December
Fifth Grade Newsletter
Bethesda Elementary
2015—2016
Mrs. DeNisco, Mrs. Piemme , Mr. Zukoski
5th Grade News...
Inside this issue:
Slam Poet…
5th Grade News
1
Slam Poet
1
Writing Updates
1
Coming Attractions
1
Gayle Danley, an artist in residence, will be joining the fifth grade
classes in January. Each class has been assigned three forty-five minute poetry sessions. The week will end with an assembly that will
display the students’ poetry, which will be held Friday, Jan. 8th at 2:20
in the APR. A special thank you to the PTA for providing this opportunity for our students! The students during that week will work on
poetry that is free forming and expressions their thoughts and emotions.
Shared Inquiry Project-Movements for Change
Students will continue working on their essays about the movements for
change after the Thanksgiving break. We began our research in the media
center and continued in Social Studies class. Students will be writing and
informative essay describing the movement, who was integral in the movement and the changes in our government as a result. The majority of the
essay will be completed in class using Google docs. But may need to be
finished at home.
Writing Updates
The first marking period there was a focus on narrative writing using the lessons from Lucy Calkins. Overall, students’ narrative stories improved from the beginning of the year assessment. Stories were more focused on a “seed moment” and incorporated character thoughts, action,
and dialogue. Some stories even had nice use of figurative language.
We began the 2nd marking period with an assessment of opinion/argument writing. The baseline assessments were much improved
from the 1st marking period. Some students used paragraphs and supported their arguments with facts from articles already. After Thanksgiving break, we will focus our writing on how to write a strong argument
using the Lucy Calkins lessons. We anticipate great arguments!
REMINDERS…Field trip to Mount Vernon is Friday, December 4th! Students need to arrive at school early-8:30AM.
We will return before the end of the school day. They
need to dress for the weather that day. Lunch is included
in the price of the trip!
Coming Attractions

December 4th-Field trip
to Mount Vernon

December—Inclusion
Month

December 22nd—
Spelling Test

December 24th —start of
winter break

January 4th —School reopens

January 8th—Slam Poetry Assembly 2:20

January 18th –No School
MLK day

January 25th —No School
Report Card Prep Day