Happy Friday, families!
We had a great week of learning in the Lyons’ Den! We had a guest from Henricopolis visit each 5th grade class this week. She did a great presentation on weathering, erosion, and deposition and had a fun game for students to play at the end demonstrating these concepts. To celebrate STEAM day today, we did a fun, hands-on lab with Skittles. Look at the fun we had learning:
Henricopolis Weathering Lesson:
STEM Skittles Lab:
Veterans Day in Monday, November 11. Students are working on a project to show their knowledge of this important day. For the GAES Veterans Day assembly students will have the opportunity to watch the program right in our classroom. The 1st grade chorus will be performing. Thank you to all veterans and active service members in the Cub family!
Henrico Christmas Mother
The GAES SCA is holding their annual canned food drive November 11 – November 21. Please consider donating non-perishable can or boxed food items. We will also be collecting hats and gloves for students in Henrico to help them stay warm as they board buses to school each morning this winter. In addition to providing a brighter holiday season to less fortunate families, we will continue our friendly competition between classes throughout the school. The winner of the “Can Queen” will be announced at the 2nd grade winter performance in December. Thank you for helping us show the Glen Allen Cub Way and spreading love to area families!
Field Trip Info:
We’re excited to share information about our first field trip to the Science Museum of Virginia on December 6th. Permission slips will be sent home on Monday, 11/11. Please note that payments can now be made online. Permission slips and payments are due by November 20th. If you need financial assistance, please contact me directly and we can discuss alternate funding options.
We are excited about this trip as museum staff will be doing a demonstration in anticipation of our upcoming sound unit. Students will get to experience a wonderful STEAM video in the big dome theater! In between, students will get to explore the engaging exhibits throughout the museum.
Interested in chaperoning for the field trip? Each class is allotted a certain number of chaperones. To be considered for a chaperone position on field trips you must have already completed the GAES volunteer form and training (https://glenallenes.henricoschools.us/parent-resources/volunteer-information/). Please do not submit chaperone payments until I have contacted you regarding this. Thank you!
Tree Lighting Performance:
We’re excited to announce that the 5th Grade Chorus will continue the tradition of performing at the Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center’s Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 7th. Students only need to be there from 4:15 to around 5:00 pm to perform 3 songs. Mr. Mills and the students have been working hard in anticipation of this event! Please click on this Tree Lighting Letter from Mr. Mills for additional details about this fun-filled event.
11/12 Five Themes of Geography Test
11/15 Weekly vocabulary quizzes
11/18 Student half-day
11/20 Tom the Turkey due
11/20 Field Trip Permission Slips & Fees due
11/22 IB Writing Prompt
11/27-29 Thanksgiving Holiday – school closed
12/6 Science Museum field trip
12/7 Tree Lighting Ceremony at Cultural Arts Center
We have so much talent in the Lyons’ Den!
I am so proud of Payton and Victor for having the courage and drive to run for a Glen Allen Student Council (SCA) position! Congratulations to Payton for being elected as the SCA president! Victor will serve as our classroom representative for SCA meetings.
Congratulations to Anna Berit and Kenai for representing our classroom in completion of the Henrico Historical Awareness project. Kenai’s project was selected as the school winner and she will go on to represent GAES at the awards program in December. Good luck Kenai!
Classroom News:
Math: Next week we will begin our fractions unit! We will start by learning how to convert decimals to fractions, and then reducing fractions using the Greatest Common Factor technique. We will also quickly review the Least Common Multiple lesson from 4th grade in order to create “like” fractions. Please continue to review the interactive notebook so the students can stay on top of what they learn in class!
Math 5/6: Students will continue to practice all of the 5-6 math topics: exponents, absolute value, perfect squares & square roots, and integers. The portaportal has many links to keep these skills strong!
Reading: This coming week, we will be making connections to the text we are reading. We will discuss text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-media, and text-to-world connections. During reading stations, we will reinforce our inferencing skills with an independent inferencing test. We also have our weekly vocabulary homework packet and Friday quizzes! This week’s words all focus on describing weather.
Our November Cubs Read calendar/log was sent home last week. Students who turned in the October calendar earned a No Laps pass for recess! This marking period, we will send home a calendar/log each month. We will have a special day at the end of the 9 weeks to celebrate those who read above-and-beyond throughout the marking period.
Science: Our oceans unit was fantastic. The ocean wheels students turned in Wednesday were gorgeous! Next week, we will be reviewing animals and ecosystems from 4th grade. As you may recall, the SOL test this spring covers 4th and 5th grade content. While we review 4th grade material so students are refreshed and prepared, we do not reteach it or spend a lot of time on 4th grade topics. Please make sure your child studies the notes we glue in before our assessment.
Social Studies: We spent some time at the end of this week discussing Veterans Day and why citizens celebrate this holiday. Students are working on creating their own seal to honor veterans. We will continue with the 5 Themes of Geography (MR HELP) this week, but digging deeper with an in school project. Students will have a test on Tuesday on the 5 Themes. The rest of the week and into the following week, we will be working on a RAFT project in class. Students will choose one theme, do research, and complete a creative assignment demonstrating their understanding of one of the 5 Themes and how to apply them.
Writing: We hope your child is enjoying the Tom the Turkey activity! Please reach out to me if your child needs materials in order to complete this assignment. Keep in mind that disguised turkeys and the written descriptions are due November 20th.
This marking period, we will focus on how to compose great stories and compositions using the prewriting strategies we perfected in Q1. We’ll promote strong vocabulary, varied sentence structure, and correct grammar. Students should be able to captivate the reader with a strong introduction and then keep readers interested with amazing vocabulary selections.