Going into this first newsletter I am writing this year, I look back to the summer and realize just how far we have already come in this school year! It has been a wonderful start so far and I know we as a staff are looking forward to building off of that going forward. It is important to look back and reflect on not only school, but life in general. In order to grow, I have myself been working on this to try and become the best version of myself I can be. That led me over the summer to come up with an overarching theme for school this year and that led me to think of the word perspective. It is important to learn not only about your own perspective but also others not only in this country, but around the world. I began the year by showing each class a great video of students from a school in London trying southern barbeque for the first time (ask them about it!) They enjoyed watching the students’ faces as they had brisket, mac and cheese and corn bread for the first time and realizing that things we take for granted are new and unusual to others, just as things may be new and scary to them. I hope going forward to continue to show them that not only do we grow as people by reflecting on our own personal experiences, but also through the perspective of others!
ELA- 5th grade readers began work for their reader’s theatre project, which they will be participating in next week, September 11th. We’re taking thoughtful notes on evidence we find to support a variety of themes in Hello, Universe! Students also began grammar instruction, which they will test for on Friday September 12th. We are focusing on prepositions and parts of a sentence!
Next week, students will finish their book and practice for their book club conversations!
Science- This week in science 5th grade explored their stream tables to discover erosion and deposition. They worked in groups to compare and contrast what happened when we changed the variable of slope with the stream tables. After watching the erosion and deposition happen we identified landforms that were created. Next week we will continue to use the stream tables to explore what happens to soil during floods and the students will get an opportunity to design their own experiment to test another variable with the stream tables.
Social Studies- This week fifth grade finished their world map project and began wrapping up our study of maps. This led us to making our first study guide for their quiz next Friday. We create our study guides together as a class then will review and work on together. Next week we will go over the types of maps and their importance to society.
Math- This week in math, students were assessed on their volume mastery during their Unit 1 test. They were assessed on their ability to not only use the formula, but also to understand how it’s derived. They connected their volume knowledge to real-life scenarios and explorations like building garden boxes to specific dimensions.
Next week, 5th grade mathematicians will begin unit 2, in which we explore fractions and their meaning. They’ll understand fractions as both the sharing of a whole and as division problems. We’ll begin investigating a new type of math manipulative, fraction tiles, as a tool to help us explore fraction equivalence.
