Dear Parents,
Spring has sprung…and has brought a considerable amount of snow! It’s hard to believe that Monday will officially ring in the Spring season! Hopefully the snow will have melted by then!
It was great to meet with all of you during conferences! We enjoyed speaking with you about your child’s progress! We are looking forward to packing our final trimester with a variety of wonderful learning experiences!
Literacy
We’ve finished up our nonfiction shared reading text entitled Explorers: Triumphs and Troubles. We read about the many challenges that early explorers faced—some more successfully than others. This book served as textual support for an opinion paper that our students wrote about about the motivations of the early explorers. Many students wrote about explorers being motivated by fame, wealth, and a desire to conquer new lands.
Currently, we are reading a historical fiction book entitled Pedro’s Journal, which chronicles the first hand account of a young man named Pedro who sailed with Christopher Columbus. This story is serving as a springboard for our next opinion paper; one which will have students support whether they feel that Columbus should be considered a hero or a villain.
Math
Our current learning in math is focused on volume. This week we focused on finding the volume of rectangular prisms, as well as structures comprised of unit cubes. Next week we will shift our focus to finding the volume of composite figures, those which combine two or more rectangular prisms together into one structure.
Here is a link for the family letter for our last unit which will start sometime after spring break:
Social Studies
We have started our learning about supply and demand and trade. We have a variety of motivating, hands-on experiences planned to help students understand these concepts. In fact, today we played musical chairs to learn the relationship between supply and demand! BE sure to ask your child about it! In the coming weeks students will be bringing home information about the 5th grade trade fair, an exciting event that students look forward to every year! Further details will be forthcoming!
Science
In Science we have been working on a new unit entitled “Changes in Matter”. Our learning has been focused on what matter is made of, as well as how substances can be identified. We will have an engaging investigation where students will act as detectives to observe the unique properties of five different powders. They will use these properties to identify an unknown mystery powder!
Have a great weekend!
Upcoming Events
3/20—5th Graders will be administered the Illinois State Science Assessment
3/22—Variety Show Auditions
3/24—Last Day of School before spring break
4/5—School Resumes
4/5—Middle School Schedule Parent Info Night at Woodlawn (NOTE: If this date is inconvenient, please plan to attend the Parent Night on Apr. 13 at Twin Groves Middle School)
4/6—PTO 5th grade Girls Night Out (combined event for IH & P students)
