5-2 Updates ~ 01/10

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

I hope you all enjoyed some relaxing time with your families over Winter Break, and found a way to stay warm in this crazy cold weather!!  Brrrr!!

The new year brings some new expectations for your student as they are in the final stretches of their 5th grade year!  I will no longer be stamping their assignment notebook every afternoon - students are now expected to check the assignment board every afternoon, and copy down the assignments due independently.   Of course, I will be reminding them of their assignments and responsibilities at the end of every day, but I will no longer check in with each individual student.  They are  also expected to turn in assigned homework in the morning of it's due date - this includes re-do assignments.  While they will still be receiving reminders to turn the assignments in, I will not check in with them individually to turn their work in.  If the work is not turned in at the expected time, it will be marked late.  We are working to transition them to more independence and ownership of their learning as they begin to prepare for middle school.  Encourage them to maintain organization and listen for those reminders!  As always, if you see your child struggling with this transition, please let me know.

Important Dates

MAP Testing:

Monday, January 11th - 2:15pm - Reading

MLK Day ~ Monday, January 18th - No School
SIP Day ~ Tuesday, January 19th - No School

Math

My math class will be wrapping up Unit 5 this week with the Unit 5 Assessment on Thursday, 1/14.  This unit  focuses on fractions, decimals, and percents.  We will be reviewing for the test on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a Unit 5 Review coming home on Tuesday, and Unit 5 Quiz on Wednesday.  Ask your child how they do on the quiz on Wednesday - this score is generally indicative of how they will perform on the final unit assessment.  To prepare for the test, they can spend additional time with the review, reviewing the journal pages and study links from this unit, and spending time on this unit's Khan Academy activities.

Science

We began our Energy unit when we returned to school this week.  During this unit, your child will learn about different energy forms and will investigate energy transfers with engaging activities that include energy toys.  They will even have a chance to build and race boats that use different energy forms.  We will end the unit with a focus on energy efficiency.  One of the goals of the Energy Unit is to encourage students to use what they learn about energy to make choices and take actions in their own life that have a positive impact on our limited energy resources.

Your child will need one clean 2-liter bottle, cut in half separating the top from the bottom.  Please send them in by Wednesday, 1/20.  Thank you!

Reading

We have begun our Fiction Unit in reading where students will explore a variety of fiction, including realistic and historical fiction, as well as fairy tales and folk tales.  In each of these types of fiction, we will investigate story elements, such as characters, setting, plot, conflict and solution.  We will also spend time investigating the theme in different fictional text.

Several students are reaching the end of their Reading Notebook.  Please check in with your child - if they need a replacement, they will need a 3 subject notebook.  Thank you!

Writing

We also began our new writing unit Writing in Response to Fiction. During this unit, students will gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between reading and writing and will learn essential reading and writing strategies that they will need in order to respond to fiction throughout their educational careers. The students will be reading the book, The Liberation of Gabriel King, by K.L Going.

The Liberation of Gabriel King is a well written and highly engaging historical fiction novel about a friendship between two fifth grade students, Gabriel King, a Caucasian boy, and his friend Frita, an African-American girl. The setting of the story is rural Georgia in 1976, the year of the bicentennial, and Jimmy Carter is President. The author writes about racial prejudice and the presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Frita’s goal is to liberate Gabe from his fears. Together they list their fears and pledge to conquer them one by one during the summer between fourth and fifth grade. 

In order to prepare them for this novel, we will spend some time reading and discussing Freedom Walkers and Rosa Parks to give our students context as to the setting and the civil rights struggles that were present at that time in our history.

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”         

Stay Warm!

Theresa Fowler