January 7, 2010
Dear Fifth Grade Parents,
Happy New Year! It is great to back in the swing of things! We are very busy already and January will be an exciting month.
Social Studies
The fifth graders are working on Chapter 7, which is about Comparing the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies. Students will be working in groups to create a Billboard advertising their colony as a wonderful place to move and live. We will be learning about the reasons each colony was founded, the geography and climate, job opportunities as well as government. Students will be presenting their Billboards next Wednesday 12/13. The test for this Chapter will be next Friday 12/15. The Interactive Notebook will be assigned for homework to be due on 12/13.
Math
Monday Lesson 47, Simplifying Mixed measures
Tuesday-Lesson 48, Reading and Writing Whole Numbers in Expanded Notation
Wednesday-Lesson 49, Solving Two-Step Word Problems
Friday-Lesson 50, Finding an Average
Religion
This week we learned about Epiphany and we wrote emotion poems which will be displayed in the main hallway. Next week, we will begin Chapter 16, Gathered for Mass.
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 Mr. Schreck’s web site (http://www.holyrosaryws.org/Class/5B/index.php). Inventions are due Friday, January29th. They will be displayed in the hallway for Catholic Schools Week.
Students practiced preparing wet-mount slides to observe onion cells. Students will learn how to handle living creatures and prepare slides for them. Students will start out by looking at volvox cells under the microscope. Volvox are interesting to study because they live in colonies of 1,000 to 3,000 similar cells. Each individual cell has two flagella, or whiplike tails, which work together to propel the colony through the water.
Reading
This week, the 5th Graders are learning about using Graphic Sources such as maps, diagrams and graphs, to get information. We are reading about hurricanes, and are working with content specific vocabulary. There will be a Selections Test this Friday covering vocabulary and the selection.
NEXT WEEK: We will be reading a true story of a young girl who organizes a service project. As a culminating activity, we will be putting together some “Lunches of Love” to be distributed at the Rectory. Your child will come home with a sheet today which assigns an item to be brought in to school next Friday for this activity. Hopefully, this advanced notice gives you weekend grocery shoppers adequate notice. Thank you. Mrs. McFaul
Language Arts
This week, students compose a diamante poem about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We search for pictures and quotes to help illustrate this project. Students will use the laptops in class to begin this process, but may need to finish their searches over the weekend. In grammar, we practice changing singular nouns to plural and plural nouns to singular. Spelling homework is due on Monday; our test is on Monday.
Have a great week!
Ms. Semandiris