5th Grade Blog Update 12/15/23

 Happy Friday Families!

As we inch closer to Winter Break and the New Year, I can't help but look back on all the wonderful things our students have done so far this school year!  As we reflect on the hard work that they have done so far this school year and the progress they've made, our students will leap into the break and the new year to continue to work towards meeting their academic goals. 

Here are the concepts we are focusing on as we continue to work after Winter Break:

Literacy
Our students just wrapped up reading our shared text, "Angel Island".  The text told about the history and hardships surrounding immigrating through Angel Island in the early 20th century. We read about how Chinese immigrants wrote poems on the walls of the Angel Island immigration station and we even tried writing our own from the perspective of an immigrant! As we worked through the text, we practiced identifying while comparing and contrasting the author's point of view and the evidence they used to support their points.  When we return from break, our students will continue to practice this skill using various non-fiction texts and take their end of cycle assessment to test this standard. 

Writing
This week, we started to plan our new analytical essay.   The prompt given was "Write an essay to explain what is similar and different about the author's point of view on Reality TV".  We will continue to focus on students' organization, explaining how the evidence in their papers support the key ideas and the overall thesis, and writing effective and engaging lasting impressions within their conclusions.  

Math
Our students have worked hard to practice various multiplication strategies in order to multiply both 2-digit by 2-digit and 3-digit by 2-digit problems.  We will spend the week when we return from Winter Break to practice applying what was learned and how it relates to the standard algorithm of multiplication. We have also been learning on how to interpret line plot graphs with fractional data points!

Science
We recently wrapped up our studies about the Earth's systems.  We analyzed how farming and industries negatively impact Earth's four systems (biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere).  We also discussed ways people could protect the Earth, which involved the conservation of resources, such as fossil fuels.  In our investigation last week, we took on the role of engineers and used various materials to design a water filter that could remove dirt and produce clean water.  Through this investigation, we explored the consequences of pollution and ways to protect the Earth's systems.  The remaining time before break and the week after we return, our focus will be on describing the similarities and differences between the timing of observable changes in shadows, daylight, and the appearance of stars. We have been engaging in some fun investigations to understand these concepts, including making a "sun dial" and using a flashlight to observe how shadows change throughout the day.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, Dec. 19-- Early Release @ 2:00 

Wednesday, Dec. 20-- PTO Special Lunch, Belmont Village Visit after school for students who are signed up

Thursday, Dec. 21st--Cat Pack activity in the a.m., Winter parties at 2:00

December 21st - January 8th--WINTER BREAK

January 15th-- No School (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day)

Friendly Reminders

*As winter weather approaches, please make sure your student is properly dressed for recess.

*Please remind your student to charge his/her iPad and Logitech Crayon every night.

*Orchestra & Band Parents: Please make sure your students have their instrument on assigned days.

*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.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Winter Break and that you are able to take time to rest and be surrounded by Peace, Love, and Joy!

5th Grade Blog Update for 12/1

 

Happy Friday Families!

Can you believe that December has already arrived? I hope you were able to spend some quality time with loved ones last week during our short break! This week we have "hit the ground running" and have been working very hard! Please read below to find out what we are working on in each academic subject!

Please also see the important dates below and take note of the fact that Winter MAP testing will take place on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Testing will take place first thing in the morning on both days.

 As we begin to wrap up 2023, here's what's going on within our classroom!

 

Literacy

This week, our shared text featured an excerpt of the novel, Hatchet. The text tells the story of Brian, a thirteen-year-old boy, who encounters a completely unexpected and unfortunate event that leaves him stranded in the Canadian wilderness to survive by himself with nothing but a hatchet. Using Hatchet, we discussed Brian's thoughts, actions, and feelings in order to analyze the challenges he faced and determine the overall theme. We also practiced our summarizing skills by identifying the main events and character responses in the text.

 

Writing

Our analytical writing focuses on the students' opinions of what type of class pet we should get. After researching, students have been utilizing graphic organizers to organize information into reasons and evidence that support their animal. We will be practicing more with writing an engaging introduction, keeping our body paragraphs clear and organized, and writing strong conclusions. Ask your student which class pet they chose and why!

 

Math

We wrapped up our math unit on decimals and place value before Thanksgiving. Our upcoming unit encompasses multi-digit multiplication. Students will be learning how to use the standard algorithm to multiply. In Number Corner, we will measure our height and feet length within inches. Throughout the month of December, we will regularly plot the data onto a line plot. We will also be plotting the data onto a scatter plot to analyze the correlation between height and foot length. For the last few days we have been working on converting customary and metric measurements. We've learned a cool tic-tac-toe strategy to help us convert accurately! Be sure to ask your student how it works!

 

Science

We are digging deeper into our unit about the Earth's systems. We have learned about Earth’s four systems (biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere). We will be focusing on how the four systems are constantly interacting. We have some really fun, hands-on investigations in the coming days to support our learning!

 

Upcoming Events

Friday, December 1st--PTO sponsored Cultural Night at Ivy HAll

Wednesday, December 6th- MAP Testing (Reading)

Thursday, December 7th- MAP Testing (Math)

Tuesday, December 19th -  Early Release (Dismissal @ 2:05pm)

Wednesday, December 20th-PTO Special Lunch

Thursday, December 21st--Winter parties @2:00

Friday, December 22--No School--Winter Break Begins

 

Friendly Reminders

• As winter weather approaches, please make sure your student is properly dressed for recess.

• Please remind your student to charge his/her iPad and Logitech Crayon every night.

• Orchestra & Band Parents: Please make sure your students have their instrument on assigned days.

• 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.

5th Grade Blog Update for 11/17/23

 Happy Friday!

It’s been a busy two weeks in fifth grade! We have been working hard and learning a lot!

Literacy

This week we read the story Washed Up. Our students loved this fictional story based on a survival show!  While reading, we identified important events in each chapter and then discussed how the characters responded to these events.  We also discussed how the theme of the story is the author’s main message.  Ask your child to tell you the theme of Washed Up.  Next, we learned how to summarize a text using the theme to help guide us. We introduced our summaries with a Name It (name of the text), Verb It (explain what happened), Theme It (theme statement). Then we used our graphic organizers to add in the important events and characters’ responses to those events.  Our students are on their way to being great at summarizing!

Writing

In writing, we shifted our focus from writing paragraphs to writing analytical essays.  We reviewed the parts of an introduction (hook, core 4, and preview) and a conclusion (core 4, review, and a final thought).   We practiced writing core 4 topic sentences.  Our students did a great job writing simple declarative sentences, number sentences, question sentences, and situation/stance sentences.  Then we introduced our next writing prompt. Ask your child to tell you what we will be writing about next week!

Math

This week we finished up Unit 3 in math.  Our students learned how to add and subtract decimals, compare decimals, and write decimals out in expanded form.  During Number Corner, we learned about triangles and how to move them on a coordinate grid.  Ask your child to explain the difference between a translation and a reflection.  Our next math unit will focus on using standard algorithms to solve multiplication problems. We will also practice metric conversions within U.S. Customary Measurement and the Metric System.  

Social Studies

We wrapped up our unit about Indigenous people of America.  Your children did a wonderful job on their final projects!  They worked together to analyze library books, Newsela articles, and videos to determine whether or not they should be used to teach about Native Americans and the first Thanksgiving. Their final projects were very well done! These projects allowed the children to understand the importance of reliable unbiased sources. Ask your child to show you his/her final project.

Science

Our students are very excited to learn about Earth Systems for our next science unit.  This week, we introduced the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere.  Throughout the unit, we will study each system independently and then learn about how the various systems interact. 

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and relaxing Thanksgiving break!

Upcoming Events

• Friday, November 17 - Trimester 1 Report Cards Go Live at 3:00 PM

• Wednesday, November 22 - Friday, November 24 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)

• Tuesday, November 28 - Early Release (Dismissal at 2:05 PM)

• Friday, December 1-World Wide Wildcats (6:30-8:30 PM)

• Wednesday, December 6-Reading MAP testing

• Thursday, December 7-Math MAP testing

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 on the safe snack list

5th Grade Blog Update for November 3, 2023

 Happy November!

What an eventful two weeks we have had with our Halloween celebration and Trimester 1 coming to an end shortly. It's crazy to believe that we're almost through a third of the 23-24 school year! Included in this update, you will find the family letter for our upcoming unit in math on place value and decimals, which we just started at the end of this week. 

Literacy

Last week, we read a nonfiction text titled Explorers: Triumphs and Troubles. This text highlighted the details and impact of various explorers' expeditions throughout history. As we read the text, we worked on identifying the author's main point/s while determining reasons and evidence as support. This week, we continued to practice these skills with a variety of highly engaging texts! We read about electric cars, as well as an article about what happens to an astronaut's eyeballs in space (hint: they flatten!!) To practice determining the author's main point/s, we ask ourselves, "What does the author MOST want us to know or believe about what was written?"

Next week, after we take our Cycle 2 CFA, we will be shifting back to fiction to read Washed Up and practice determining the theme of the story. We will also look at how to summarize a text using the theme to help guide the summary.

Writing

Our students recently finished their first analytical writing piece, using the nonfiction text from literacy, Explorers: Triumphs and Troubles. Students had very strong opinions about which explorer was the worst! Their focus was to write engaging body paragraphs that include their big ideas and evidence. We also discussed what makes a strong topic sentence and conclusion sentence. Be sure to ask your child to share it with you! They made quite the compelling arguments!

Math

Our students are continuing their work with decimals in Unit 3. They are currently refining their skills in the area of reading, writing, modeling and comparing decimals. Today we took a checkpoint in order to gauge how well students are understanding these concepts. Next week, we will be working on expanding, adding, and subtracting decimals. Students are also learning about the metric system during our November number corner collection and will continue to work on conversions after our Unit 3 assessment. This month's number corner also focuses on identifying triangles based on their angles and sides!

Social Studies

Students have continued their inquiry based activities focused on exploring the rich history of the Indigenous people of America. We’ve been looking closely and analyzing different resources that describe the First Thanksgiving, looking for ideas that challenge commonly known ideas about the day. Students will be working cooperatively in groups, to research and present information they discover while looking through a variety of books and videos that may or may not accurately represent the First Thanksgiving.

Upcoming Events

• Monday, November 6 - Beginning Band Concert (@ 7:00pm)

• Monday, November 13 - Orchestra Concert (@ 7:30 PM)

• Thursday, November 16 - Family Reading Night (@ 6:30-7:30 PM)

• Friday, November 17 - Trimester 1 Report Cards Go Live (@ 3:00 PM)

• Wednesday, November 22 - Friday, November 24 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)

• Tuesday, November 28 - Early Release (Dismissal @ 2:05 PM)

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

• If your child participates in orchestra or band, please remind him/her to bring their instrument on their lesson day

 Happy Friday Families!

It was great seeing all of you at conferences to discuss your student's academic and social emotional progress. I loved that I was able to learn more about each student through the conversations we shared! Now that we're deep into the first grading period, I am excited to see how much more our students will grow throughout the year. We've been enjoying Fall and Halloween themed activities that tie in with our learning targets and have been playing some fun team building activities during class meeting. Today we played the Halloween edition of "Finish the Phrase." Be sure to ask your student about it!

Literacy

Our students finished our first longer text, The Night of the Spadefoot Toads. The students really enjoyed sharing a longer text that extended over multiple weeks. Using this shared text, we worked on literacy skills such as summarizing and identifying the narrator's point of view. They really LOVED this book! I wish there was a sequel for kids to read independently!

Next week we will start reading a nonfiction text titled Explorers: Triumphs and Troubles. This text highlights the details and impact of various explorers' expeditions throughout history. As we read the text, we are working on identifying the author's main point/s while determining reasons and evidence as support. To practice determining the author's main point/s, we ask ourselves, "What does the author MOST want us to know or believe about what was written?" We will continue our work on this learning target using various texts. This text is organized in such a way that it presents the "troubles" that several of the explorers faced. The kids will enjoy hearing about some of the more unusual ones!

Writing

We started our first analytical prompt this week. Students chose an ecosystem and researched the threats that there are to that ecosystem, as well as ways to protect that ecosystem. We are now working on planning body paragraphs that are well supported with not only text evidence, but our own words in an explanation.

Math 

We are continuing to focus on fractions as we get closer to finishing our second unit in math. Our students are moving away from utilizing money and time to model the operations and are learning how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators by finding common denominators and equivalent fractions (5.NF.1). Over the past week, we practiced how to solve fractions story problems (5.NF.2). We will begin our new unit next week, which focuses on place value and adding and subtracting decimals. Those students who demonstrated mastery on any of the targets will work on extension activities as well.

Social Studies

We are really enjoying our first Social Studies unit! Our discussions have focused around the perceptions of Indigenous American Cultures and learning how to formulate questions to help guide our students' learning on how to better honor the cultural heritage of this land. We will be exploring more about the perceptions of the first Thanksgiving Dinner.

Upcoming Dates

Tuesday, October 24th - Early Release

Friday, October 27th- Willy Wildcats Chocolate Factory- PTO Event

Tuesday, October 31st- Halloween Class Parties in afternoon

Friday, November 10th- End of Trimester 1

Thursday, November 16th- Family Reading Night

Friendly Reminders

**Please remind your student to charge his/her iPad and Logitech Crayon every night.

**If your child participates in orchestra or band, please remind him/her to bring their instrument on their lesson day.

**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.

Blog update for 9/22/23

 Happy Friday Families!

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 our classroom!

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

Reading
Over the last couple of weeks, our students have read various texts in order to determine the narrator's point of view.  Much of our instruction revolved around Pale Male, a story about a red-tailed hawk living on the ledge of a building on Fifth Avenue, in the heart of New York City.  Through the text, our students were able to have an understanding of different perspectives, from residents who wanted the hawk removed, to those bird lovers who wanted the red-tail hawk protected. Not only have students had to determine how the narrator's point of view influenced how the story was told, they had to do so in a written response. We've been spending a considerable amount of time practicing how to write a cohesive response that is inclusive of all of the necessary elements.

Writing

Our students wrapped up their first narrative pieces. They demonstrated great success utilizing their graphic organizers to plan and develop their stories through the use of a detailed sequence of events and effective character development.  Students were also encouraged to add dialogue into their writing to enhance the reader’s understanding of their characters, setting, and events.  This week, our students started to plan a second narrative piece in order to apply what we’ve learned in order to produce an even higher quality sample.

Math

Our students wrapped up Unit 1, which focused on evaluating numerical expressions with parentheses, using the correct order of operations.  We are also a month into our Number Corner lessons, which have been focused around clock and money fractions and finding the volume of rectangular prisms.  Yesterday, we will started Unit 2, which focuses on addition and subtraction of fractions.  The introduction of clock and money fractions in Number Corner have been helping to provide a springboard for teaching our students to find common denominators before adding or subtracting fractions. The family letter which highlights the concepts being presented in our new unit on fractions has been attached this email.

Science

We are wrapping up our discussions about ecosystems.  Over the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about consumers and the flow of energy through an ecosystem.  We learned that consumers must eat animals in order to obtain their energy and to survive.  Through various discussions, activities, and investigations, we also learned that the flow of energy starts at the sun and flows to the producers and then to consumers.  Be sure to ask your child about our owl pellet investigation! Students also took home the bean plants we started in class as we learned about photosynthesis! Our classroom Venus Fly Trap plant is thriving and the kids are having a great time supplying insects to feed it! We love watching the digestion process in real time!

Upcoming Events

**Monday, September 25th - NO SCHOOL (Yom Kippur)

**Tuesday, September 26th--PTO Book Fair Begins (lasts through the 28th)

**Thursday, September 28th--PTO Ice Cream Social/Book Fair Event 

**Thursday, October 5th - NO SCHOOL (Family/Educator Conferences)

**Friday, October 6th - NO SCHOOL (Family/Educator Conferences)

**Monday, October 9th - NO SCHOOL 

Friendly Reminders

**Please have your child charge his or her iPad every evening.  Much of what we do throughout the day revolves around our iPads.

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

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

Have a wonderful weekend!

First Blog Post 9/8/23

 Good Afternoon Families!

Our school year is off and running! It was an absolute pleasure meeting many of you at curriculum night! I hope you found it to be an informative and useful evening.  Your involvement and support is greatly appreciated! 

Welcome to the first installment of our bi-monthly blog post! It is my goal to keep you informed and up-to-date about the learning that is taking place in the classroom, as well as making sure you are aware of important upcoming dates and and events. If you have a Twitter account be sure to follow me at  julie_holzhauer  to hear about some of our educational adventures!

In addition to becoming comfortable with all of our organizational and academic routines, we have spent the last few weeks engaged in a variety of team building activities in order to establish a level of trust between classmates! Each day, we start with a morning meeting where we have the opportunity to set a positive tone for learning! Last week I introduced the card game Spoons to the class. The kids played in groups and really enjoyed it! Be sure to ask your student about it!! Did you hear about our index card/cup challenge? What about our rubber band/string/cup challenge? Yesterday we played telephone charades! Be sure to ask your student about the fun we had!

Here are the targets we are currently / planning on working to master over the next couple of weeks:

Literacy

Our students started our new shared text, The Road to Freedom. The story is narrated from the point of view of a young girl, Emma, who is traveling on the Underground Railroad with her mother in hopes of making it North to freedom. Our students have been highly engaged throughout text and are having many great discussions related to topics raised within the story.  Using this shared text, we will work on literacy skills such as and identifying narrator's point of view, as well as a variety of comprehension skills related to the text. 

Last week we also had our first “status of the class” where students let me know what book they are currently reading, and what page they are on. This helps me keep track of progress from week to week. I will also be “conferencing” with students individually about what they read. This is a fun way to informally chat and make sure that their reading is progressing along! Students also have the opportunity to volunteer to do book talks and share what they are reading with their peers!

Writing

Our instruction over the last few weeks has involved “laying the groundwork” for students to plan and write an original narrative story. As we progress through this instruction, students will compose an original story with the goal of including an effectively written introduction, well-developed body paragraphs, and an effective conclusion. Students are writing in response to a prompt which asks them to compose a story about a character who perseveres through a challenge.

Math

Our students are currently working on writing and evaluating numerical expressions with parentheses. We have also been reviewing a variety of multiplication strategies—and have learned a few new ones as well!  The first few weeks have also involved getting used to our math routines. In fact, since September started late last week, we also started our daily Number Corner routine. Be sure to ask your student about what we’ve done so far!

Science

Instruction utilizing our science curriculum is well underway!  Our current focus is on understanding the makings of a various ecosystems around the world. We’ve learned about how members of an ecosystem interact and depend on each other. Currently, we are also learning more specifically about the producers, consumers and decomposers who make up our ecosystem. Have you heard about the plant we adopted? The class named him/her Boogie Boogie! We are trying to propagate some of her leaves in the classroom! We are loving this hands-on way to learn about photosynthesis! We also have a very engaging science investigation on the horizon which involves dissecting owl pellets!

Upcoming Events

**Friday, September 15 and 22— PTO sponsored Frozen Treat Fridays

**Tuesday, September 19th- Early Release @ 2:05

**Monday, September 25th—No School District Holiday

**Tuesday September 26th-28th—PTO Sponsored Ivy Hall Book Fair 

Friendly Reminders

** 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.

 Happy Friday Families!

It is so hard to believe that this will be our final blog for the year. It has been an amazing year with your children. Our final countdown days will continue into next week! Tuesday will be cap/hat day, Wednesday is Red/white/blue day, Thursday is Tie-dye day and on Friday please have your student wear his/her 5th grade t-shirt! Thank you for all you have done to make it such a success. Here is what's happening the last few days of school:

Twin Groves Transition Day

The students really enjoyed our time at Twin Groves last week. They were able to hear all about next year and everything Twin Groves has to offer. They were given quite an informative presentation by Twin's principal, assistant principal, and teachers. They were also given a tour of the building by former Ivy Hall Students. Our students left Twin Groves with a lot of excitement for next year!

Literacy And Writing

We wrapped up our final CFA and PBA of the school year!  Over the last few weeks, we read various paired fiction texts to find a common theme, then compared and contrasted how the authors of each approached the shared theme within each story. We also finished our "How To" analytical essay and worked hard to make the writing process move faster and more seamlessly as our students transition to middle school.

Over the summer, our students are required to complete the Summer reading project given by the Twin Groves language arts teachers. We will be discussing this in class next week and I will an overview of the process in class. Please click on the link below to find out more information:

Summer Reading Project

Math

We wrapped up Unit 7 this week which focused on division and decimals. Throughout the unit, we worked with powers of ten and then moved into the multiplication and division of decimals. We also learned multiple strategies of division in order for our students to solve complex problems and to solve real-world word problems with remainders.  

Social Studies

As we wind down our Social Studies unit, our focus has shifted to understanding the Bill of Rights and how the Amendments apply to everyday citizens and to their own lives.  Our end goal with understanding the Amendments is how our students can strengthen our democracy and how they can be agents of change.

Important Dates:

*Monday, May 28th: No School (Memorial Day)

*Friday, June 2nd: Last Day of School (HALF DAY - Dismissal at 11:45)

Final Reminders:

*Please bring a second bag next week so we start to send cubby materials home.

 

Thank you for your partnership this school year and have a wonderful summer!

 Happy Friday!

It is crazy to think we have already reached our last month of the school year! Students have worked hard this week and finished our last round of MAP tests for the year. We still have a lot of learning to do! Although we have many fun activities scheduled in the weeks ahead, academics will remain the primary focus!

Read below to see what we have been working on!

Literacy

We finished reading our shared text, Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Assignment. It is a science fiction book about two girls who get a homework assignment from their teacher and they end up going back in time to understand more about astronomy and famous astronomers. We started reading another story, Mayday on the Moon of Jupiter, another science fiction story. We then worked on comparing and contrasting how the authors of each approached the shared theme of compromise and finding common ground. We will continue working on comparing and contrasting themes in the days ahead. Today we read one of my favorite stories, The Name Jar and compared the theme with another story titled .

Writing

We wrapped up our Real Life Superhero speeches this week! Students have really enjoyed researching, working on their notecards, and sharing their hard work with their peers. They did a great job on their presentations as they practiced using good eye-contact, pace, and voice intonation. Today we did a cahoot during our class meeting based on the facts that students presented during their speeches! For our final writing assignment, students are going to be putting together a "How-To" essay, where they will have some choice over their topic and focus. We are working hard to make the writing process move faster and more seamlessly as we approach middle school

Math

We are in our last unit, Unit 7, already! This unit teaches us multiple strategies for dividing whole numbers and fractions. We will be learning more about how the powers of ten affect place value in numbers. Finally, we will be learning multiplication and division of decimals.

Social Studies

We have begun our final unit of study in social studies- Rights & Responsibilities. Students have learned about the different branches of government and the checks and balances that those branches use on each other. Next, we will be exploring how our country’s founders established a system of federalism within the United States.

Upcoming Events

Monday, May 8th--Deadline to register for the Spring Fling/5th Grade Party

Wednesday, May 10th- 5th Grade Music Show (students arrive at 6:15, show starts @ 6:30)

Friday, May 12th- 5th Grade Party right after school

Monday, May 15th- Twin Groves Middle School Visit

Tuesday, May 23rd- Early Release

Friday, May 26th- Half Day

Monday, May 29th- No School- Memorial Day

Friday, June 2nd- Last Day of School- Half Day