Middle Schoolers dove headfirst into content in each of their core and special area classes this week. They learned how to organize their materials, their planners, and their lockers. Organization is a skill that is so important to explicitly teach in Middle School, as it doesn’t always come naturally. So, here are some things that we introduced this week that you can help support at home:
- Executive Functioning (daily block after third period right, before lunch) is a time where homework is written in planners, plans are made for studying, and materials are organized in binders, book bags, and lockers.
- Planners are to be used to help keep track of important dates, deadlines, and daily homework. They are to be taken home and brought back to school everyday.
- Google Classroom is our lifeline! Here, they’ll find study guides, rubrics, extra math practice, etc. Your child has access to everything they need for school all on one Google Classroom page – which they can access from home (computer, tablet, phone, etc) using their school Google Account. Reach out to your child’s advisory teacher if you need help getting logged in at home!
- Linked via Google Classroom, students can access their grade level Google Calendar to see their daily homework assignments, test/quiz dates, and due dates. These Google Calendars will be linked in the weekly newsletter for parents to access, as well! It will be updated frequently with important dates and assignments. Students copy their assignments for the week in their planners during Executive Functioning! Teachers will also send reminder emails about big dates like tests and projects when the time comes.
- Graded tests, permission slips, and other handouts will come home in your child’s blue take home folder.
Utilizing these organizational skills and tools will not only ensure a successful academic middle schooler, but also guarantee that your child feels calm, collected, and prepared for school!
ELA- This week in ELA, 5th graders considered what it means to read “complex” stories and wondered deeply about what stories are trying to teach us. It was an adventure to find what was complex in our class novel, Hello, Universe. We also began our first vocabulary + greek/latin roots unit. Be sure to study those words (spelling and definitions!) in preparation for next week’s test (flash cards were made for their use in class). 5th graders also cracked open their cursive workbooks to begin a year of excellent penmanship.
Next week, we will track character points of view and challenges in our reading to unlock the possible theme or “lesson” of our book! Be sure to keep nightly vocab review in mind for next week’s test on 8/27.
Science- This week in science, 5th grade started their investigation into landforms by interacting with soils. We observed 4 different soils using different methods and formulated a definition of soils. Next week we will dig into what breaks rocks down into smaller pieces.
Social Studies- Fifth grade has begun our work on a deeper understanding of maps and their importance to humanity. We are going over not only the different types, but also the ways we use maps in our daily lives. Going into next week we will finish the parts of a map and begin our first class project in which they will be making their own world map!
Math- This week in math, 5th grade mathematicians explored what volume is, built rectangular prisms that have volume, and generated a formula to help us quickly identify the volume of a rectangular prism.
Next week, students will expand this knowledge and challenge their building skills to include complex prisms (i.e. two prisms put together, irregular prisms, etc). Students will have a chance to use unit cubes and blocks to explore volume and understand what is meant by volume. We’ll even connect this to a real-life scenario we see here at school – trash and how much our school produces! They’ll take another quiz on Monday the 25th.
