The Scoop
The Newsletter of Creek View
Elementary’s Fifth Grade Team
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2
SEPTEMBER 1, 2016
FIFTH GRADE IS IN FULL SWING!
BE “IN THE KNOW” OF ALL 5TH GRADE HAPPENINGS, EVENTS AND NEWS
T
he fifth grade team wants to thank
everyone for a smooth start to the
year.
We are so excited to be
working with your children and look
forward to a fun and rewarding year of learning
and experiences.
While we are all settling in to our routines, the
beginning of the year continues to be exciting,
stressful, and full of new adventures! We ask
that you help your child develop good
sustainable study habits and organizational
skills. Please help monitor assignments through
the use and signing of the Agenda on a daily
basis. Teacher websites are also useful places
to check weekly.
(consult the CVES Family Handbook), while
taking into account an active day including PE,
recess, and lots of movement around the
building. It can be cool indoors and very hot
outside this time of year.
We are asking that parents help us reinforce the
importance of proper behavior. Be aware that
two behavior related U’s, an N in conduct on
report cards, or a behavior related office
referral WITH consequences, within the nine
weeks prior to an event, will result in the loss
of field trip privileges and may affect students’
ability to participate in other activities. We
thank you in advance for your support of our
lessons of respect and responsibility.
We were glad to see so many of you on our
Curriculum Night. If you were unable to attend,
you should have received a copy of the agenda
for the evening, as well as a summary of the
expectations for 5th grade. Please contact your
child’s teacher to schedule a time for a
conference in October.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any
concerns, questions, and compliments!
If you would like to volunteer to help in the
classroom, and/or to chaperone field trips,
please plan to complete the online Volunteer
Training session. All volunteers must complete
the form before being allowed to participate in
classroom activities (this excludes reading to the
class and having lunch with students).
*Check us out! Our Scoop will be available
monthly on the CVES website on the fifth grade
page the first Thursday of each month.
Please be sure and send healthy snacks daily.
Water bottles are welcome, but no sugary
drinks.
Also, be aware of the dress code
Steve Johnson, Helaine Becker, Theresa Howard,
Tamara Moor, Shawna Lyons, Cathy Schefer and
Alison Snow
NEWS
*To access textbooks online go to:
http://www.fultonschools.org/en/divisions/acd
/learnteach/Pages/ElementaryTextbookCodes.a
spx
DON’T MISS THESE
SEPTEMBER EVENTS!
9/2– Teacher work day: no school for students
9/5 – Labor Day – No School
9/28 Family Focus Night
9/7 Academic Bowl Tryouts
9/30 – Screen on the Green
9/20 Picture Day
2
THE SCOOP SEPTEMBER 2015
CURRICULUM NEWS
SOCIAL STUDIES
Classes are well into the first unit of Social Studies The American Civil War. Standards include the identification of key causes of
the conflict leading up to the Civil War, notable battles, and important personalities (both Union and Confederate) involved.
Following discussion of the war, we’ll cover the period known as “Reconstruction” and the ways in which our nation tried to
reassemble itself as a unified body. United States government is taught throughout the units as is chronologically appropriate.
Skills include point of view, maps, and graph interpretation.
SCIENCE
After a brief look at the concept of the Whole as the Sum of its parts, fifth graders have been taking an in depth look at
Matter. In this unit, students will begin to identify chemical and physical changes. As it is not always easy to tell one
from the other, students will become aware that scientists sometimes disagree on whether a change is physical or
chemical or both. A trip to the Science Lab will wrap this unit up for our classes. Key concepts include that a physical
change is a change that can be reversed and that in a chemical change a new substance is created. A new idea for
many students is that matter cannot be created or destroyed.
READING/LANGUAGE ARTS
Reading outside the classroom is imperative for success within the classroom and beyond. Students are encouraged to read at
least 30 additional minutes each day beyond assignments. Students should read a variety of genres to build a better
vocabulary and greater general knowledge base.
On-level and advanced: Classes are working on the first Reading/Language Arts unit: School Spirit/We Never Stop
Learning. The focus of the unit is on literary reading and narrative writing. Our text is a balanced literacy program with
the arts, sciences, health, and social studies topics as the domains explored for reading instruction. Leveled readers
address student needs for advanced, on level, and below level instruction as needed in a small group setting. We will also
utilize novels, articles, library research, and other sources of literature.
Accelerated: Classes are working on the first Reading/Language Arts unit: Truth. The focus of the unit is on fiction and
non-fiction literature, as well as descriptive and autobiographical writing. Sixth grade language arts focuses on the
integration of vocabulary, literature, reading strategies, composition, oral language skills, research, and grammar.
MATH
Please continue to work on basic math facts with your child. A quick recall of multiplication and division facts aids in working
through more difficult processes. Students will be given regular opportunities to check their speed and accuracy in this area. As
students prepare to take the summative assessment for units, they need to be reminded that in order to become fluent with
these math concepts, they will need to practice doing the math itself. Completion of daily class assignments and nightly
homework will go far in aiding in their success.
On-level: Order of Operations and Whole Numbers are the focus of the first Math unit. This unit is helping students to develop
ideas about rules and patterns for number sequences. Students are writing, interpreting and evaluating expressions using the
order of operations, multiplying and dividing whole numbers, properties of operations and other strategies to solve problems
and explain their thought processes. We are also reviewing several concepts from 4th grade: factors, multiple, prime and
composite numbers and divisibility rules.
Advanced/Accelerated: After a review of the Order of Operations and Whole numbers, students will be moving on to the first
unit: Fraction Concepts. This unit focuses on operations with fractions: adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.
3 THE SCOOP AUGUST 2012