I hope everyone had a most relaxing and enjoyable holiday with their family and friends. First and foremost, I want to send out a HUGE thank you to all of my students and their families for surprising me with the enormous gift card!!!!! I was speechless!!! I cannot begin to tell you all how moving it was, and how appreciative I am. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing group of students and families that I get to work with! YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!!!!
We are all back to a schedule and moving on down the fifth grade road! Here's what the next few weeks will look like in our classroom.
Math - We are currently in the midst of another unit of fractions. This unit focuses on adding and subtracting fractions, as well as multiplying an dividing them. Within these operations, we will work on mixed numbers and borrowing in order to subtract fractions. We will also work on equivalent fractions and finding common denominators.
Reading - Before leaving for winter break, we wrapped up our third unit of reading. We are now beginning our fourth unit. This unit will focus on the skills of drawing conclusions, making generalizations, and using graphic sources to further our understanding. The strategies we will work on are questioning, predicting, visualizing, and identify the main idea and important details. We will also be staring small group book clubs. This will be a structured, independent reading of an assigned novel within students' lexile ranges. Groups will be assigned a number of pages or chapters to be read by a specific date and will be expected to answer at least one question about the reading. The questions will be written to focus on the skills that we will practice within this unit.
Science - Students are wrapping up a unit on body systems and stages of life in Health. Moving forward, we will begin working through Earth science and learning about concepts such as moon phases, and the solar system.
Social Studies - It's my favorite time of the year for Social Studies! We are beginning our unit about the American Revolution. We will spend a lot of time reading, making timelines, and discussing the events that led to the war. This unit will culminate with a large project. Look for details at a later date.
Writing - Prior to break, we spent time working on persuasive writing and imaginative narratives. We have spiraled back to persuasive and will spend a couple of weeks working on this genre of writing. We will also work on changing our perspective, or writing from someone else's point of view, as well as comparing and contrasting.
Just a quick reminder that winter is upon us, and coming full force now! Please be sure that your kiddos are dressed appropriately for the weather as we do go outside for recess unless the temperatures are below 13 degrees with a windchill or the playground is icy. Bundle up!
