October 18, 2012
Dear Fifth Grade Parents,
This week the Boomerang letter will have curriculum updates for the week of October 22 & 23 as well as October 29 – November 2nd.
Reminders:
October 22 – Mass 8:45am Perfect Uniform
October 23 – Noon Dismissal
October 23-25 Conferences
Math
Monday 10/22: Mass/No Math
Tuesday 10/23: Lesson 29 Measuring Time
Monday 10/29: Interpreting Pictures of Fractions and percents
Tuesday 10/30: Test #5
Wednesday 10/31: Investigation 3, Fractions
Thursday 11/1: Mass/No Math
Religion
Tomorrow students will be taking the Chapter 2 & 3 Test. Next we will be moving into Chapter 14, Reborn In Christ. In this chapter we will learn about the RCIA process.
Language Arts
Please make sure your student is continuing to study for upcoming tests. Please note that we will not have a spelling test on October 23rd due to the half-day of school.
This week students have been busy brainstorming adjectives for the descriptive writing piece. In the weeks to come, students will be spending time drafting their descriptive essays and learning new strategies for organizing their paragraphs. Please be on the lookout for the Descriptive Writing rubric, which was handed out to both 5th grade classes on October 9th. This essay will be due after parent-teacher conferences.
Reading
Beginning the week after conferences, the 5th graders will be participating in Book Clubs. This begins with a selection process, which involves an organized sneak peak of each of the books. Based on their early impressions, the students will then determine their first, second and third choice book. The students will then be grouped with 3 others who have chosen the same book to read. Each reading class will begin with a mini-lesson focusing on a comprehension strategy or vocabulary activity. The students will apply the new strategy or skill to the reading they are doing in their chosen book. Our first Book Club will last approximately 3 weeks since we’ll be working on process as much as enjoying and sharing literature. Subsequent Book Clubs will be a bit shorter as the process flows more smoothly.
Science
Students begin Chapter 2, The Earth’s Resources. Students will explore where resources come from. They will be able to identify and distinguish renewable and nonrenewable resources.
Social Studies
Looking ahead, the fifth graders will be having the Chapter 3 test on Friday 11/2. We began this lesson this week and students are working in pairs to complete their interactive notebooks in class. We will continue lesson on Tuesday 10/23, 10/30 & 10/31, as well. We will be holding a class discussion/informal assessment on Thursday 11/1 that will help with a test review for 11/2. Students should be practicing the History Alive on-line practice test. The link for this is on my web-page.
Ms. Semandiris