This Week in Room 33! Feb. 24-28

What to expect this week in 5th grade…

ELA: Students are continuing to read their book club books and hold thought-provoking and student-led book club discussions. Students are drafting their research-based argument essays with a focus on balancing evidence with analysis (our thinking), acknowledging counterclaims, offering responses/rebuttals, and appealing to the audience. We will be using this Opinion Writing Checklist to revise/edit our work. We are studying apostrophes as a grammar focus. We are learning and noticing how we use apostrophes to show either ownership or contractions. 

STEAM: As a reminder, students can log into their Gmail to view their math check in scores and share/discuss with you! We are busy working on dividing fractions this week! Students are not just learning the steps, they are learning how to show visually with models in order to truly understand the algorithm. I couldn't be prouder of the math discussions we have each day! 

In science, we are working on our end of unit project as we are answering the following question→ How can we analyze and interpret data to write an opinion piece about where we want to spend our next birthday? We will utilize scientific data/research as our evidence to support our reasons why.

This Week in Room 33! Feb. 10-13

We will be having a small Valentine's party in our room to celebrate on Thursday! A snack will be provided. We are encouraging students to bring in any board/card games they would like to play during the afternoon. 

We will be jumping for Kids’ Heart Challenge from 11:25-12:15!

Students are more than welcome to bring in valentines for all classmates, however, they cannot contain any food/candy product. Please see the class list below- we have 25 students! Students also may bring in a decorated box to collect their Valentines if they would like to, or we have plastic baggies they can use here. 

Thank you so much!

Isabel A., Noah A., Lily C., Kaden C., Will D., Elliott D., Lucas F., Michael F., Joy F., Caroline F., Luke G., Jillian H., Emily I., Gus J., Sydney J., Hudson K., Amelia L., Gwen O., Charlie P., Joshua R., Kate R., Aidan S., Kash S., Kyra S., Rose S.

What to expect this week in 5th grade…

ELA:  We are researching debatable issues as we study arguments and advocacy! This week we will continue to organize an ethical research life to investigate an issue within research teams. We are working on analyzing our evidence, staking a claim for one side of the argument, and creating a thesis statement. After organizing our research into reasons/evidence to support our claim, we will draft our argument essay with a focus on adding powerful quotations later this week.

STEAM: In math, we will begin ch. 10 with lessons on understanding parts OF a number and multiplying whole numbers and fractions. In Science, we are exploring what makes a star seem bright to us.

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.