It’s no secret how much TCS loves Halloween. Our students have been prepping and planning with the utmost zeal for the middle school-led Halloween Carnival. I’m a self-proclaimed Halloween fanatic myself – I live for all the spooky stories, movies, and aisles in Target. It got me thinking about why we get so much joy from the creepy festivities and this largely fear-based holiday. For me, I think it’s an obsession with facing fears. As someone with her fair share of anxieties, it’s not just entertaining to engage with the darker side of things, it’s invigorating. To slow down and peer into the darkness is to take a minute to understand the ‘other,’ to interrogate why we’re scared, to solve long standing mysteries, to shine a light on what was previously hurtful.
Forgive me for lingering on the spooky, but I promise this connects to middle school! Middle school can classically be the time when anxiety rears its ugly head or the scary coming of age moments hit, but I have to brag on the fearlessness of our students. Our kids tackle intimidating, advanced academic concepts with thoughtful questions and a growth mindset. They approach scary conversations about peer conflict with grace and compassion. Daily responsibilities that other kids consider ‘painful’ are met with cheerfulness. We have our moments where the ‘jump scares’ of life might get the best of us (who doesn’t?), but I can’t help but notice an impressive pattern of bravery in our kids. May we take some inspiration from them this Spooky Season!
MK
Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:
What’s going on in Science?
Fifth graders worked diligently on their National Parks project this week! Most of the models are completely done! They worked on their map legends and slide presentations as well. Each model is completely different and creative! They are awesome! They will be presenting their work after conferences on November 8th!
What’s happening in Math?
This week, 5th graders wrote and solved division problems involving both fractions and whole numbers, solved problems involving both multiplication and division of fractions, and began exploring decimal operations. On Monday, students will review for their Unit 3 Assessment on fraction multiplication and division which they will take on Thursday, before jumping into their unit of multi-digit multiplication and division on Friday.
What’s happening in ELA?
This week, 5th grade readers continued to study The Witches, zooming in on concepts like identifying dialect, the purpose behind illustrations, and a detailed study of various types of figurative language. In grammar, we reviewed prepositions and ‘deleted them’ from sentences to reveal subjects and verbs.
Next week, 5th graders will analyze characters, their challenges, and what those things reveal about the theme as they finish The Witches. They will learn about helping verbs and verb phrases as we continue to identify sentence parts.
What’s happening in Social Studies?
The fifth graders began to take a look into South America. Students began by looking through their early civilizations such as the Incan. This led them to European colonization of South America where they were challenged to then color a map to depict the different European settlements.
Next week, the students will dive into the independence of South America. Students will use that information to then create an interview for Simon Bolivar. This interview will lead into the content of living in South America today before the students are asked to prepare for their next assessment.
Important Dates:
October 31 – Halloween Carnival (½ Day)
November 1 – Teacher Work Day (No School)
November 8- 5th Gr National Parks Presentation 2pm
