I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving!  I am beyond thankful to be in such a loving and supportive community!  Glen Allen is an amazing place to be!  Thank you for sharing your children with me!

MATH

We will be working on converting fractions and decimals to percents this week.  The students have notes in their notebooks as well as the Student Resources folder.  Please encourage your student to use their notes while completing homework.

LANGUAGE ARTS

We will be back on our Word Trek schedule this week with homework due on Thursday and quizzes on Friday.  Context clues and text structure are our focus skills.  The students will also create a slideshow defining types of figurative language.  The slideshow will include an original example of each type and an illustration.  We will also work on word puzzles.

SCIENCE

This week we will review ecosystems and food webs from fourth grade.  The students will have notes in their notebooks as well as in the Student Resources folder.  This is a fun unit where the students typically have a lot of previous knowledge due to their love of animals!  🙂

SOCIAL STUDIES

There will be a Five Themes of Geography test on Thursday, December 3rd.  The students have notes in their notebooks and the Student Resources folder.  Geography vocabulary and concepts as well as the five themes will be covered on this test.  Next, we will start our travels across the United States with the Southeast.

Important Dates:

12/3 –  Five Themes of Geography Test

12/4 – Word Study Quizzes on List 10

We are officially in the second nine weeks!  The kiddos have done such a great job adjusting to the routines and expectations.  This week we have been talking about computer cameras.  They are aware that if I say, “Be sure your cameras are on,” they need to check to see if theirs is on.  I realize that some of the computers are wonky, but the students need to turn them back on when I remind them.  Having the camera on is for safety, but also so I can be sure they are engaged and understanding what we are working on.  The students really are doing a fabulous job with this already!  Thanks so much for your support with this.  🙂

Next week is a short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Please remember that HCPS has extended the return to school option until January, so after Thanksgiving Break we will maintain our current schedule.

MATH

We will complete some fun Thanksgiving math activities as well as finish our last round of stations.  When we come back from the holiday we will begin converting fractions and decimals to percents.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Due to the short week, we not have Word Trek next week.  The students will work on finishing their Thankful writing.  We will also read some Thanksgiving stories as well as our novel study, Running Out of Time.  Don’t forget, Turkey Disguise Projects are due on Monday!  I can’t wait to see these!

TECHNOLOGY

We will be using our social studies and science time to work through several digital citizenship lessons.  These involve scenarios around appropriate use of technology in and out of school.

Important Dates:

11/23 –  Tom or Tammy Turkey Project Due

11/25-27 –  Thanksgiving Break, School Closed

12/3 –  Five Themes of Geography Test

12/4 – Word Study Quizzes on List 10

Congratulations!  We have made it through the first nine weeks!  Thank you so much for all of your support as we have navigated these quite unusual waters this year.  I will keep you posted on the next transition of moving to in-person school as well.  I am feeling positive about it all and am so grateful that our class will stay together!  So happy to continue being all of the students’ teacher!

As we move into the second nine weeks, please encourage your student to use the slideshows as resources.  Everything that is expected of them is either in a slide, below the slideshow as a Schoology assignment, or on the calendar on the right hand side of our Homeroom Page.  Please know that we have discussed at length where things are.  So the students should be able to find what they need to complete when technology issues or absences arise.  I will not be reaching out to students  over and over again about missing assignments or assignments that need to be submitted in the second nine weeks and beyond.  They will know that something is missing when there is a 50 in PowerSchool.  All students should be able to check their own grades in PowerSchool at this point.  One of our goals in fifth grade is to develop the personal responsibility needed for students to be successful in middle school.  Please help them by requiring them to take on these responsibilities.  Another thing you can do to help is require them to read this blog.  Again, thank you so much for your help with this!  🙂

Important Dates:

11/18 Ocean Wheel Due

11/19 Ocean Unit Test with 4.9 Review included

11/20 Word Study Quizzes on List 9

11/23 Tom/Tammy Turkey Project Due

11/25-27: School Closed for Thanksgiving Break

12/9 New IB Writing Prompt Date (will be given virtually)

MATH

We will start the week with reviewing fractions.  We will begin with finding lowest common multiple and greatest common factor.  Then we will work with equivalent fractions and simplifying fractions.  Next we will move into converting decimals to fractions and fractions to decimals.  If your student needs work with multiplication facts this is a great time to practice.  Being fluent in multiplication facts will hugely help with fractions.  The students need to know their facts without thinking too hard.  Please get them on online games, use multiplication fact cards, or just give them facts while driving in the car, making dinner, any moment you may have.  Thank you so much for your help with this!

LANGUAGE ARTS

In writing we will work with homophones, figurative language, and persuasive writing.  Please make sure your child has started working on their Tom or Tammy Turkey! Tom/Tammy the Turkey Project  The expectations of this project are also linked to each homework slide until the 23rd.  The students should be doing the writing piece in Schoology.  The assignment can be found on the right hand side of our Homeroom Page on Schoology.  We will share our turkeys in class November 23rd & 24th.

We will be having Word Trek this week.  The list for Lesson 9 is posted in the Monday folder if your student would like to start on it this weekend.

In Reading we will work with making conclusions based on evidence from the text.  We will also continue reading Running Out of Time.  We will use this novel to make conclusions based on evidence from the text.  We will also add rising action to our plot map for this novel.  It is getting so good!

SCIENCE

Our Oceans Test is Thursday, November 19th.  We will review watersheds, food chains, and food webs from fourth grade this week.  All of these concepts will be on the test.  The students will have science homework on Wednesday to help them prepare for the test.  Please encourage them to also use resources on the portaportal and the Science page of this blog.  They also have access to study guides and notes in their digital My Oceans Notebook in their Google Drive.  In the Student Resources folder there are notes and a study guide as well.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will begin exploring the five themes of geography this week.  The students will learn what the five themes are and then brainstorm real-life examples of each theme in our classroom, school, and community.  One of the coolest things about the five themes is that it connects us all and allows us to learn more about each other.  This unit will then lead us to exploring each of the regions in the United States.

We had a wonderful week together again!  Thanks so much for all that you all are doing to make our class meetings and experiences happen.  🙂

 

From Mrs. Lucas:

Students will need TWO UNOPENED 16 oounce water bottles for PE class this coming week.

 

From Mrs. Harris:

The annual Scripps Spelling Bee at our school is going virtual! The first step to spelling bee participation is for parents/guardians to register for the Scripps National Spelling Bee’s online testing platform by visiting https://online-test.spellingbee.com.

You may find this tutorial  helpful as you walk through the registration process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htXzjpnMijc

Once you have registered, I will be able to assign the appropriate grade level test to your child. Online competitions will begin the week of November 16 and will continue until we have a school winner.

While we work through this new format, I ask you for your patience. Together we will navigate this exciting and voluntary event.

Theresa Harris     Spelling Bee Coordinator

 

We have another shortened week coming up.  On Thursday we will not log into Teams together, but students are required to complete the assignments in Schoology that day!  This is considered a full school day, and if students do not do the assignments they will be marked as absent.  Friday, November 13th is a student holiday to recognize Diwali.

Friday is also the last day of the first quarter!  Please look in Powerschool to see what work your child is missing.  I have also sent students messages in Schoology if they are missing assignments and verbally reminded them in class.  I cannot accept any work after Friday morning!

Please be sure you and your family complete the Student Intent Form before Sunday night!  This will ask you to indicate if your child will be returning to the school building on December 7th or remaining a virtual learner at home.  It is important that this information is collected so Mrs. Pruden can determine how best to safely accommodate all students’ learning preferences.  You will need to log into the Powerschool Parent Portal and click “online forms.”

The deadline for submitting IB applications has been extended to NEXT Friday, November 13th.  Please refer to Mrs. Sitter’s information in Schoology if your child would still like to apply.

Important Dates:

11/10  Decimal Computation Test

11/11   Ocean Floor & Motion Quiz

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

11/13  Student Holiday

End of Quarter 1

Final Day to submit IB applications

11/18 Ocean Wheel Due

11/19 Ocean Unit Test

11/23 Tom/Tammy Turkey Project Due

11/25-27: School Closed for Thanksgiving Break

 

MATH

We will be finishing up our Decimal Computation Unit with a test on Tuesday, Nov. 10th.  Your student has notes in their notebook to help prepare for this test.  There are also notes in the Student Resources folder.  Please encourage your student to use these notes doing homework and to get onto the portaportal and the web resources in the math folder of this blog.

LANGUAGE ARTS

We will not have Word Trek this week due to the shortened week.  We will continue working with summarizing and also look at the differences between tone and mode as well as explore literary devices such at cliff hangers, foreshadowing, flashbacks, and suspense.  Nearly all of these are prevalent in our novel study so it is the perfect time to apply this knowledge.  My Favorite Holiday essays are due on Monday at three o’clock.  Please check with your student to see if they have completed it and submitted it to me by then.

Your student has been assigned the Turkey Disguise Project.  We do these every year, and they are amazing!  This project is due on Monday, November 23rd.  We will be presenting these to the class.  I can’t wait to see them!  Please let me know if you have questions.

SCIENCE

We are moving along with our oceans unit! Students will be assigned an Ocean Wheel on Monday.  This is a great way to get students back into their notes to prep for the upcoming unit test on Thursday, November 19th.  The Ocean Wheels are due November 18th.  On Wednesday, we will have a quiz on the ocean floor and ocean motions of waves, tides, currents.  Your child will need to know the parts of the ocean floor and how to correctly label a diagram of the ocean floor.  They also need to know how waves, tides, and currents are formed and the differences between each.  Your student has notes in the notebook along with study guides in their My Ocean Notebooks, and the Student Resources folder.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will be finishing up map skills and geography vocabulary this week and then onto the five themes of geography.