Wow! I can't believe we are already at Memorial Day weekend! The end of the year is flying by! I apologize for not updating recently. It has just been super busy in our room and I tend to forget to update as much when we get to this point of the year. I will do my best to update at least one more time before the end of the year, but forgive me if I don't! Anyways, we have been super busy doing many projects and activities... take a look below!
Things To Note:
Have a relaxing, long weekend!
- I/E: Students wrapped up their last project about a specific country they chose to research. They did this through either a poster or google slide that they then presented to the class. It was awesome learning more about countries all over the world! This week, we started a new project called a "Passion Project," or "Genius Hour." Essentially the purpose of this project is for students to choose a topic that they enjoy or want to know more about. They then research questions using a variety of sources. This is one of my favorite projects as students are able to have limitless creativity and choice in what they want to learn about. This video can help explain a little more about what it is exactly.
- ELA: We focused on the following skills this week:
- Strategy: Cause & Effect - look at how different events effect other events, and how this leads to a ripple reaction
- Skill: Ask & Answer Questions - throughout a text, ask questions to help better understand what you are reading
- Genre: Expository Text tells a non-fiction story, usually about history or science, that includes facts and a variety of different text features to inform the reader about a topic
- Vocabulary Strategy: Greek Roots are the basic part of a word. Knowing the meaning of these roots, allows us to use that meaning combined with context clues to define unknown or unfamiliar words.
- Grammar: Adjectives that Compare - we use different ending (-er vs. -est) based on how many things we are comparing, which also affects what other descriptive words we can use, such as more vs. most.
- Math: We wrapped up topic 7 last week with our topic 7 assessment. This week, we started topic 8, which is about multiplication of fractions. So far, we have been doing a great job! We have worked on multiplying whole numbers by fractions and fractions by fractions. We also learned that "of" means "groups of" and "multiply" in math. We will continue to work on this topic through the end of the year.
- Social Studies: As I mentioned in the last update, we were going to do a project based assessment for Chapter 5 about the American Revolution. Students worked in groups of 3 on this project. Each group member was assigned a role (anchor, interviewee, reporter). Each group was also assigned a specific historical figure from the American Revolution that we learned about. Students worked in groups to create a script and a video to portray a "newscast" interview about their historical figure. It was such a great project for students to be able to collaborate with one another, while also applying their knowledge of the content to a fun project. As a class, we all were able to watch these interviews and make positive comments about each group's work.
- Science: We took this week to really hone in on the Social Studies project, but did briefly introduce our next topic, "Reducing Human Footprint." We discussed ways that we can work together, and as individuals, to reduce the human footprint in our environment. We will continue to dive more into this topic next week!
Things To Note:
- MEMORIAL DAY: As a reminder, it will be a three day weekend due to Memorial Day, so there will be no school on Monday, May 27th.
- MY LAST DAY: The class has known for awhile not, but wanted make sure you were also all aware that my last day for the school year will be on Wednesday, June 5th. I have a wedding commitment that has been planned since last summer, before all the additional snow days were tacked on to the end of the year.
- FIELD DAY: Field Day will be on Thursday, June 6th. Make sure your child comes to school in appropriate clothing for the outdoors, and a water bottle to stay hydrated! Students should apply any sunscreen needed prior to arriving at school.
- 5TH GRADE PICNIC: The picnic, held at Mallard Ridge, will be from 10:00-1:30 on Friday, June 7th. Students should apply any sunscreen needed prior to arriving at school. Students should plan to bring a packed lunch, drink and water bottle. There will be fruit and ice cream provided for students to enjoy!
- LAST DAY: The last day of school will be a half day (8:45-11:30) on Monday, June 10th.
- ABC COUNTDOWN: With 10 days left now, there is a "theme" for each day until the last day of school based on the alphabet. Your child should have gotten a sheet outlining the themes for each day!
Have a relaxing, long weekend!