January 5, 2012
Dear Fifth Grade Parents,
Happy New Year!! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas break. The following is a curriculum update for the upcoming week.
Free Dress: Tomorrow January 6th!!!!!
Religion
This week the students have been working on “Epiphany” Emotion Poems and beautiful watercolor pictures depicting Epiphany. These will be displayed after school on Friday in the main hall.
Before Christmas break we began Ch. 14 Reborn In Christ. Students received the study guide for this lesson and completed it in class. We also completed our “My Baptism Stories” and turned them in. We will be using the class time on Friday and well as next Wednesday to review the information from Chapter 14. We will have our Chapter 14 test next Thursday 1/12.
Math
1/9 – Test #9
1/10 – Investigation 5
1/11-Lesson 51 – Multiplying by Two-Digit Numbers
1/12-Lesson 52 – Naming Numbers through Hundred Billions
Social Studies
This week we began Lesson 6, Early English Settlements. In this lesson we will take a close look at the settlements of Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth. Students will be creating “Act it Outs” to better understand the reasons for settlement, hardships the settlers endured and reasons for the success or failure of each settlement. The test for this lesson will be on January 13th.
Science
Students will be participating in a special kind of science fair called the Invention Convention. It is designed to promote problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Students will invent a new product or develop a new method for doing something. Instructions and a grading rubric have been handed out in class. A copy is also available on this website . Inventions are due Friday, January 27th. They will be displayed in the hallway for Catholic Schools Week.
Students are looking at volvox, blepharisma, and vinegar eels under the microscope. Students will take a quiz about the characteristics of each organism based on the notes they take in class next Thursday (1/12).
Reading
5th graders have started the New Year off with a bang in Reading!! Each student has been placed in a book group, and will take turns leading their group in discussion and reading the book. The students in each group discussed ways to encourage full participation among group members. The students are very enthusiastic about this first book club group which will last approximately two weeks.
The second trimester book report has been assigned and is due on Feb. 13th. Please note that parents are being asked to approve their child’s book choice for appropriateness of content and level of difficultly. Although 5th graders are fully capable of reading at high levels of difficulty, sometimes this gets them into content that is meant for older students with a bit more experience and deeper perspective. If you have any questions about specific titles, please feel free to check with either Mrs. Harris or me.
Language Arts 5th
This week students are learning about subject and predicate,
conjunctions, and will review various grammar skills. Students will be
taking a test at the end of next week on subject and predicate, verbs,
conjunctions, nouns and possessive nouns.
The next spelling test is January 10th.
Please make sure your student is studying their spelling words. On
average, students should be spending at least 15 minutes a night
studying to be prepared for their Tuesday spelling test.
Ms. Semandiris