson 61, Using Letters to Identify Geometric Figures
Thursday: Lesson 62, Estimating Arithmetic Answers

Religion
We will have the Religion test on Monday 1/28. Please have your child study the study guide and read over the Chapter 15 Forgiveness and Healing. Next week we move on to Chapter 16, Gathered for Mass.

Language Arts
Students write narrative paragraphs, focusing on good leads and on word choice. We try to “show” not “tell” about a character’s emotional state through descriptions of facial expressions, body language and dialogue. Students proceed through the writing process to compose final drafts of these paragraphs. We will also be completing some letter-writing activities during Catholic Schools’ Week. Congratulations to the following students who will be representing 5A and 5B, respectively, in the all-school spelling bee next Thursday at 9:30 am in the school hall. All of the students are becoming excellent spellers!

Our “quick-word” review spelling test will be on Monday. The homework for the review is to independently complete “sticky-spelling” practice exercises as needed for word lists 5-8. Students determine which words are most troublesome and spend time practicing them. These are not going to be collected. There will be 20 words on the test, plus additional dictation sentences.

Reading
Students should be reading a fiction book for the 2nd Trimester Book Report. There are links to the instructions and rubric on my website.
We have enjoyed learning about the Target Skill – Drawing Conclusions, while reading Missing Links, the story of two young detectives at work. I think many students were reminded how fun it is to read a good mystery! I know that Mrs. Harris has a great supply in our school library!
After Catholic Schools Week we will begin reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe together as a class.

Science
Students begin Chapter 3, Adaptations. In lesson 1 students will learn how adaptations help organisms meet their basic needs. They will discover the difference between structural and behavioral adaptations. Students will learn how protective coloring helps animals avoid predators.

Social Studies
The fifth graders will take the Chapter 7 test tomorrow. The billboards presentations went very well this week. Next week we will move into Chapter 8, Facing Slavery. We will be learning about the Atlantic Slave Trade. Remind your child that even though it is Catholic School Week the teachers have important lessons planned each day.

Have a great day,

Ms. Semandiris