It’s hard to believe we already completed our third full week of school this year! These first few weeks have been filled with the joyful work of building community—hearing summer stories, watching old friendships grow stronger, and seeing new friendships begin to blossom. One of my favorite things to notice has been the small moments when students look out for one another: helping a classmate, inviting someone into a conversation, offering encouragement, or simply noticing when someone needs a little support.
This week, we built on those moments by talking about our core values and how they can guide us when we are faced with big emotions or things we don’t particularly want to do. As quizzes, tests, and projects begin to fill our calendars, students are learning that our values can serve as an anchor. When we are frustrated, overwhelmed, or tempted to give up, we can choose to lean into perseverance, kindness, responsibility, courage, or whatever value helps us make a choice we can be proud of.
I am so grateful for the energy and kindness I have seen in our middle school community these first few weeks. There is something special about watching a group of students grow our community, one conversation, one shared laugh, and one small act of kindness at a time.
I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend and has the opportunity to rest, recharge, and enjoy some time with the people they love. I can’t wait to welcome everyone back on Tuesday feeling refreshed and ready for another great week together!
-AB
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, September 7: Labor Day, No School
- Wednesday, September 9: 5th grade off campus – wear sneakers, wear clothes for ropes course, and bring water bottle
- Wednesday, September 9: Cooper Cluster Day – Pizza Lunch!
- Wednesday, September 9: Middle School Curriculum Night, 5:30 – 6:30
- Thursday, September 10: MS PE day – all students wear sneakers
Fifth Grade
ELA: This week in 5th grade ELA, readers dug for meaning in Hello,Universe, discussing how their character inferences and ideas about character POV might point to a lesson or theme. We also launched a cross curricular project in which our readers will begin creating “client profiles” of the characters in their readings of this book and their upcoming Tale of Despereaux study. This information will be used to build and design a room for their favorite character in Ms. Henslee’s art classes! 5th grade also started their first grammar unit of the year, with a test planned for Thursday, 9/10.
Next week, readers will finish Hello, Universe and do some valuable work in reading comprehension skills. They can use their study guide in their blue take home folder to prepare for next Thursday’s test.
Science: This week in science, 5th graders explored the difference between melting and dissolving. Students observed ice and water and measured changes in mass as the ice melted, using evidence to investigate whether matter is lost during a change of state. Students then reviewed the concepts we have explored so far and put their learning into practice on an assessment. I am so proud of the thoughtfulness and effort they put into demonstrating what they know! Look for those grades to come home early next week.
Next week, students will begin exploring the concentration of solutions by experimenting with powdered drink mixtures. They will then connect their understanding of concentration to a much larger real-world question: what does concentration have to do with climate change?
Social Studies: Fifth grade had a fantastic week working together to finish their world map project! They used the skills they learned to make the map and I must say they did a fantastic job! Next week we will be starting our next unit on the United States and its peoples and geography. I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!
Math: This week in math, 5th graders officially wrapped up their first unit of study for 5th grade! We took our end of unit assessment and completed corrections. If you’d like to see their grade, ask them to bring their binders home to show you! They should stay in their binders and return to school so we can keep them for records. We began our second unit – which practices identifying fractions as groups of a whole and as division problems. We explored splitting objects to share, and next week we’ll deepen this to understand equivalent fractions and why those might be useful. They took a quiz on Friday, and they’ll take another next Friday!
