Month: October 2021

October 11-15, 2021

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Don’t forget, Monday, October 11th is a student holiday!

Smile, picture day is Thursday, Oct. 14!  Picture information/envelopes were sent home on Friday, 10/8.   Please return envelopes on Thursday with payment information.  This is the picture that will be used for the Glen Allen Elementary yearbook.

We will have a garden lesson on Friday!

Our 1st Glen Allen House Spirit day was awesome!  Don’t forget EVERY Wednesday is House Spirit Day.  Show your house colors and connect with other house members throughout the school! 

Valiant – House Tharros

Optimistic – House Omuhle        

Innovative – House Aerie     

Compassionate – House Kokoro         

Evolving – House Kinyonga  

 

Here is the link to the County Gifted Programs website.  Gifted Programs Parent FAQs

Regency Square Mile Run is scheduled for October 31st!  To participate in this competition, students enter their school name when registering for the race (link available at www.livered.org/regency-mile).

IMPORTANT DATES

10/11 – Student Holiday/Staff Development 

10/14 – Math  Order of Operations Quiz

10/14 – Smile, it’s Picture Day! (return envelope with payment information)

10/15 – Word Trek Lesson 4 Vocabulary & Spelling Quizzes 

10/15 – States of Matter Checkup

 

MATH

We will continue practicing order of operations this week.  The test for this unit is scheduled for Thursday, October 14th.  Next we will be rounding decimals.  Please encourage your student to practice their multiplication facts.  It is super important for them to be able to retrieve products quickly when working problems with multiple steps.  Thanks for your help with this!

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

We are close to finishing Because of Mr. Terupt.  The students will be discussing the changes each of the main characters experienced through the story this week.  We will continue reading Running Out of Time.  Things are really starting to happen in this book, and it is getting exciting!  The students will learn to recognize internal and external conflicts along with conflicts that such as man vs. self, man vs. man, man vs. world, and man vs. nature.

The students will begin working on writing a five paragraph essay using the Bing, Bang, and Bongo method.  Step by step, we will work on introductions, detail paragraphs, and conclusions.  We will also practice using I and me correctly as well as continue editing sentences for CUPS.

The students are receiving their Work Trek list each week on Friday.  Some students may benefit from at least reading the words and definitions once a day.  Please have a conversation with your student regarding reading directions carefully on these quizzes.  I mention this each week and point out specific areas as well.  Please also encourage them to take the time they need to prepare for both quizzes.  They are using Quizlet in school to give them practice with the definitions.  I know that all of the students can be successful with Word Trek!  I have seen it happen every year!  🙂

 

SCIENCE

We will continue with our Matter unit this week.  The students will explore the phases of matter and the effects that temperature has on them.  We will look at the parts of an atom – protons, neutrons, and electrons.  There will be a Matter Check-up on Friday, October 15th.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will finish up Henrico County with Henrico’s economy.  Next is map skills and the five themes of geography.

 

 

October 4 – 8, 2021

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Wow, it’s hard to believe that October is already here!  We had a great week of learning! It was so exciting discovering what house all of the 5th graders were in last Monday and then finding out all the houses of all of the lower grades in the days that followed. 

If you haven’t sent in an index card with an inspirational message for your student on it, please do so Monday.  I will wait until Tuesday to had them out so that all students have one.  Thanks so much!

We have a fun science activity planned to review the phases of the moon.  Please be sure to let me know if you DO NOT want your child to eat the Oreos.  Feel free to send in an alternative, if you’d like. 

 

Next week we will have our Virginia Growth Assessments in reading and math.  The reading assessment will be on Thursday, 10/7 and the math assessment will be on Friday, 10/8.  There is nothing students need to study in preparation for these assessments.  The assessments will be utilized as a means for recognizing areas of strengths and weaknesses that will help to guide our instruction.

Homework:  We believe homework is essential for long term success with our 5th grade students.  The independent practice is so important to develop their understanding of the concepts.  Students are held accountable for completing homework assignments.  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.  It makes a big difference, and we appreciate you!

IMPORTANT DATES

10/5 – Earth, Moon, Sun Quiz

10/6 – Integers Quiz

10/7 – VA Reading Growth Assessment

10/8 –  GAES Spirit Night at Chipotle

10/8 – VA Math Growth Assessment

10/8 – Word Trek Quizzes List #3

10/11 – Student Holiday/Staff Development (No School for Students)

10/13 – Math Order of Operations Test

10/14 – School Picture Day

 

MATH

We will continue working with the order of operations this week.  Your student has notes in their notebook to help with homework.  Please continue to work with your child to master their multiplication and division facts as this is essential to the 5th grade math curriculum.  They should be able to recall their facts quickly.  The Portaportal site is an excellent resource for this.  

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

We will continue to read aloud Because of Mr. Terupt and focus on the plot this coming week.  We will develop an understanding of contrasts and contradictions with characters, as well as conflicts and resolutions in the plot.  The students will also look at literary devices such as flashbacks, foreshadowing, and cliff hangers.  We will also continue our novel study, Running Out of Time.  This novel is quite exciting with lots of twists and turns.  

Our end goal for fifth grade is writing a five paragraph essay.  This week we will focus on solid leads and conclusions for paragraphs.  The students will also be editing sentences for correct use of CUPS.

 

SCIENCE

In science we will wrap up our Earth, Moon, and Sun Unit with a fun activity with Oreo cookies on Monday and a quiz on Tuesday!  Be sure to let me know if you DO NOT want your student to eat the Oreos.  Feel free to send in an alternative if you’d like.  On Wednesday we will move into our matter unit. We will be focusing on making observations to identify materials based on their properties. We will also observe the differences between mixtures and solutions. 

 

SOCIAL STUDIES 

In our Henrico unit we are wrapping up the history of Henrico.  The students created very cool postcards last week on a historical location in Henrico.  🙂  Next, we will explore Henrico’s economy.