Happy Friday Families! I hope everyone is staying warm during this November cold! But as we deal with the weather, our students continue to work hard, starting the second grading period. Here's What's Happening in Class: Literacy We are currently reading a shared text titled Washed Up, are story about three families who encounter various challenges while trying to win a survival reality show. Within the text, students are working hard to look at the text to help them locate the best evidence to support their thinking. In the coming weeks, we will explore various texts to help our students practice summarizing (Literary text) as well as analyzing multiple accounts of the same event, while noting similarities and differences in the points of view each party represents (Informational text). Writing Our students recently finished their first analytical paper, discussing whether or not students should be allowed to bring and use cellphones during the school day. Their focus was to write engaging introductory and concluding paragraphs, as well as working to add evidence to support their key ideas. Be sure to ask your child to share it with you! They made quite the compelling arguments! Currently, our students are creating and defending an argument whether or not video games have a positive or negative effect on children. They should be interesting read! Math Our students are continuing their work with decimals. They are currently refining their skills in the area of using expanded decimal notation, comparing decimals, adding and subtracting decimals, and rounding decimals. Yesterday we took a checkpoint which came home for you to review with some other assessments. Kindly sign and return them on Monday. Social Studies Our students wrapped up their discussions about the various responsibilities and powers of different types of governments, which revolved around the pros and cons of a democracy, a parliamentary government, a monarchy, and a dictatorship. In the coming weeks, we will learn about probable causes and effects of events and developments in U.S. history, with a focus on Westward Expansion and on the California Gold Rush. Based on what we learn about Westward Expansion, students will construct and defend an argument of whether or not they would have traveled West. Science We are currently learning about earth systems in science. The unit discusses the four main systems of Earth: the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. In addition to learning about their attributes and characteristics, we are also identifying interactions that occur between the systems. Our most recent investigation involved "mining" chocolate chips, while preserving as much of the land (cookie) as possible. Our students were rewarded with their own chocolate chip cookie to eat for their valiant efforts! Upcoming Events **Wednesday, November 24th - Friday, November 26th: No School (Thanksgiving Break)

5th Grade BLOG update for 11/5

Hi Parents, It is so hard to believe we are already in November and nearing the end of the first trimester! Here’s a quick update to fill you in on what we have been covering in each of the academic areas: Literacy This week we read a number of different nonfiction articles ranging from the topics of whether we should live on Mars, how dogs can help the health of their ownser, the need to stop using plastic bags, and the importance ov voting! These articles helped students practice finding the main point, along with reasons and evidence that supported the article. Writing We are continuing to work on our “Should Cellphones Be Allowed in School” analytical paper. Students chose a side, and have been going through the writing process step by step, writing the introduction, working on body paragraphs, and then conclusion. We will conclude the process next week as students edit their work and share their essays with peers. Math We have begun our third unit already- Adding & Subtracting Decimals! We are starting the unit by looking at place value, multiplying and dividing by 10’s and powers of ten. We have also been working on reading and writing numbers. Next, we will be learning how to add and subtract those decimals, along with comparing and ordering the decimals on a number line. We will have our first checkpoint on this unit next week. This unit won’t be reported out on report cards until Trimester 2. In order to learn some of these concepts, we've been doing some tasks which required movement and engagement. During one lesson, students were "human decimals" in order to physically experence what happens to numbers when they are multiplied and divded by powers of ten. Today students worked in teams to dicatate and write decimals together! At the end of the day we enjoyed a game on "Among Us "GIMKIT" game to practice our skills in comparing decimals! Social Studies This week, we have been working hard to answer the question, How do declarations of independence from other places in the Western Hemisphere compare with the United States Declaration of Independence? To do this, we have started looking at three ypes of government: Monarchy, Democracy, and Dictatorship. The students have really done well comparing and contrasting them with one another! Yesterday we had a great discussion about N orth Korea and the aspects of its govenment which make it a Dictatorship. Upcoming Events Friday, November 12—Trimester 1 report period ends Friday, November 19- Trimester 1 Report Cards sent out Wednesday, November 24th- Sunday, November 28th- Thanksgiving Break