November 14, 2013
Dear Fifth Grade Parents,
I wanted to tell you how excited I am about the upcoming Oratorical Festival. As I have been reading the rough drafts and offering revision ideas, I find myself having to hold back the little tears that surface in my eyes. The content is excellent and it really gives insight as to what the fifth graders think is important. Please invite Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles to come with you to this event. You are all invited to attend the Oratorical Festival!
5th Grade Centennial Celebration
Oratorical Festival – December 17,2013
School Hall
8:45am-10:00am
Students received the information for the Oratorical Festival last week. Included in the handout are directions, a timeline for what is due when as well as a detailed rubric. Please ask your child for this so you can read. Then please have your child keep it in the Religion section of their binder.
Due Dates:
- Final draft of speech typed and due on November 21, 2013
- Note Cards Completed to use during the presentation due on December 2nd.
- Speech to be presented to teacher in class December 12 & 13.
- Oratorical Festival Presentations December 17, 2013
Math
Monday: Lesson 9, Place the First Digit
Tuesday: Lesson 10, Quotients with Zero
Wednesday: Lesson 11, Hands On: Use Models to Interpret the Remainders
Thursday: Lesson 12, Interpret the Remainder
Friday: Lesson 13, Problem Solving Investigation: Determine Extra or Missing Information.
Religion
We began Chapter 14, Sacraments of Initiation today. Students will be making a “My Baptism” collage. Please have your child bring in old magazines to use for the collage on Thursday 11/14 & Friday 11/15. We will be cutting out pictures that relate to baptism. Also they can bring in any pictures of their own baptism to put on the collage. I would suggest making a paper copy of the picture so you do not ruin the original! A rubric will be passed out in class on Thursday 11/14 for this assignment. The written “My Baptism” worksheet is due on Tuesday 11/19.
Social Studies
The Fifth Graders have begun Chapter 4, Why Europeans Left for the New World. Students will be “Deep Sea Diving” to excavate Artifacts located in a sunken ship. We will use the Artifacts to understand more about the European Explorers. We will be dividing them into three categories: a motivation for exploration, new world product, and new technology. Students will complete the Interactive Notebook in class. We will have the test for this lesson on Tuesday, November 26th. Please remember to study the on-line test, reread the chapter and review your Interactive Notebook to study for the test.
Language Arts
This week students have finished writing their rough drafts of their Thanksgiving essay. Students are currently in the process of typing their rough drafts to begin the peer-editing and self-editing process the following week. The Thanksgiving essay will be typed and completed at school. As a class, students are working on Organization, one of the 6+1 Traits of Writing. A due date for this essay has not yet been assigned as students are still in the early stages of writing. Please gently remind your child to study for upcoming spelling tests. The next spelling test is November 12th. Students will be receiving the next set of spelling words on November 5th.
Reading
This week the 5th graders are using some of their newly acquired ‘close reading’ strategies to gather facts about dolphins through multiple non-fiction sources. Simultaneously, they are working to improve oral reading fluency by practicing the use of expressive reading at an appropriate pace for the selection.
Science
Students will take a test on Chapter 2, Earth’s Resources, tomorrow.
Students will begin a research-based science unit called Microworlds. In this unit, students will learn to use their powers of observation with the help of magnifying lenses and microscopes to see familiar things in a new way. They are also introduced to a fascinating new world-the cellular structure of living organisms.