Longfellow Elementary School
October
2016/2017
A monthly publication of what’s
happening in 5th Grade.
UPDATE:
We have completed our first round of MAPS testing! MAPS Testing
will be done in place of Checks For Learning district wide. I am so
exited about all of the excellent data that’s available because of
these tests. Based on the information we get from these tests I will
be able to more appropriately meet the needs of individual students by pinpointing the areas they need more work in.
READING:
We are well into the year at this
point! Everyday we read for about
45 minutes, then write a readers
response in reading journals. I meet
with a couple of small groups of
students who are grouped by their
reading level to target specific
reading skills. We focus on concepts such as author’s purpose,
main idea, inferencing, synthesizing, and fluency. I am excited to see
students working hard to become
better readers!
I would like to remind you and your
child of the importance of reading
at home for 30 minutes each night. Nightly reading can be anything that is
of interest to your child. It can be a magazine or book or they can also go
online to ReadTheory.com or Readworks.com; read the passages and answer questions. Read Theory requires a user name and password; students
should use the same one that they use for class. Read Works requires a
username and password, but it is free to sign up and is an excellent resource!
IMPORTANT DATES:
October 13: End of first quarter
October 14: No School for students-Teacher Work Day
October 25, 26, 27: Parent
Teacher Conferences
October 27 & 28: No School for
students.
October 31: Halloween Parade &
Parties 2pm
WRITING
MATH
5th grade has
wrapped up Unit 1,
which focused on expressions and volume!
Overall, students did
very well. In the next
week all 5th grade
students will have an
opportunity to experience some reteaching
and enrichment based
on the results of their
Unit 1 Assessment.
Our next unit will cover fractions. We will
be using money and
clock models to learn
how to add and subtract fractions with
unlike denominators.
Fractions can be very
challenging. Please
encourage your child
to keep working hard!
As first quarter writing draws to a
close and students publish their narrative writing, we will spend the rest of
the week celebrating our authors by
sharing the fabulous stories the kids
have written. I look forward to sharing
their published writing with you at
parent teacher conferences!
The genre of writing we will delve into
next quarter is Research Reports. The
kids will be doing research to be able
to write a report on a subtopic of Expansion.
“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”
—Confucius
SCIENCE
This quarter we have covered 3
units in science! Phew! We have
learned all about the Scientific Process and the Engineering Design
Process. Then we learned about
Natural Resources and the importance of protecting our environment and conserving natural resources by reducing, reusing, and
recycling. We also made our own
paper through the recycling process!
The next unit topic in science will
be Changes to the Earth’s Surface.
Students will learn all about the
different ways surface of the Earth
changes.
HOMEWORK
SOCIAL STUDIES
We are working in Social Studies to
learn more about early explorers and
the early colonial settlements. This has
paved the road to begin talking about
slavery and the Civil War!
We are also beginning our Second
Steps program to help teach kids
about managing their emotions and
how to effectively deal with difficult
situations at school and home.
Students will have homework
EVERY night Monday– Thursday. This will include a Home
Connection Math worksheet or a
Language Arts worksheet AND
reading for 30 minutes each night
then writing a short summary in
their planners. I will be checking
planners each morning to see that
all their work has been done and
that they have been signed by a
parent. Thanks for your support
and encouragement in getting
homework done!