Mr. HryMak’s Weekly NeWsletter
Week of October 20, 2013 - Unit 1, Week 6
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Language Arts
Happy Monday! This week, we will be wrapping up the first unit in the new Reading Wonders
language arts core curriculum. This will be a major review of the Unit 1. There will be no new
essential question, vocabulary, spelling words, grammar, etc. Our class will
be focusing on the important skills covered during the last five weeks. We
will be working on a variety of activities ranging from reader’s theater
skits, to research on topics included in the previous five essential questions,
and more.
On Thursday and Friday, students will take the Unit 1
Assessment.
The following skills will be covered on the unit assessment:
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Vocabulary Skills: Context Clues, Greek Roots, Homographs, Idioms
Reading Skills:
o Author’s Point of View
o Text Structure: Cause and Effect
o Sequence: Character, Setting, Plot
Grammar Skills: Run-on Sentences and Fragments, Subjects and Predicates, Complete
Sentences, Complex Sentences, Compound Sentences and Conjunctions
Your child should review pages 26-29, 40-43, 54-57, 68-71, & 82-85 in his/her Reading/Writing
Workshop book. In the Reading/Writing Workshop book, you will find the Grammar Handbook at
the end of the book. Your child should review pages 450-454 in this section. As always,
students may also review online.
Here are some activities you can do with your child, to help reinforce the skills we’ll be
reviewing and extending:
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Read together a short passage from a print or digital book.
Write a few sentences together to summarize the passage.
Ask your child to present the summary as a short speech to family members or to
friends.
On Friday, October 10, students received their first Math Basic Facts Log. This was sent home
to all fifth grade students, and is a district-wide initiative. Students are encouraged to
practice their basic math facts for at least 15 minutes, on any five nights each week. At the
end of each month, students may return the log to their math teacher for extra credit
consideration. Please refer to the math log for details on the minimum requirements for
receiving extra credit. This extra work is encouraged, but is not required.
Social Studies
We have begun Chapter 6: Early English Settlements. Students are learning about three early
English settlements in North America. In the Preview, students will write a few paragraphs
describing the challenges they might face in attending school in another country. We will also
begin the Visual Discovery activity. During this activity, students will analyze images of
Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth to create act-it-outs that show why settlers came, the
hardships they endured, and the reasons why each settlement succeeded or failed.
Social Studies Vocabulary Words:
settlement, Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, marsh, colonist, democratic, ally
Other Important Upcoming Stuff:
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This Friday, October 24 is the end of the first
quarter, and is also the PBIS Reward Day – Get Your
Game On Day
Thursday, October 30 is the PFA Spirt Lunch – Wear
Orange
Friday, October 31 is Halloween. The parade begins
at 1:30
Report cards will also be distributed on October 31.
Extra Credit Opportunity: Can you infer what the cartoon is really trying to say? And, what do you think the
teacher’s response to the student might be? If you think you have an answer, write it down on a sheet of looseleaf notebook paper and submit it to the reading in-box by Friday. (Optional)