Sunday, August 20, 2017

What's Happening in Fifth Grade?

It has been a really wonderful beginning to our school year together.  The first five days have been filled with activities to get to know each other and to build a collaborative community in our classroom.  It was so nice to see so many families at Back to School Night and to have time to read with each child individually on our assessment days.  Thank you so much for making all of that possible.  I am so excited about the year ahead with all the wonderful young minds and personalities we have in our class!  If you were unable to attend Back to School Night, you can access my presentation here.  

I wanted to let you know about how we will be starting all of our curriculum units this year.  We have a lot of great learning to do!

Math
Our first unit is on properties of numbers and multiplication and division strategies.  We began the year reviewing different properties of numbers such as factors, multiples, square, and prime.  Next, we will be looking at a variety of ways to solve multiplication problems and to read and write story problems having to do with multiplication.  Our goal is to analyze a variety of strategies for multiplication and to find an efficient and accurate method for students to use in multi-digit problems.  We are really working on being flexible, critical thinkers and problem solvers so that we can question or own work, other people's strategies, and approach math in more than one way.

This week, we will begin having a nightly math sheet to complete that is due the next day.  Next week we will begin adding math fact practice to our homework routine.  Students will be expected to do math fact practice beyond the nightly math sheets for 30 minutes a week.  If you would like additional ways to practice math facts, please read this resource.

Reading
We are spending the first several weeks establishing our routine for reader's workshop and discussing metacognition - paying attention to our thinking while we read.  The first reading strategy we will focus on is using our schema and making connections to help us understand new text.  As fifth graders, we want to grow beyond just naming connections to our lives and other texts as we read.  Fifth grade readers should be able to discuss how confirming, modifying, or adding to schema help them understand their text more deeply.  Readers should also be able to make connections across a variety of texts and genres to make connections on theme, message, or content.

Students will be responsible for completing a reading log this week.  Students are expected to read 100 minutes a week as homework.  The log is due every Friday before school.  The link can be found on the homework tab of this blog.  Please help ensure that your child is reading at least 100 minutes a week with any kind of text!


Writing
This week, we will be finishing up one of my favorite beginning of the year writing assignments, titled "10 Questions".  It is based on the interviews that Time Magazine does in every issue.  Students will be interviewing themselves for a personal "10 questions" assignment.  These will all be composed and turned in through Google Classroom.  Much of our work this year will use Google Classroom, so a great activity to do at home with your child is to look through their Classroom work together.  Kids can access it anytime and anywhere.

Our first in-depth writing unit is on narrative writing.  We will spend a lot of time over the next few weeks generating ideas of where to get unique stories from our own lives such as time with special people, places, or milestones such as first times or last times of an experience, or a time that provoked a strong emotion.  You can ask your child about the ideas they have come up with and help share your own unique stories.  Students will also be developing stamina for writing by writing portions of the stories from their idea list every day.  We will be talking about how to raise the quality of our writing to show the significance of the moment and engage our readers.

Digital Citizenship Week
To continue to celebrate the fact that Gold Rush is 1-to-1 with technology, and to review being the importance of being a responsible digital citizen, we will be doing lessons this week around online responsibilities and safety.  Students have also brought home a technology device contract that I would like for you to review together and both sign.  A flyer went home last week about how kids are welcome and allowed to dress up for the week.  It can be accessed through the principal's blog or Thursday folder resources.

Social Studies
To kick off our study of United States geography, we will begin analyzing and learning about our country's regions.  This is a great time to discuss where you have been in the country, what you know about different states and regions, and resources and industries in each region.  We will culminate our study of geography with a fun activity around the NFL, so be on the lookout for that work in a few weeks.

I'm looking forward to diving deep into all these subjects with the kids.  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.  Thank you for all you do!

Monday, August 7, 2017

Welcome Survey

I am so excited to get to know all of the students and their families better!  Parents, please take a few minutes to fill out this welcome survey so you have a chance to tell me all about your special 5th grader!

2017-2018 Welcome Survey