This Week in Room 33! Feb. 3-7

What to expect this week in 5th grade…

ELA: Within our book clubs, students are spending time trying to answer this big question→ How can we become informed and bring awareness to social issues around us? Students will brainstorm, plan, and work on implementing their ideas this week. I couldn’t be prouder of our journalists as we wrapped up our journalism mini-unit by creating our very own classroom digital newspaper! Check it out HERE!

We will continue to discuss our BIG question as we begin a NEW unit on argument and advocacy. We will be evaluating claims, reasons, and evidence that are presented in argument texts about debatable issues. Over the course of this unit, students will write a research-based opinion essay.

STEAM: We will be working through the second half of chapter 9.  Students will practice problem-solving by determining reasonable answers, estimating sums and differences, adding and subtracting mixed numbers, and subtracting with renaming.

In science, we are continuing the “Our Place in the Universe” unit. This week we will→   

• Observe and record changes in shadows during the day and use the data to understand that the sun’s apparent position in the sky is caused by Earth’s rotation on its axis and revolution around the sun.  
• Describe the pattern of the moon over a month’s time.

This Week in Room 33! Jan. 27-30

***Reminder- I am looking forward to our student-led conferences this Tuesday and Thursday. Please see the following link to confirm your time slot! January Student-Led Conferences

What to expect this week in 5th grade…

ELA:  Within our book clubs, students are spending time trying to answer this big question→ How can we become informed and bring awareness to social issues around us? We are analyzing the way different authors address and craft similar social issues in both literature and current events. Some book club discussion questions we are asking and exploring include:

• Who has power? Who is powerless? Why?
• How is power maintained? Who maintains it?
• Whose voice is heard? Whose is missing?
• Whose values are included? Whose values seem excluded?

This week we will also be working on drafting, revising/editing, and publishing our class newspaper for our journalism unit in writing.  We can’t wait to share the finished product with you! 

STEAM: We will be beginning Chapter 9: Adding and Subtracting Fractions.  We will be learning about rounding fractions, and adding/subtracting like and unlike fractions.  In our science lessons, we are asking the question, “How does Earth’s motion cause day, night, and the seasons?” as well as, “How does the appearance of the sun’s path change over time?”

This Week in Room 33! Jan. 21-24

***Reminder- Please make sure you have signed up for a January Student-Led Conference! January Student-Led Conferences- Sign Up HERE!

What to expect this week in 5th grade…

ELA: 

We are focusing on looking at social issues within our book clubs. We are looking at how paying attention to intense scenes and how different characters react to the situation, allow us to learn more about the issue.  Our book clubs are focusing on how the social issues might connect to one, or many characters in the book. We are also working in small groups reading articles on social issues, pushing our thinking beyond the text. 

We are continuing our journalism unit writing editorials and reviews. We are also interviewing others to include quotes in our articles. We will begin work on our classroom newspaper towards the end of the week. Our grammar focus this week is “What do endmarks do?”

STEAM: 

We will wrap up chapter 8 by comparing fractions and writing fractions as decimals and percents.

Students are responsible for showing you their Check My Progress scores on their Gmail (because of no school on Friday, we are taking the check in on Tuesday, scores will be released on Wednesday). The focus is always giving their best effort day in and day out, and showing off their hard work during these checks. We are also focused on learning from mistakes and understanding why they got a problem wrong. 

We are continuing to learn about how gravitational forces affect the solar system, including Earth. Ask your child how they would describe gravity?

This Week in Room 33! Jan. 13-17

***As a reminder, students should have a pair of earbuds or headphones at school to utilize when viewing videos and listening to audiobooks. Thank you for making sure your student has one at school! 

What to expect this week in 5th grade…

ELA: This week we will begin our social issues book club (we will begin on Tuesday!) and continue our journalism unit.  Students will work with their new book club group to analyze the way different authors address & craft similar social issues in both literature & current events.  In writing, students will keep working to perfect their reporting craft by focusing on keeping their articles short and concise.  

***Students should read their assigned book club book in school and at home. When they reach their stopping point, they can continue reading their choice books. I am looking forward to the amount of reading, deep thinking and conversing that will be happening in our classroom!

STEAM: We are continuing chapter 8 with lessons on simplest form, problem solving, least common multiple, and using the ladder method to help find the GCF, LCM, and simplest form. Students brought home their new Volume 2 math textbook last week. Please keep them home for extra practice when necessary. We will also be starting our next unit of study in science→ Our Place in the Universe!

This week in Room 33! Jan. 6-10

This Week in Room 33! Jan. 6-10

Welcome back and Happy New Year! Thank you SO much for all the sweet and thoughtful gifts.
I felt so spoiled and appreciated! I can't believe it is my last week of long-term subbing already!
Mrs. Schaefer will be back on Thursday, and I know the kids are so excited to see her! Thank you
for sharing your students with me over the last three months! I have truly loved getting to know
them and will miss them SO very much! I hope everyone enjoyed their winter break and that you
are all relaxed and ready for the 2nd half of 5th grade!

***As a reminder, students should have a pair of earbuds or headphones at school to
utilize when viewing videos and listening to audiobooks. Thank you for making sure
your student has one at school! 

What to expect this week in 5th grade…

ELA: We will be launching a new unit on social issues book clubs and we are excited to begin
a new writing unit on journalism! Students will be expected to read their assigned pages each
day/night and participate in daily discussions with their book club. Their homework each night
will include reading the pages that their group has decided on. This counts as their 20 minutes!
Students will learn what social issues are and how our reading experiences help us empathize with
characters and other people around us. In writing, students will practice observing events, taking factual
notes, and writing short news articles in order to retell the event and evoke emotion from their audience.

STEAM:  We are now in Volume 2 of our math series and starting chapter 8 on fractions and
decimals. This week our focus is on relating fractions and division. Please practice those basic
multiplication and division facts with your student- it is SO important to know them quickly in order
to efficiently perform these new skills. Thank you for all your hard work at home! Check out Math
Magician for extra practice. We will also begin our unit on the universe, focusing first on the
question,  what is the solar system? Our unit will be working towards how we analyze and
interpret data to write an opinion piece about where we want to spend our next birthday?

This week in Room 33! Dec. 9-13

This Week in Room 33! Dec. 9-13

This will be the last week to bring in any items for Helping Hands. 

What to expect this week in 5th grade…

ELA: We are continuing to work on our research report.  We are focusing on primary sources and citing sources within our reports.  Another important part of our writing process will be making sure to include our thinking by synthesizing across the texts we have read!  Research reports will be celebrated on Wednesday, December 18th before winter break.  

STEAM:  We will be reviewing chapter 5 and 6, multiplying and dividing with decimals, and having breakout sessions where students can move across the 5th grade classrooms to get more support or push their understanding.  We will also begin Chapter 7: Patterns and Expressions in math this week.  We will cover the topics of writing expressions and using the order of operations.  In science, be sure your ask your child how their data collection is going with tracking their water usage. Your child is working on an end of unit project where they are asked to track their water usage for a period of time. Between now and next Thursday (due Friday morning), they should choose 3 days to track their water usage and upload their data into their digital student notebook. They should also complete the reflection questions that follow this activity on the next page of their digital notebook. We will then use this data to develop a PSA to our Concord Flyer families about ways they can conserve water. 

This week in Room 33! Dec. 1-6

This Week in Room 33! Dec. 1-6

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and had a chance to relax and recharge. The holiday season is my favorite time of year :) I can't believe we only have 3 weeks (15 school days) before winter break and the end of 2nd quarter!

STEAM:  We are excited to begin dividing decimals this week!  We will focus on dividing

decimals with models, dividing decimals by whole numbers and decimals, as well as by the powers of 10.  In science, we will study how we can reduce our carbon footprint.

ELA: This week we will be researching individuals who impacted the Civil War. Each
student was assigned one Civil War individual to research, and we will use articles, videos,
and books to conduct our research.  We are focusing on note-taking strategies, as well as how
to determine if a website is an appropriate site to use for research.

Looking ahead: 

-Scholastic book fair is Wednesday-Friday this week. I will send students who bring money to purchase at the end of the day. 

-World Holiday Festival is this Friday. Please wear your holiday best attire as we celebrate all of the holiday traditions in our Concord community. 

-Saturday is Winter Festival and choir performance 9-12. Purchase your tickets here. 

Winter Party Update:

The 5th grade teachers will be hosting the upcoming winter party on December 20th. Throughout the morning, students will be allowed to mingle with all of their 5th grade friends in a variety of settings. Students will have access to board/strategy math games, arts and crafts, snap circuits, legos, robots borrowed from the library, and much more. For the morning, we ask that students bring their own snack and drink if they choose. Students will not be participating in the traditional "party time" outlined for the rest of the school. We will not need any parent volunteers that day.