Happy Short Week! We hope you all enjoyed the long weekend and are staying warm and healthy. Please know, there have been several students and staff out sick this week and last week. Please be sure you and your children are all getting plenty of rest, drinking lots of water, and washing hands often!
Language Arts: This week, we are moving onto our next novels–three different works by Jerry Spinelli: Stargirl, Maniac Magee, and Jake and Lily. Though we will often come together to discuss what’s happening in each novel, the students have been organized into small reading groups that will focus on their selected text for the next several weeks.
After previewing each of the books and discussing some inferred similarities between the three, they each began reading the first thirty pages or so. As we proceed through each novel, the students will study relevant vocabulary, meet with each other for small-group discussions, tackle comprehension checks, and interpret the text through a variety of activities and small projects.
We know they’ve been eager to begin their next novels, so, like the titular character of Maniac Magee, fifth grade is gonna hit the ground running with these ones.
Math: Building upon our work with equivalent fractions last week, our focus this week is on addition and subtraction of fractions and mixed numbers. Students must be able to quickly rename fractions so they have common denominators in many instances. Having fractions that “look” different but actually are equivalent is a tough concept to grasp for a lot of students. The use of models and number lines definitely helps to explain various forms of equivalent values. This concept has also been very important in understanding how to regroup in order to subtract mixed numbers. Our many discussions about decomposing numbers this year have served as a great foundation for being able to regroup. For example, 4 ¼ can be renamed as 3 + 1 + ¼, which can then be renamed as 3 + 4/4 + 1/4, and finally 3 + 5/4. The goal is to be able to work through all of that almost immediately in their heads, but it is important to show how 4 ¼ comes to be rewritten as 3 + 5/4. We have also been using these skills to practice converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa.
History: As many of you likely saw this week, the students did EXCELLENTLY on their South/Southwest region quiz from last Friday. That brings the individual region work to a close, which means that next Friday, they will conclude our US Geography unit with a final quiz. Unlike the quizzes, the students will only be responsible for knowing the states and their location on the map.
Additionally, in the coming days, the students will be presenting their States Research Projects (which we’ve joked has been a “two-year project,” now). To add another element to these presentations, yesterday, we brainstormed a massive list of songs that made us think of specific states or the USA as a whole, whether because they directly reference the state(s) or because of the “feeling” they give us. Kimberly and I will sift through these suggestions and curate a final “playlist” that we’ll have in the background as the students present their states research. They had a lot of fun thinking about all the songs that reminded them of the United States, so seeing them present to the tunes of Frank Sinatra, Oklahoma!, and The Osbourne Brothers should be quite a sight to see.
Science: Mixed between our states and Martin Luther King, Jr. activities, our scrum teams have been talking about what roles they each play within their area of expertise. They will be researching activities which correlate to their group’s focus, and ultimately, will share the activities they choose with the rest of the class. It would definitely be nice to get a little warm blast to make going outside a little more appealing!
Have a great week!
Kimberly & Tim