Please note next week is a short week as Tuesday is Election Day, and Wednesday is now a student holiday as staff prepares the school building for students’ upcoming return. Your child will have assignments to work on for me on Wednesday during the school day. We will walk through directions together on Monday, and I will have all the materials already posted. Your child is welcome to tackle these tasks as they wish over Tuesday and Wednesday. Students can also use PortaPortal to practice and reinforce concepts we are working on or work on Lexia or Dreambox to tackle their weekly goals.

From Mrs. Lucas:  Students need 1 piece of paper and a pack of colored markers (R, G, B, Y, O, P, Black) for PE next Tuesday.

From Mrs. Siler:  Students need a wrapped piece of candy or granola bar to sketch on Friday.

Important Dates:

11/2   Parent Teacher Conferences by appointment

11/3   School Closed for Election Day

11/4   Student Asynchronous Learning Day (complete assignments in Schoology, no logging into Teams)

11/6   PE assignments due for Mrs. Lucas

11/11  Decimal Computation Test

11/12  Student Asynchronous Learning Day (complete assignments in Schoology, no logging into Teams)

11/13  School Closed for Diwali/end of Quarter 1

11/17  Physical Landforms quiz

11/25-27:  School Closed for Thanksgiving Break

MATH

We will continue to practice al forms of decimal computation in the week.  There will be a test on decimal computation on Wednesday, November 11th.  Your student has notes and practice in their notebooks and in the Student Resources folder.  Please be sure that your student is completing their homework with their notes.  They can also practice on the portaportal and the math page of this blog.  Next we will work with multiplication and addition properties.

LANGUAGE ARTS

We will finish up our Favorite Holiday writing this week.  The students have been working on the rough drafts and working with feedback to make improvements.  The students are also finishing their Because of Mr. Terupt projects.  We will continue reading Running Out of Time.  Our focus skills are finding the main idea and summarizing.  Both skills require the students to find important details that support.  We will do several activities with our novel study to enhance these skills.  The book reports look great!  I am excited to dive in and read their question responses and really look at the projects!

SCIENCE

I am so proud of the students’ weather test scores! I can tell they really used the materials in Student Resources to study. Get ready for one of the best units in science – Oceans!  We kicked off the unit by talking about the ocean floor and we were amazed at how it looks just like the land across the US with mountains, valleys, and plains. We will review this next week and start discussing ocean movement (waves, currents, and tides). Our oceans unit is really fun, but there is a lot of content. It will carry over into the second quarter. Please encourage your child to review notes in the Student Resources–Science folder and the portaportal for fun videos and games as we work through this unit.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will spend some more time practicing longitude and latitude and how to find specific coordinates on a given map.  The students will also create a picture dictionary for specific physical landforms.  There will be a quiz on these landforms on Tuesday, November 17th.

It’s been a great week!  Thanks so much for taking the time to read this blog!  Please encourage your student to read this as well.  🙂

Mrs. Lucas is asking everyone participate in PE Success Week and attempt these activities together as a family:

This year Success week is October 26th-30th. This program is aimed at motivating students, families, and communities to participate in a physically active lifestyle. This event is to help individuals become aware of heart-health related fitness components, to promote self-esteem by acknowledging each student’s achievement, and to establish a plan for participation in physical activities at home, school and the community. Remember being active is a lifestyle. Families are encouraged to upload a photo or a video in the google slide which can be found in the link provided: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1shIrpa0k3KJow52kM0iJrTbNsK15__Qq6ML8LmoaKrM/edit#slide=id.p

This year while in Physical Education class, students will participate in fall fitness fun activities which will incorporate the 5 components of fitness. The schedule for success week is below and will consist of the following events:

Mouthful Monday-26th: Write down everything you eat on a piece of paper and bring it with you to PE class. Ask yourself, “Am I eating a variety of colors at each meal?” If you aren’t, then you may want to change your eating habits. It’s important to eat healthy to develop strong bones, muscles and teeth. Wear a different color on each part of your body to remind yourself to eat a colorful meal.

Team Jersey Tuesday-27th: Wear your favorite team jersey. Participate in a family plank challenge and see who can hold the plank the longest, then take a relaxing walk in the evening with your family.

Workout Wednesday-28th: Wear your fitness clothing and sneakers. Do 25 jumping jacks, 8 push-ups, 10 burpees, 20 mountain climbers and jog or walk a mile with your family.

Thirsty Thursday-29th: Drink lots of water.  It does the body good!  Did you know that about 70% of your body is made of water? Check the label on your liquids. Does it have any sugar? If it does, reduce the amount of sugar you are drinking. Wear light blue to remind yourself to drink lots of water. Go on a bike ride with a friend or family member.

Flexible Friday-30th: School Spirit Day. Wear school spirit colors and be part of a winning team.  Practice a few stretching exercises with your family. Being flexible prevents injuries when participating in sports. Relax and enjoy the weekend.

ALL Students need a piece of white paper and something to write or draw with in PE.

Important Dates:

10/27  Science Weather Test

10/30  Mystery Book Reports Due

10/30  Word Trek Quizzes Lesson #7

11/2   Parent Teacher Conferences by appointment

11/6   PE assignments due for Mrs. Lucas

MATH

We will continue with decimal computation this week.   Students have notes in their notebooks.  There are also notes and examples in the Math Folder in the Student Resources Folder.  Please continue to encourage them to use their notes while doing their homework.

Dreambox – Families, please click on this link for directions on how to use the Family Dashboard to see your child’s progress in this uniquely tailored math program. The weekly goal is 5 lessons.  Each lesson should take 8-15 minutes MAX.  If students are taking longer to complete a lesson, they may be “perusing” lessons rather than persisting through the content. It’s okay if they don’t know the answers! Dreambox will tailor lessons for them as it gains information on their current skill level. Dreambox Home Learning Guide

LANGUAGE ARTS

This week we will talk about identifying the main idea and summarizing important details in reading. We have really been focusing on using evidence in the text to support our thinking and answers to questions. We will continue this by using key details to defend our choice of main idea and to create a solid summary. 

We finished Because of Mr. Terupt this week.  The kids loved it!  This week they will start the final project for this book.  It involves choosing one character and displaying the character development that occurs from the beginning of the book to the end.  They will have several choices to do this, including becoming a character on Flipgrid, creating a Google slideshow, writing journal entries, or their own project choice.  These are going to be so cool! 

Your child should be finishing their book reports.  These are due October 30th.  Your child needs to share their response questions with me along with a picture of their project. Students will be given an option to share their projects with the class, but it is not required.  I am excited to see their projects and read their response questions!

SCIENCE

Our weather test is Tuesday, October 27th.  We will review in class Monday.  We will begin our oceans unit on Friday.  This is one of our team’s favorite units to teach.  There will be a study guide and notes in the Science folder in the Student Resources Folder.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Having covered terminology, parts of a map, and map types this past week, we will be digging into reading maps. Our focus this week will be on longitude and latitude and using the “global grid” to find locations on a map.  

Thanks so much to everyone who was able to join me last night for Back to School Night Part 2.  If you weren’t able to attend or want to double check anything I have posted the slideshow in the Family Resources folder on our Homeroom page.  Please let me know if you have questions at any time.

From Mrs. Lucas: Students will need a paper ball and 2 tennis shoes on their feet this week. 1 shoe they will be wearing and the other shoe they will be catching.

PTA Reflections:  Use the arts to share your personal Reflections on this year’s theme: I Matter Because…Submissions are due to Amy Nolan and Lisa Ross by November 1, 2020. All submissions must be done virtually and must be submitted with attached entry form to:  lkross12@yahoo.com or apicknolan@gmail.com  I attached the PTA poster to the email I sent on Friday afternoon.

Important Dates:

10/22  Decimals Test – place value, ordering and comparing, and rounding

10/23  Word Trek Quizzes Lesson 6 – This is a review unit

10/27   Weather Unit Test

10/30  Mystery Book Reports Due

11/6  PE assignments due for Mrs. Lucas

MATH

This coming week we will begin working with decimal computation.  The students will have examples and notes in their notebooks.  There are also notes on each operation in the Student Resources folder.  I will be encouraging them to use the notes while completing classwork and homework.  The biggest trick to decimal computation is that pesky decimal.  When adding and subtracting, the decimals need to be lined up.  Not so with multiplication and division.  The students will do really well if they have the notes in front of them and, therefore, practice correctly.  There will be a test on decimals on Thursday, October 22nd.  It will include decimal place value, rounding decimals, and comparing and ordering decimals.  Homework will help prepare students for the assessment so completing it correctly will be important.  The students have examples of what’s on the test in their notebooks, and there are notes in the Math folder in the Student Resources folder.  We will also continue working through double digit division in small groups.

LANGUAGE ARTS

We are in the last chapters of Because of Mr. Terupt, and the students are sad to see it end!  It is such an emotional book that allows the students to see true character development as well as recognize that everyone is dealing with something.  Their final project for this novel is going to involve choosing a character to explore.  They will have several choices from Flipgrid videos to Google slideshows to using a newspaper template and everything in between to show how their character has changed throughout the story and the events that led to the changes.  They will receive a rubric and project paperwork outlining expectations and possibilities.  I am super excited to see what they will do!  It is going to be amazing!!

Our Word Trek unit this week is a review unit.  It covers all of the words from units 1-5.  The homework will walk them through each unit helping them to remember and prepare.  The spelling quiz will have 30 words, 6 from each unit, on it.  You can find the definitions for these units in the Past Weeks folder on the Homework slides.  The fabulous news is that that our Spelling City subscription has been renewed!  I encourage the students to get on it as soon as possible to start playing games to review.  Their username is their computer login and the password is gaesspell.  We will also use it in class.  All students are expected to use this program.  It is a great program and definitely helps them prepare.  My suggestion for how to do Word Trek home has always been to complete one page each night.  Then students should get on Spelling City with the definitions in front of them and play games for 10 minutes or so.  That way they are not waiting until Thursday night to review the words.  Please let me know if you have questions.

We will continue reading Running Out of Time in our small groups.  It is getting very exciting!  We will also focus on Aha! moments, text features in nonfiction, and theme.  The Mystery Book Report is due on Friday, October 30th.  I continue to encourage the students to use their free time in class to work on this.  Please remind them that there may be questions or parts of their project that they can start before finishing the book.  Leaving all of the response questions and the project to the last week can be a miserable experience for everyone.  On the nights that they don’t have much homework are a great time to do something on the book report.  Please let me know if you have questions about the book report.

We will continue working on My Favorite Holiday using bing, bang, and bongo.  They used a graphic organizer to do their planning and write the introduction and conclusion this past week.  This can be found on their Google Drive if you’d like to check it out.  This is a great method for expository writing and might be something they can use on December 1st when doing the Moody application prompt.

SCIENCE

We will continue reviewing the fourth grade unit on Weather.  As this is previously taught material, we will move through it fairly quickly.  We have reviewed clouds, the weather they bring, and weather tools.  This week we will look at storms, fronts, and predicting the weather.  There will be an open notes classwork assessment on Thursday.  Your student should have notes in their notebook.  There are also notes in the Student Resources folder and they have a study in their digital My Weather Notebook on their Google Drive.  Please encourage your student to use the portaportal as well as the games on the Science page of this blog to review as well.  Being engaged in class will also greatly help bring this material back to the front of their brains.  The test on this unit is on Tuesday, October 27th.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We have finished Henrico County are moving on to map skills.  This week we will look at different types of maps and what they show.  The students will also review the parts of a map and how to read it as well as focus on geography terms.  Next week we will begin working with longitude and latitude.

We had another great week!  What a beautiful week weather-wise!  Happy fall!  🙂

Please continue to refer to Schoology as project due dates and classwork assignments are posted/adjusted in that platform. If your child had technology problems or was out for part of the instructional day, you can always click through the posted daily slideshow and see what we did in class. Materials used or classwork completed will be linked in that day’s slideshow, and your child can get caught up.

Please reinforce the need for your student to stay focused during instruction and when completing independent work.  There are lots of distractions at home, I know.  Some students are clearly on other screens, playing with pets, working on something other than what they are supposed to be, and having conversations with people in their environments.  We need them to be on task, and that includes art, music, P.E., and library.  Assignments are not being turned in on time and some have mistakes that I know could be corrected with focus.  I don’t want their grades to suffer.  Thank you so much for your help with this!  🙂

This week Mrs. Sitter came to talk about the IB program and the process for applying. If you have any questions, please check out the resources on her Schoology page: https://henrico.schoology.com/course/2947158811/materials?f=273739538 or you may email her directly.

Important Dates:

10/13 Science Test (Earth Unit & 4.9 Resources)

10/15 Virtual Back to School Night! Sessions at 6:00 & 6:45 (same info shared at both)

10/16 Word Trek Quizzes on Word List #5

10/30 Mystery Book Reports Due

11/6 PE assignments due for Mrs. Lucas

MATH

This coming week, we will be reviewing place value and then move on to rounding decimals.  Students have notes and a place value chart in the Student Resources–Math folder for reviewing.  Please encourage your student to use their notes when they complete homework.   I want them to practice correctly rather than struggle with it and have to re-train their brain the next day.  Also, practicing multiplication facts for those who don’t readily know them will really help as we begin double digit division and then also move into decimal computation.  

LANGUAGE ARTS

Next week’s Word Trek lists are linked to today’s slideshow, October 9th.  The bing, bang, and bongo was introduced, and we will begin the writing process with our first essay on favorite holidays.  I will be walking them through the process and then offering them feedback on their typed rough drafts.

We will continue reading Running Out of Time and applying what we have practiced with character development, conflicts, and elements of plot.  We will also continue identifying theme and recognizing character traits in passages.  Students should be working on their book reports.  I have mentioned several times that there are some questions that can answered before the book is finished.  I suggest that they answer those and not leave the response questions to answer all at one time.  I also suggest using sticky notes or index cards to write a few sentences summarizing each chapter as they finish it.  Remind them that they can always work on their book report when they finish classwork.  It’s a great way to use their extra time in class.

SCIENCE 

Our unit test is on Tuesday, October 13th.  Students should review their Earth study guide, their pages of notes in the Rock Digital Notebook, and other resources in the Science folder in Student Resources.  This unit test covers layers, plate tectonics, weathering, erosion, deposition, rock types, rock cycle, fossils, and also reviews last year’s unit on natural resources and human impact on the Earth.  We have been reviewing all of these topics this past week.  Monday night’s homework will be really helpful and should be completed with the study guide.  Next, we will review Weather from fourth grade.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will finish up the government of Henrico County next week.  The students will design a new county seal that reflects modern Henrico County.  Next, we will dive into map skills and geography terms!

We packed a lot into a short week! And it is hard to believe that October is already here.  

Mrs. Sitter will be joining our class on Monday to discuss the application process for Moody’s IB program.  I will send and link that information on Monday afternoon.

From Mrs. Lucas: I added a black folder in Schoology that says  5th grade assignments.  Students just need to click on their grade level folder. The fitness challenge assignments along with detailed directions are all there. All challenges are due by 11/6/20. We are currently reviewing them in PE class each week.

HOMEWORK POLICY

We believe homework is essential for long term success with our 5th grade students.  Starting next week, students will be more accountable for completing homework assignments. Teachers will be reviewing homework and entering homework grades per subject as applicable. All students start with a perfect score of 100 in the homework assignment category. Each missing assignment results in a deduction of 10 points for that subject’s overall homework grade.  Parents, thank you for all the support you are providing with the virtual lessons and homework. It makes a big difference, and we appreciate you! 

Teams Update

https://video.link/w/x0ejb how-to video to open Teams App on Chromebooks

Important Dates  

10/7  Order of Operations Test

10/8  Exponent Quiz

10/9  Word Trek Quizzes Lesson #4

10/13 Earth Unit and Natural Resources Test

10/15  Virtual Back to School Night – Session 1 at 6:00 and Session 2 at 6:45

10/30 Mystery book report due

11/6 PE assignments due (see note from Mrs. Lucas)

MATH

There will be an order of operations test on Wednesday, October 7th.  We will be continuing to practice in class and with homework to prepare for this assessment.  Please remind your student to use their notes when completing homework.  There will also be a quiz on exponents on Thursday, October 8th.  The quiz will include perfect squares, identifying the base number and the exponent, writing exponents in standard form, and finding the value of numbers with exponents.  There are notes in the Student Resources folder and in their notebooks.  We will also continue to practice this with classwork and homework.  On Friday, we will begin reviewing long division in preparation for dividing with double digit divisors.

Additionally, the county has provided Dreambox for students to work on math skills independently.  I assign some lessons, and the program assigns others based on student progress.  Our goal is to complete 4 lessons per week.  We’ll have some class time to do this, but it will also be included in our homework to ensure we finish the 4 lessons.

READING

In Reading, we will continue working with Running Out of Time.  The suspense of this novel is fantastic!  We will continue exploring internal and external conflicts and identifying man vs. self, man vs. man, man vs. world, and man vs. nature.  Discovering theme is our new skill this week.  We will also continue working through elements of plot, inferences, and character traits.  The mystery book report is due Friday, October 30th.  If your child has not had their book approved by me they need to do so as soon as possible.  They need to find a traditional mystery book for this assignment.  We discussed last week that students who have caught up on classwork can work on their book reports in class.  This could be reading their book or typing response questions on their Google drive account.  All students should be bringing their book report book and another book to read if this one is finished every day to school.  The book report requirements are linked to the homework slide each day.  Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this.

LANGUAGE

The new Word Trek lists will be linked to the Friday slide found in the Student Resources folder in Past Weeks for those who are interested in getting a head start.  We are going to begin working on writing five paragraph essays this week.  Students will be using the Bing, Bang, and Bongo method for expository writing.  This method lays out a clear plan that is easy to follow.

SCIENCE

Continuing with rocks, we will discuss the rock cycle in more detail.  We will investigate fossils and discuss how they tell us about Earth’s changes.  Additionally, we will remind the students of the fourth grade unit on Natural Resources.  A study guide for this topic can be found in the Student Resources – Science folder.  This connects nicely with the Earth unit, and the county has prepared a comprehensive assessment that includes both topics.  The unit assessment for these combined topics will be on Tuesday, October 13th. Please have your child tell you facts from their notebooks, reread the digital notebook, review the study guides, and use the portaportal to supplement their knowledge.  Science is amazing, and this unit is so relevant as we can see things all around us that connect to our lessons!

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will finish up Henrico’s economy this week and move into Henrico government.  The students are learning a ton of information about Henrico County!