Friday, January 26th

Reminders and Announcements 

• Monday, January 29th - Schools Closed

• Tuesday, January 30th - Math Global Scholar

• Wednesday, January 31st - Outdoor School

• Thursday, February 1st - Language Arts Global Scholar 

• Friday, February 2nd - Outdoor School

• Thursday, February 8th - Family Life Lessons

• Friday, February 9th - Report Cards Issued

Please make sure to return permission slips for Family Life, and Outdoor School as soon as possible. 

Also, each child will need an empty egg carton for outdoor school next week; please send one in for your child soon.  Thanks!

This Week's Studies

As you can see from our schedule, we have a lot going on this week.  During class time, we will be revisiting standards that need refreshing or enriching in each of the subject areas.  We will also continue with our novel book clubs.  Our groups are finishing up their second novel round and will be choosing a new book soon.  By the way, we already have about 1/3 of the class finished with 40 books!!  That is something to celebrate!  

Have a wonderful long weekend!!

Friday, January 19th

Reminders and Announcements 

• Monday, January 22nd - Weinberg Center Trip

• Friday, January 26th - End of Quarter

• Friday, January 26th - 2 Hour Early Dismissal

• Monday, January 29th - Schools Closed

• Wednesday, January 31st - Outdoor School

• Friday, February 2nd - Outdoor School

• Thursday, February 8th - Family Life Lessons
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Please make sure to return permission slips for Family Life, the Weinberg, and Outdoor School.  Also, each child will need an empty egg carton for outdoor school; please send one in for your child soon.  Thanks!

Math 

We will be taking the unit 5 math assessment Tuesday, January 23 and the quarterly assessment on Thursday, January 25th.  The remainder of the week we will be reviewing with both small group and individual reteaching and extension.

Writing 

We will be making our final revisions on our informational essay.  This week we began to revise looking through the eyes of a scientist since we are writing about science topics.  Our informational writing will not just be reporting on research we have made, but will also include cross cutting concepts and/or science practices to make connections between ideas and facts we are sharing.

Reading 

Book Clubs are going well.  Ask your student about the book they are reading.  Our Alex Rider readers are storming through their book at breakneck speeds.  We are finishing up 2 weeks early with Point Blank and will be moving on to Skeleton Key.  I think we have an Alex Rider fan club in the making!

In small group, we are continuing to look at informational texts presenting the same or similar information and making comparisons between the two texts.  Some of the comparisons include text structure, author's point of view, and use of text features.

Social Studies/ Science

We are still looking at patterns made in the sky.  Next week we will look at constellations and moon phases and the patterns associated with them.

Friday, January 12

Announcements and Reminders

• Monday, January 15 - No School Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Monday, January 22 - Weinburg Field Trip 
• Friday, January 26 - End of Quarter 2 and 2 hour early dismissal
• Monday, January 29 - No School for Students
• Thursday, February 8 - Family Life Lesson (rescheduled from 1/12)

Both permission slips for the Weinburg and Family Life need to be returned as soon as possible.  Thank you.

 Math 

Focus Standards:

• 5.OA.2 - Write simple expressions that record calculations with numbers, and interpret numerical expressions without evaluating them.
• 5.MD.5.c - Recognize volume as additive. Find volumes of solid figures composed of two non-overlapping right rectangular prisms by adding the volumes of the non-overlapping parts, applying this technique to solve real world problems.

In our warm ups we have been focusing on interpreting word problems and writing expressions to represent what is happening in the given situation.  We have also looked at expressions and created situations to match what the expression states.  We will continue to review this standard during math warm up time next week as well.

Our instruction this week has focused on finding volume of rectangular prisms using the formula length x width x height.  We will take that a step further next week as we look at complex shapes comprised of two rectangular prisms and learn how to break the shape into the two rectangular prisms to find a total volume.  Some groups will move on to finding unknown lengths and solving for volumes as well.

Resources:

Simple Expressions

Volume of Rectilinear Shapes

Writing 

Focus Standard:
W.5.2 - Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

Students have been researching space concepts and topics and will be revising and editing the essay they created after researching their topics.

Reading 

Focus Standards:

• RI.5.6 - Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
• RL.5.5 - Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

In small groups we will continue to look at informational text.  This week we will be making comparisons between two texts about the same subject.  

Book Clubs are into round two. Ask your student which book they are reading and what is happening in their story.  Current book club books are:

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz

A Dog's Life by Ann M. Martin

The Rescue by Nicholas Edwards

Social Studies and Science

We will continue to look at patterns of the Earth and Moon and how they reflect days, months, and seasons.