Fifth Grade Times
Mar. 2016
MSA Information:
This year, students will take the MSA Science test on Wednesday, March 16th and
Thursday, March 17th. This test will assess the scientific knowledge students have
gained over their elementary school career. Students can prepare for this test by getting a good night’s sleep each night and eating a full breakfast on the mornings of the
test so they are ready to focus!
Forms
Thank you so much for submitting all forms in a timely fashion! The 2 forms and $23
for the field trip should be submitted ASAP if not done already. The family life form is
also due soon, so please send those in! Additionally, we will be sending home information and permission slips for the 5th grade end of the year promotion celebration
and t-shirts. Please make sure to fill out those forms and send them in as soon as you
can! We appreciate your support!
Main Office Phone Number
301-840-8165
PBIS Message:
Please consider donating small new or
gently used items to be used for incentives (prizes) in the weekly class meetings. All items are to be given Amy
Recks and will be made available to all
staff members for their prize boxes.
Donations can not be made to a particular classroom. Thank you for your donations!
Jennifer Peterman
[email protected]
Eunice Kim
[email protected]
Erin Kleinman
[email protected]
Mai-Anh Weir
[email protected]
Please visit the following website for more detailed information about what students
are learning in the Third Marking Period!
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/parent-newsletters.aspx
Important
Dates:
 3/2 Read
Across
America Day
 3/16-3/17:
MSA Science Test
 3/18-3/23:
Family Life
Instruction
 3/23: 3rd
MP ends
 3/23: STEM
day 12-1
 3/24: No
School–
Grading
 3/25-4/3:
Spring
Break!
Curriculum 2.0 Skills
Students continue to focus on elaboration and intellectual risk-taking. Elaboration means extending your thoughts and fully explaining your reasoning. Intellectual risk-taking refers to
being willing to challenge yourself, accept uncertainty, and make adjustments to reasoning.
Students have the opportunity to show these skills during all subjects, and should strive to
continually take intellectual risks and explain their responses as much as possible.
Inquiry Project and Information Literacy (Media)
In March, students will continue researching a historical topic on websites in order to make
their original narrative more authentic. They will also continue to build their knowledge on the
importance of analyzing websites for authenticity and reliability. It is important in today’s
world of technology that students learn the importance of analyzing websites and their information, and can make decisions on their validity and purpose. Towards the end of the month,
students will begin working on a product to showcase what their story is about.
Math
Students will apply what they have
learned about multiplying fractions
by other fractions. They will also
divide fractions by whole numbers and
whole numbers by fractions. Finally, they
will apply all understandings of fractions
(adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing) to various word problems. Students
will end the month by working with a different way to express parts of a whole,
decimals.
Science
Students will continue look at characteristics of celestial bodies in the Solar System,
including Earth, the moon, the sun, and
stars. They will also study characteristics of light. Students will
end the month by participating in
Family Life or alternate lessons.
Social Studies
Students will continue to analyze
Westward Expansion across the
United States during the early
1800’s. They will also determine
changes in industry, transportation, education, and rights.
Instrumental Music
Our cluster concerts were a great success
for our 5th grade Advanced students! We
hope you were able to attend and hear your
son or daughter perform with the middle
school and high school students in our cluster. We hope this experience helped to inspire our students to continue playing next
year and years to come. We will soon be
looking ahead to our spring concert
on Tuesday, May 24 at 7:00pm. "Save the
Date" reminders were sent home on Feb 22
and 23. We hope to see you there!
Reading
Students will read a variety of informational
text to explain events, interpret visual and written information, find the main idea and details,
summarize text, describe how the text is organized, compare information presented in two
texts, and use textual evidence when making inferences. They will read graphic novels, articles,
books, and short pieces about different informational topics such as the moon. Students will
also read a novel independently and answer literature based questions.
Writing
Students are writing an original narrative that is
a mystery or historical fiction story. They researched a historical topic, and are planning
each story element and then drafting a full story. Students will incorporate dialogue, pacing,
sensory details, and transition words to make
their stories more authentic.
Art
In March, fifth graders will begin a printmaking
unit using a soft piece of rubber (often called
butter cut) and very specific safety instructions
so we can carve an image of an animal into the
surface. Students will have the opportunity to
use inks, brayers, and various colors of paper to
create several prints of their animal. Last, we
will add subtle details using chalk, just to give it
a finishing touch.
Music
Fifth grade will continue to compare and contrast two performances of the same selection
of music. We have been using Venn Diagrams to
help us organize our ideas. Students will also
continue to work on notating short melodic
phrases from dictation using standard notation.
PE
In Physical Education, grade 5 is working on
both balance and weight transfer activities. These activities will include some basic
tumbling skills, a tumbling sequence, and a forward and transverse rotation.