Feels like we never left! Loving, learning, and laughing are all in full swing this week back from Spring Break! We are settling back into our routines and finding the groove that will take us to the end of the school year. We have so much to look forward to! Basketball trips start this week, students are preparing for Spread the Word, the Middle School Dance details are in the works, GRP and Disney are approaching quickly, and to wrap up the year, middle school students will plan and facilitate Field Day! 

I want to give a special shout out to the seventh grade class! They displayed incredible empathy and organized a fundraiser for Ukraine. They wrote a persuasive letter to Ms. Kelly, worked with Ms. Kayla and created their own fundraising pages and learned about fundraising etiquette, and have reached out to family and friends in order to raise money for families in Ukraine. Over Spring Break, they reached out to the Post and Courier about this special project. They were featured in “Letters to the Editor” in the Post and Courier yesterday! 

Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:

What’s happening in Science:

Fifth Grade began their chemistry unit this week! They explored the states of matter and the impact temperature has on specific molecules, specifically dry ice (CO2) and water (H20). They spent the week investigating substances to determine what was in the “mystery mixture.” It was baking soda and citric acid! Fifth Graders also choose an element from the periodic table they will research and create an informational slide that will be part of an interactive periodic table of elements. Every middle school student will contribute their research, creative interpretation, and what they think is cool about their element. When it’s complete, I can’t wait to share it with you!

What’s up in Math? 

Mathematicians have been stretching their brains this week! We have been dividing decimals. Students are able to show their thinking using unit squares, separating into groups, and following simple algorithms when the problem allows. They are learning why the size of the dividend and the divisor matter and how that changes the answer. Students took home Section D Checkpoint to complete for homework on Wednesday. We spent Thursday and Friday reviewing and assessing their Unit 5 (Place Value and Decimal Operations) mastery.  

What’s happening in ELA:

This week, Fifth Graders have worked on the following concepts:  helping verbs and using apostrophes to show possession. They have also reviewed capitalization, pronouns, articles, punctuations, action verbs, who-which clauses, and homophones. When your kids are reading, quiz them on the parts of speech they can identify in a sentence from their story. Using a timeline of events, your students have also worked on identifying the external quests of the main character in their fantasy novel. We have continued our class reading of The Thief of Always. The events in this book are “sitting on the edge of our chair” exciting! Please ask your kids to share with you the fascinating plot of The Thief of Always. Finally, the Fifth Graders have written a friendly letter giving encouragement and advice to one of the characters in their story. 

Important Dates:

April 15 & 18: April Break 

April 28: TCS Gala