Happy November Families! It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving will be upon us in just a few short weeks! The 5th grade teachers are looking forward to meeting will all of you for our Fall conferences coming up on the 21st and 22nd! We are anxious to share all of the progress that your child has been making during the last few months! If you have not yet signed up for a conference on the Sign-Up Genius site, please use the link that was sent to you a few weeks ago by your child’s teacher to do so.
Literacy
* This week we wrapped up the first half of a unit with the theme of “finding courage”. We read several books that revolved around issues such as slavery, women’s rights and the rights of workers. Throughout this unit we had some great discussions about injustice, equality, and the perseverance demonstrated by individuals when overcoming obstacles.
Writing
Our focus in the last several weeks has been on opinion writing. After reading The Road to Freedom, students identified an issue related to slavery that resonated with them. They went on to compose an opinion paper to express their specific evidence and views in support of their topic. Currently, students are working on an opinion piece which supports or refutes whether professional sports teams should use the names of Native American tribes as mascots. We read several articles that presented evidence for both sides, leaving it up to students to form their own opinion about the topic.
Math
*It has been all about decimals for the last few weeks! With addition and subtraction of decimals “under our belts” we’ve currently been working on multiplication and division of decimals. This target requires students to use visual models as well as paper and pencil strategies to solve decimal problems. We have learned that it is very important to estimate our answer first so that we can know whether the placement of our decimal is correct. We will finish up this unit towards the end of next week, culminating with a unit test encompassing all four operations with decimals.
Social Studies
* Last week we wrapped up our learning about indentured servitude. We are now going to shift our focus towards slavery and how it affected the growth of Colonial America.
Science
*We have been studying about the four main systems of Earth: the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. We’ve been learning about the attributes and characteristics of each, as well as how they interact with each other. We are making a clay model of the earth which includes a representation of each system!
Have a great weekend!
Upcoming Events**Tuesday, November 8—No School/Teacher Institute/Voting Day
**Friday, November 11—Report Period ends
**Thursday, November 17—Family Reading Night
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