Happy New Year!!! I am so thrilled about the exciting possibilities in store for 2020!
The last school day of 2019 was a blast! Thanks so much to all of the parents who made it possible for us to have such a fantastic day! A huge thanks for all of the great gifts! Although thank you notes were given out on Friday, I realize they may not have made it home. 🙂 Please know that I feel super blessed to be in such a generous and supportive community as Glen Allen!
The science fair is on the way! Students brought home a flyer with all the details, plus some ideas and resource links for experiments. Please complete the online registration form so the PTA can get an accurate count for planning. The PTA will supply a trifold for each participant. Use this link to sign-up if you haven’t already. https://tinyurl.com/yahxrs9W
We are gearing up for the 5th Grade Chorus performance, “Gotta Be Jazz,” in February. Mr. Mills has supplied the music for students to practice at home: Gotta Be Jazz. Enjoy!
MATH
We will work with probability this week. We will start with reviewing basic probability vocabulary along with finding probability in data sets. Then we will move into tree diagrams and the fundamental counting principle. By the end of the week, we will be working with line plots and stem and leaf plots. The Math Benchmark will be given on Thursday, January 30th and Friday, January 31st. We will be reviewing in class and with homework in order to prepare for this assessment. The students will be reminded to take their math notebooks home with them each evening to have the notes they need to complete homework correctly. Please continue to encourage them to use the resources on the math page of this blog as well as the portaportal. https://portaportal.com/member/GAES5thGrade Weekly Math (green logic puzzle) is due on Wednesday, January 8th.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Word Trek will be passed out on Monday. Author’s purpose, compare and contrast, and context clues are the skills we will be focusing on this week. The students will apply these skills with Esperanza Rising as well as other passages and activities. The students will work in partner groups to make a context clue poster using their Word Trek words. They will also begin a context clue booklet where they will invent words. The invented words will then be used in context in order for the reader to discern meaning. The Reading Benchmark will be given on Thursday, January 23rd and Friday, January 24th.
SCIENCE
We will be reviewing the Plant Unit (4.4) this week. The students will get review notes for their notebooks. In Language they will get a Plant RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic). They will choose two from six choices and write on a particular “piece” of this review material. They will also work with a partner to construct a labelled flower using a variety of materials. They will brainstorm and design together first and construct their flower by Friday. This is going to be super cool! There will be a quiz on Plants on Wednesday, January 15th.
SOCIAL STUDIES
The Southeast Region is our focus again this week. The students will begin the Pack Your Bags project. They will work with a partner to create a suitcase (manila folder) that highlights pertinent information about their chosen state in the Southeast Region. There will also be a quiz on Chapter 6 vocabulary on Thursday, January 9th. Your student has these words in their social studies notebook already. The students will need to fill in the correct vocabulary words without a word bank.
Important Dates:
1/9 – Chapter 6 Southeast Vocabulary Quiz
1/15 – Plants Quiz 4.4
1/16 – Science Fair 6:15-7:30
1/20 – School Holiday – school closed for MLK Day
1/23-24 – Reading Benchmark
1/24 – End of Marking Period 2
1/30-31 – Math Benchmark