September 20, 2012
Dear Fifth Grade Parents,
I look forward to seeing you at Back to School Night tonight. We will be meeting in the gym at 6:00pm. The fifth and sixth grades will be presenting together as a department in the gym. We will do two presentations (1st session & 2nd session) and then for the last one we will be in our classrooms for an informal meet & greet. My students have written a letter to you and they are on their desks in 5A. Please read them and then write a little note to then in the space provided. On Friday they will have fun reading your notes!
Math
Monday 9/24: Lesson 16, Story Problems About Separating
Tuesday 9/25: Lesson 17, Multiplying by One – Digit Numbers
Wednesday 9/26: Lesson 18, Multiplying Three Factors
Thursday: 9/27: Lesson 19, Division Facts
Religion
The fifth Graders have been working on Chapter 1, Longing for God. The test for this Chapter will be Wednesday 9/26.
5th Social Studies
The test for Lesson 1 will be on 9/28. The beginning of next week we will be reviewing for the test. 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!
On 9/25 we will begin Lesson 2, Native Americans and Their Land. Students will be learning:
- How one Native American group believes the world began. (Creation Story of the Hopi)
- Migration Routes of Native Americans into North America
- The natural environments that Native Americans encountered in North America
- Identify some ways the Inuit adapted to the environment in the Arctic
Science
Students are beginning a unit on Earth Science in the text. In this unit, students will explore layers that make up the earth and discover how weathering, erosion and deposition change the earth. Next week students will learn about the earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere and the layers of the earth-the crust, mantle, and core.
Language Arts
This week students were busy 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 writing unit. Next week, we will begin our studies in language arts by discussing: vowels, prefixes, suffixes, and descriptive writing.
Reading
We started reading Hatchet as a class this week. We will use this exciting novel to discuss elements of plot, author’s style and many strategies to increase comprehension. Students have their own copy of the book, which they should bring to class each day along with their new Reader’s Notebook.
Have a great week!
Ms. Semandiris