3/29/18

The fifth graders wrapped up this week by learning about the French and Indian War and using maps to plot the changing face of the North American continent during that conflict.

We were also lucky enough to have Professor Anthony Fernandez come into the classroom and lead the students through an experiment that saw them working with the DNA of strawberries.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. 

3/28/18

Today was the final day of study for our 13 colonies unit. The students delved into one specific colony and the day-to-day life of the residents of that region. I thought that the last few weeks were very productive. We will be transitioning to the Revolutionary War in the next few days. I can't wait.


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading.

3/27/18

The members of A303 had their first lesson in our informational writing unit today. The students looked at comparing and contrasting characters from fictional literature. This lesson served to expose the students to one potential template with which to write their essays in a few weeks.

Time was also spent with one final lesson exploring the three distinct regions of the 13 British colonies in North America.

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading.

3/23/18

Today the the spring concert at the Thompson School. The fifth graders did a nice job with the two songs that they sang.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

3/22/18

The students took a math MCAS infrastructure test using Chromebooks today. This exercise was to give the students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the testing equipment as we get ready for the real deal starting in April.

Time was spent in math class starting to working with multiplying decimals.


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading per night.

3/21/18

The students were introduced to a new card game involving decimals during math class today. We also spent time in our last three sessions working on some practice multi-step word problems. The students are doing a very nice job with these.


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading per night.

3/20/18

Progress was made on two fronts today, the students had another session of practice for their upcoming ELA MCAS exam. They also continued to work with decimals.


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading per night.

3/19/18

The fifth graders began to learn about the 13 British North American colonies today. We began out study of the New England region and will progress into the Middle and South over the next few lessons.

During math class, the members of A303 looked at decimals in the context of number lines. Today was a productive lesson

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading per night.

3/16/18

The fifth graders spent time presenting their character trait posters during ELA today. I thought these turned out great. The students put a lot of time and effort into these and it was clearly evident that they selected books and characters that they cared about. Well done.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

3/15/18

It was nice to see students back in class after the snow days. The fifth graders continued deeper into our decimal unit. We continued a new batch of warm up problems that are asking fifth graders to write decimals in both numerical and word form. As well as percents and fractions.

During the course of today, the students also put on their all school concert. It turned out great.

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading

Character Trait project due tomorrow 3/16

3/12/18

The fifth graders returned to school and put the finishing touches on their explorer projects today. These posters turned out great and the information that was compiled was comprehensive.

Time was spent during math class representing decimals using grid paper.

Homework

Character Trait project due Friday March 16th

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading 

3/9/18

After yesterday's snow day, the fifth graders returned to school and continued to work with food chains and food webs during science class. They put the finishing touches on their food web for specific regions today. This work will continue into next week.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

3/7/18

The students progressed further into their decimal unit during math class. We are stressing the relationship between fractions and decimals and the students are doing a nice job of relying on prior information to solve these new problems. Another very encouraging lesson.

Students also worked to create food chains and food webs during science class using organism cards.

Homework

Character Trait project due Friday March 16th

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading per night, reading log due Friday March 9th

3/6/18

The fifth graders continued with another lesson in their decimal unit during math class. This introductory lessons are helping everyone develop a baseline of information to build upon in the coming weeks.


Homework

Character Trait project due Friday March 16th

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading per night, reading log due Friday March 9th

3/5/18

The students are at the mid way point of their social studies projects. Today was a productive day with many fifth graders approaching the end of the research phase of the project,


Students were also presented with a reading project that they will have three weeks to work on. This project is largely going to be done at home. Students received directions for this project today. If there are any questions please let me know. 

Homework

Character Trait project due Friday March 16th

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading per night, reading log due Friday March 9th

3/2/18

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.


Students were also presented with a reading project that they will have three weeks to work on. This project is largely going to be done at home. Students received directions for this project today. If there are any questions please let me know. 


Homework

Character Trait project due Friday March 16th

3/1/18

The fifth graders wrapped up their fractions unit by completing their end of unit assessment today during math class. I look forward to sitting with these and seeing the progress that the students made throughout the last two months.

Students were also presented with a reading project that they will have three weeks to work on. This project is largely going to be done at home. Students received directions for this project today. If there are any questions please let me know. 


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading per night

Math - division of fractions worksheet, due Friday 3/2

Character Trait project due Friday March 16th.