Thursday, September 28th

Reminders:

• The AttenDANCE is tomorrow!
• Picture Day coming October 13th
• Graded papers are in Thursday Folders.  Students are always welcome to redo or fix assignments if they are not happy with their performance.  ALWAYS!!  😊
• Max Bent returns tomorrow for his last lesson.
• Senetic Theater will be working with the students next week.
• Watch for a flyer about a Hands on Math Club coming home tomorrow!  More information here:  https://crazy8s.bedtimemath.org/home/what

What's Up?

Math:

Focus Standard 

5.NBT.6 - Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

For help with multiplication or division, check out Khan Academy tutorials!

Writing:

This week the students chose the "seed" idea or small moment that they will take through the revision and editing process to publish.  Ask your child what they are writing about!

Reading:

Focus Standards

RL.5.2 - Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

We have made the switch over to Literary Text and will be using drama to help determine the theme of a story and understand the characters' actions and motives.

Science and Social Studies:

Our lessons will focus on the hydrosphere next week.  Students will be able to describe the hydrosphere and how water is distributed on Earth.  They will use abstract art  and create models to represent the distribution of water on the planet.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Reminders:

• Band has started and lessons are on Wednesdays.
• Chorus Sign Up was extended.  Mrs. Woods is looking for a few more chorus participants for the Winter Concert.  This year features Broadway hits.
• We are wrapping up our lessons with Beat Boxer Max Bent and look forward to working with Synetec Storytellers the week of October 2nd.
• Students should be practicing math facts in addition to reading 20 minutes each night.  Check your student's agenda for math fact goals.  If your child has mastered their facts, they should still practice a few days a week.  Check out our Math Facts Classroom for additional practice websites.
• The wrong newsletter was sent home for 5th grade last week.  Here is the link that has the newsletter that should have gone, rather than our draft for next week.
• A permission slip is coming home for class science walks in today's Thursday Folder.

What's Up?

Math:

Focus Standards:

5.NBT.5 - Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

5.NBT.6 - Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

We will begin the week with multiplication of multi-digit numbers and move into division as students are demonstrating readiness during the week.  The blog linked below gives three great examples of strategies that will be used to help students progress towards using the traditional algorithm to divide.  I will be focusing on using the distributive property first and will try others if needed.

Long Division Strategies

Writing:

We will continue working to develop personal narrative writing as we work with a partner to learn about quality writing conferences and conversations.  The blog entry below helps illustrate how effective writing partners work in the classroom.

Effective Writing Partners

Reading:

Focus Standards:

RL.5.2 - Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

We have been developing strategies for comprehending informational text up till this point.  Next week, we will start to look at narrative text and talk about ways to best understand this type of text as we begin reading Native American Legends.

Science/Social Studies:

We will begin to investigate the Hydrosphere and study interactions between this sphere and the other spheres in Earth's System.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Reminders:

• Chorus letters went home this week.  If your child is interested in joining Winter Chorus, please make sure you fill out and return the blue form.
• I sent home math letters with directions for you to access your student's math accounts that we use here in class.  If you did not get that information, check your child's backpack.
• Max Bent, a beat boxer and resident artist, will be giving a performance tonight at SRES from 6:00-7:00.  I hope you can make it!  We will be working with Mr. Bent over the next couple of weeks.  Check out our Twitter feed for some live streaming of today's performance too!!
• I will be out tomorrow, Friday the 15th.  My son is having oral surgery that day.  I will not get to emails till late in the day if you try to contact me.  Sorry about that.
• Next Thursday, September 21st, FCPS has closed schools in honor of Rosh Hashanah.  It is also Fair Day.  

What's Up?

Math:  

Focus Standards

5.NBT.5 - Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

5.NBT.2 - Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10. Use whole number exponents to denote powers of 10.

We will continue to clean up our strategies for multi-digit multiplication as we progress to using the traditional algorithm.  We will also look more closely at powers of 10 and how multiplication and division by a power of 10 changes a number.

We will also be working with Beat Boxer, Max Bent, to graph data using coordinate pairs and explore exponential growth and powers of ten.

Writing:

We are continuing to work on creating drafts of significant memories, people, and places in our lives as we study well crafted stories and author's work.

Reading: 

 Focus Standard

RI.5.2 - Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.

We have learned two reading strategies to help us comprehend informational text this week, Sketch in Chunks, and Shrink a Text.  We will continue to practice these strategies in our reading.

Sketch in Chunks Steps

• Stop after every paragraph or short section.
• Think, “What am I picturing?”
• Draw a quick sketch.

At the end of the article, look back over your sketches and ask yourself, “So, what’s this whole article mostly about?”

Shrink a Text Steps

• Read a chunk of text with your partner.
• Decide together what the main idea of the text is.
• Try to shrink everything you just read into one sentence.
• Think critically, and be sure you can back up your idea with details from the text.
• Read and repeat!

Science: 

We will discuss our unit driving question:  How do human and natural interactions affect the Earth past, present and future?
We will begin to take a look at Earth's Systems and build our understanding of this concept. Look forward to seeing and hearing about our class terrariums!

This best of science this week:  Amazing Shadow Art

First Week!

Announcements

• Summer Menus are due Tomorrow, September 8th.
• The Back to School Power Point is loaded on my website.  Use the link below to access it.   https://classanzick.wikispaces.com/Back+to+School+Information
• First PTA Fundraiser of the year will be Tuesday, September 12 at Rita's.  Look for the flyer in your child's Thursday Folder.

Coming Up

Math:

We will be working on Standard 5.NBT.B.5- Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

The students in our class are in various stages of understanding and computing multiplication problems.  We will start with the box or array method shown in the video below and progress towards using the traditional algorithm for students who need support.

Array Method Video

Writing:

We will begin working on writing Personal Narratives.  Students will build on previous years' learning to create pieces that are longer and have greater depth than in previous years.  We will be using student writing and published authors to mentor us through the writing process.

Reading:

We will read 20 minutes each day in class and students should be reading at least 20 minutes each night at home.  Ask your student about the 40 Book Challenge!

I will begin assessing students this week to determine instructional needs for groups as well.  Reading groups will begin at the end of the week and will focus on Standard RI1 - Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.  For better understanding of this standard you can check out this video.

Science/Social Studies:

We will begin applying science practices and developing our understanding of Earth's Systems.