5th Grade Newsletter
January 26, 2014
Upcoming Dates:
January 31- Bagging for Bucks
February 2- Parent Teacher Conferences 4-6pm
February 3- Parent Teacher Conferences 4-6 pm
February 5- Parent Teacher Conferences 3-6 pm
February 6- No School
February 13- No School Teacher work day
February 16-No school Presidents Day
MATH:
Ms. Blankenship - Our Unit 2 test is on Tuesday, January 27. The test will cover place value; rounding and comparing decimals; reading and writing decimals; adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals; as well as multiplying and dividing whole numbers. A study guide was sent home last week that students can use to study. On Wednesday we will pre-test for our unit on fractions. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at bblankenship@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext. 4321.
Mrs. Watson- We will have our Unit 2 test on Tuesday, January 27. Students have a study guide they completed last week in class they can use to study. The test will cover multiplying and dividing whole numbers; adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals; place value; and comparing, rounding, and writing decimals. We will pre-test for Unit 3-Fractions on Wednesday. As we are testing, please make sure students are getting plenty of sleep and have a good breakfast. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me at swatson@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext 4319. You can also check out our class webpage to explore the topics we’ve been covering in class.
SCIENCE:
We will continue working on our Space and the Solar System unit with talking about the 8 different moon phases, their names as well as what each phase looks like. Students will have a quiz this Friday regarding the content from last week and this week. The oreo cookie moon phase project will be on Thursday so please send any oreos in on or before that date.
We have also started working on a Solar System Travel Flyer project and will be making “Travel Books” when we are finished with them. Each student has been put into groups of 2 and assigned one object from our solar system. They will be required to research, and then write persuasive reasons why someone should come visit their location “if it were possible to do so”.
****As part of this unit, we will be learning moon phases and doing a moon phase activity using Oreo cookies. If you are able to send in any packages of oreos for this project, it would be greatly appreciated. Please send them in by this Thursday.****
*Homework starts this week for extra credit. This week’s homework is language. I STRONGLY recommend that students complete the homework. EVERYONE can use extra credit. The reading logs are due on Friday. Reading logs are homework and for a grade.
Writing Fictional Narratives is the title of our unit. You can encourage your student by asking them to describe their day with as many adjectives and descriptive phrases as possible.Feel free to read and revise your student’s fictional narrative at home. Encourage your students to review the grading rubric he or she has in order to earn the best possible score. I hope to finish this unit by Tuesday, the 27th. Students should be at 48% of their goal by the end of this week. Please be here as much as possible and let me know what I can do for you! Please remember, if you would like to contact Mrs. Shultz you can do so by writing a note in the red folder, calling me at x4292 or emailing kshultz@stjschools.org.
Sandusky: This week we are diving into our Argumentative Essay. Tuesday students must come to class with a topic (approved by a parent- with a signature) and prewriting completed. If students do not come in with either, a topic will be assigned to them. We will be going step by step this week formulating our claim, completing our research, and creating our “right hook” (attention grabber), and “knock out” (conclusion). Students will be looking at examples, to form a clear understanding of a competent essay. The essay will have 5 parts; the introduction, 2 supportive reasons, the counterclaim/rebuttal, and the conclusion. We will also be reviewing language pieces to incorporate into our writing throughout the week. Reading logs are due Friday, they are worth 5 points apiece, and they must have a parent signature. Feel free to contact me at: bsandusky@stjschools.org, or 573-265-2300 ext: 4294 (my plan time is 2:00-2:50, if you call during school hours I may not be available to pick up, but you can leave me a message.)
Engelbrecht: This week we are continuing with Unit 4 America in Conflict. A Ballad of the Civil War and Outrageous Women of the Civil War is what we will be reading this week.. We will be identifying and discussing points of view. Our read aloud is Underground Man. In language we will be reviewing symbolism and writing a poem using figurative language.. In writing we will be creating our civil war character and writing to historical fiction prompts pretending to be that character. READING LOGS DUE Monday!! If you have any questions please email me at lengelbrecht@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext: 4293.
