We have officially hit our 1 month mark of school! There has been a lot going on in our classroom this past month, and we are looking forward to what the school year still has in store for us. Please read below to find out about all of the wonderful learning that is happening in 5th grade at Ivy Hall!

Today, your student will bring home his/her Multiplication & Volume Checkpoint. Please take some time to review your student's graded assessment, sign the rubric, and return the assessment to school on Monday. 

Here are the concepts we are currently/planning to work on:

Literacy
We are finishing up our shared text, Night of the Spadefoot Toads. Using this text as a springboard  we have been working hard on this trimester's literacy learning targets. We continue to practice utilizing direct quotes from the text to answer comprehension questions, many which require students to "dig deeper" into the text and make inferences. As we progress through the book, we have been identifying important events within the chapters, in order to work on our summarizing skills. As we come to a close on the book, we will determine the theme (moral, life lesson) and analyze how the author portrayed the theme.

Writing
Currently, we are in the process of planning and writing our first narrative! Within Night of the Spadefoot Toads, a character named Frankie displayed many characteristics of a bully. Using our shared text as inspiration, students are writing a story that includes a "bullyish" character. In the midst of planning and writing their narratives, students are working on developing elements of narratives, such as plot, point of view, characters, and setting.At this point, most students have completed their planning sheets and have started to compose their stories!

Math
We are building up our knowledge of solving numerical expressions using the order of operations and writing numerical expressions. Using a variety of strategies, we are solving multi-digit multiplication problems. Multiplication strategies include the over strategy, doubling and halving, partial products, and five is half of ten. We are also finding the volume of rectangular prisms by using the volume formula (length x width x height) and math manipulatives (Omnifix cubes). In Number Corner, we are reinforcing skills regarding volume and practicing skills with fractions and decimals.

Science
We are continuing to learn about ecosystems. In the past weeks, we learned about the role of producers and how producers make their own food through photosynthesis. During an investigation, we explored the necessities that help plants survive. We learned that it is essential for plants to receive adequate sunlight, water, and air. However, we were surprised to find out that plants do not necessarily need soil to grow!

Social Studies
This week we began our Civics unit, which involves the responsibilities and powers of the government in different times and places. Currently, we are analyzing the reasons why the 13 Colonies wanted to gain independence from Great Britain. We will continue to explore important events and documents that were involved in the Colonies' independence, such as the Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Because today, September 17, is officially Constitution Day, we completed several activities to celebrate!

Upcoming Events

• Monday, September 20th-Our class will preview the choices at the Book Fair!
• Tuesday, September 21st - PTO Special Lunch (Bagel & Bialy)
• Wednesday, September 22nd - PTO Book Fair @ 6:00 PM
• Wednesday, September 22nd - PTO Ice Cream Social @ 6:30 PM
• Friday, September 24th - Ivy Hall Fun Run (staff & students only)
• Tuesday, September 28th - Early Release (Dismissal @ 2:00 PM)
• Friday, October 1st - Half Day (Dismissal @ 11:45 AM)

Friendly Reminders

• Please remind your student to charge his/her iPad and Logitech Crayon every night
• Please remember to send your student with a healthy snack - nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!
• Please continue to have your student practice their multiplication facts up to 12

 Good Afternoon Families!

Our school year is off and running!  It was an absolute pleasure meeting many of you last week at curriculum night.  I hope you found it to be an informative and useful evening.  Your involvement and support are greatly appreciated!  With the long weekend approaching, it might be a good time for you to ask your child to show you a few digital components of our routine on their I-Pad. You might be interested in looking at our virtual classroom and/or our Schoology courses. 

The link you clicked on is our classroom Blogger page, which will have bi-monthly classroom updates.  Included in the updates will be our current target concepts in all academic areas, classroom events, and important upcoming dates.  An email with a link to our classroom Blogger page will be pushed out every two weeks when our Blogger page is updated. Although all of the 5th grade classrooms teach the same targets, anything that is unique information for our classroom will also be mentioned in these updates. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter! I try to post a weekly picture or two from activities we've done in class! Follow me @julie_holzhauer

Here are the concepts we are currently/planning to work on over the next couple of weeks:

Literacy

Our students are greatly enjoying our shared reading book, Night of the Spadefoot Toads.  Because some of the chapters are quite lengthy, students are being required to read portions at home.  They are welcome to use their print copy, read from the PDF on Schoology, or read the story on the Pearson app on their iPads.  Based on the events in the story, our students are currently working on summarizing, which includes identifying characters, settings, events, and the theme.  We are also working on identifying how characters in our class selection respond to challenges. Students are expected to read each night for 20-30 minutes from a self-selected book. I have many options in the classroom that can be borrowed for home use. While we are reading the Spadefoot Toad book, students are welcome to use this reading towards their daily required reading minutes. 

Writing

Our students are currently learning to understand all of the elements of a narrative paper.  In the coming weeks, students will start to plan an original story, including an effectively written introduction, well-developed body paragraphs, and an effective conclusion. 

Math

Our students are currently working on writing and evaluating numerical expressions with order of operations as well as demonstrating their understanding of how to find the volume of rectangular prisms.  The first few weeks have also involved getting used to our math routines. In fact, with the new month starting earlier in the week, we started our daily Number Corner routine. 

Please note: Next Wednesday, your student will bring home a graded 

numerical expressions checkpoint . The rubric attached to the front will indicate whether your student has mastered or extended on the two targets covered, or whether they are developing or have not yet mastered. Please know that any student who does not achieve mastery on wither target will meet with me for an intervention to practice and review the skills. I have met with most of the students already. Those students will then have another opportunity to demonstrate their mastery. 

Kindly sign the front rubric of the checkpoint after looking it over next Wednesday evening, and then have your student bring it back to school on Thursday.

Science

Instruction utilizing our TCI science curriculum is well underway!  Our current focus is on understanding the makings of various ecosystems around the world.  This unit ties nicely into the reading we are doing with the Night of the Spadefoot Toads book we are reading during our literacy block.

Upcoming Events

** Monday September 6th - No School (Labor Day)

** Tuesday, September 7th - No School (Rosh Hashanah)
** Thursday, September 16th - No School (Yom Kippur)

Friendly Reminders

** Please remind your child to charge his / her iPad and logictech crayon every night.

** Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack.  Nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!  

** Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts up to 12.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Thank you and have a great holiday weekend!