September 13, 2012
Dear Fifth Grade Parents,
We have been busy learning the rules and procedures of the fifth grade these last two weeks. The students are doing a great job at transitioning to the various classes.
Study Buddies:
They have received their “Study Buddy” so in case of an absence a study buddy will list any homework as well as collect any classwork missed from each of the classes. This will be placed on the absent student’s desk at the end of the day with any books they may need. The band members have non-band member study buddies. Band members will be missing a considerable amount of reading class. It is very important that the band members know it is their responsibility to make sure to get missed work from their study buddy. If they need more explaining of the information they missed, then they will need to contact the teacher after. We encourage the students to contact the teacher in person.
The following is a brief curriculum update for the week of 9/17-9/21.
Important Dates:
9/14 – No School/Teacher in-service at University of Washington.
9/14-9/15 – Westfest
9/20 – Back to School Night – 6:00pm in the Gym
Math
Monday: Lesson 13, Multiplication as Repeated Addition
Tuesday: Lesson 14, Missing Numbers in Subtraction
Wednesday: Lesson 15, Making a Multiplication Table/Study Guide for Test #2
Thursday: Test #2
Religion- We have been working on Chapter 1, Longing for God. In this Chapter we consider what people long for in their lives. Do they long for material goods or maybe something more meaningful that money cannot buy such as love, friendship and community. Students have received the study guide for this lesson. They will be assigned parts of it to do in class/homework throughout the week.
Reading
I have enjoyed meeting your children this week. What a wonderful group of students! This year we will be using a Reader’s Notebook which will be an excellent organizational tool for students as they keep track of books they read, practice new concepts and record thoughts about books. 5th Graders have Reading class Mon.-Thurs. Parents of Band Members, please note: 5A Band members miss the last half hour of Reading class on Mondays and 5B Band Members miss the last 10 min. of Reading on Wednesdays. Band students are responsible for finding out about missed classroom assignments and any homework from their study buddies. Mrs. McFaul
Science
Students will learn how to conduct controlled experiments by experimenting with variables that do and do not affect the behavior of pendulums they have built in class. They will graph their results in a variety of ways and use their graphs to predict the behavior of different lengths of pendulums they construct. Students will take a quiz based on their experiences with pendulums (also called swingers) and vocabulary notes take in their 5-subject notebooks next Friday (9/21).
Social Studies
This week the fifth graders began to work on Lesson 1, Geography of the United States. In pairs they are working on their Interactive Notebook maps 1A-1D. Each map has a set of questions to answer. We will review the correct answers in class orally as well as visually on the Smart Board. The answers in their Interactive Notebook should be correct. The test for this lesson will be on 9/28. Students may access the on-line study tool via my web-age. Just click on History Alive and go to lesson 1. No study guide will be passed out as the on-line tool acts as the study guide!
5th Grade Language Arts
Whoa what an exhausting but exciting week we’ve had in Language Arts!! This week students were busy reviewing expectations and are in the process of writing a pre-assessment piece about themselves. This pre-assessment will generate a base from which the students will grow from throughout the year. Students will be starting to gain an understanding of Ideas, one of the Six Traits of Writing and imbed ideas in to their Fiction writing unit. In the next month we will be studying and reviewing: vowels, prefixes, suffixes, and begin our descriptive writing unit.
Have a great week!
Ms. Semandiris