2/28/20

The month of February and the school week wrapped up in exciting fashion today. The fifth graders were able to take part in an exciting science enrichment opportunity this afternoon. Staff from the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary lead students on a visit with an inflatable, life-sized humpback whale. Kids were able to tour inside the whale and learn more about marine life.

We continued to be hard at work on decimal related problems during our math lesson this morning. The first two weeks of our unit 6 work have gone very well. Next week, the fifth graders will take an assessment to track their progress to this point.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

2/27/20

We began to explore living systems during science class this afternoon. This talking point lead into a video about food chains and food webs. The kids looked to respond to some questions and ended the lesson by building a food chain that may be found in North America.

Our math lesson was centered on rounding decimals and placing the rounded amounts onto a number line. The fifth graders did a nice job with this work.


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night and fill our logs. This is important as it is part of the larger reading initiative in the school.

2/26/20

We continued our exploration of the Battle of Bunker Hill during social studies. After a short video and reading an article, the kids actually analyzed data from the battle field. This lesson allowed us to incorporate some math concepts into a history lesson. The students did a great job and were engaged.

A new decimal game that built on our understanding of the relationship between decimals was at the heart of our math time. The students are doing a new job of balancing the time spent on the new game with completing their assigned work book pages.

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night and fill our logs. This is important as it is part of the larger reading initiative in the school.

Math - finish workbook pages 368 and 369 if not done in class

2/25/20

Our math class saw the fifth graders working to organize decimals by their value and then to place them on number lines. After this portion of the lesson, fifth graders worked on some multiplication and division review work.


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night and fill our logs. This is important as it is part of the larger reading initiative in the school.

Math - finish workbook pages 368 and 369 if not done in class

2/24/20

We returned to school after the vacation week and also returned to our new decimal unit in math class. The fifth graders worked to compare the value of decimals using hundredths grids and some of the terminology that we have been developing. It was a nice return to work.

The second half of the school day saw the kids once again returning to their writing. As I conference with students to look at some first drafts, others worked to self edit their pieces with our checklist.

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night and fill our logs. This is important as it is part of the larger reading initiative in the school.

Math - finish workbook pages 368 and 369 if not done in class

2/14/20

We continued into our second lesson in unit 6 in math class this morning. The students were able to continue to find fraction and decimals equivalents of shaded in grids. A great first two days in our decimal unit.

I hope everyone has a great vacation week.

2/13/20

We began our work in unit 6 during math class. This unit centers around decimals. Our introductory lesson today began with a meaningful discussion of the relationship between fractions and decimals. This lead into looking at decimals on grids and listing their fraction equivalents. I look forward to diving deeper into this topic with the students over the coming weeks.

Our writing time was spent looking to perfect our concluding paragraphs. There was great energy in the room as the kids worked on their essays.

As a reminder, students are welcome to bring in Valentines on Friday. No food is to be brought in.

Homework

Math - coordinate grid worksheet due Friday 2/14

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night, fill out reading log and keep track of the minutes used

2/12/20

The fifth graders worked on a large scale problem during our math session. This multistep problem encompassed data tables, coordinate graph and an observation sheet. The fifth graders were presented with these questions to gauge their progress through the last lesson in unit 5.

As a reminder, students are welcome to bring in Valentines on Friday. No food is to be brought in.


Homework

Math - coordinate grid worksheet due Friday 2/14

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night, fill out reading log and keep track of the minutes used

2/11/20

The students worked to interpret the shape of graphs in terms of the situation the graph represents in math class. This lead into some work with identifying numerical patterns and describing differences noticed in graphs. A busy lesson, but a productive one.

As a reminder, students are welcome to bring in Valentines on Friday. No food is to be brought in. 


Homework

Math - coordinate grid worksheet due Friday 2/14

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night, fill out reading log and keep track of the minutes used

2/10/20

We began the final week before vacation by returning to our writing. The students are making tremendous progress with their literary essays. Many have finished their first draft and are now working to peer edit their pieces. I was able to conference with some students today and will meet with more later this week. The essays are quite good.

As a reminder, the fifth graders are welcome to bring in Valentines for each other this Friday the 14th. They can not bring in any food, this includes candy.

Homework

Math - coordinate grid worksheet due Friday 2/14

2/7/20

We wrapped up a terrific week by undertaking one final lesson pertaining to area and perimeter in math class. The students have taken to this work like fish to water. It was great to see the comfortability level rise as the students continued to work with coordinate graphs and data tables today.

The second half of the school day was centered around a writing lesson that focused on the fleshing out of body paragraphs within literary essays. We will look to continue this work throughout the month.

As a reminder, the kids are welcome to bring in Valentines next Friday the 14th. There can be no food brought into the classroom, including candy.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

2/6/20

The fifth graders are stacking quality lesson on top of quality lesson in math class. We worked with comparing arrays with 4, 5 and 6 squares across today. These lessons are allowing students to practice with area and perimeter problems and then compile their results into coordinate graphs.

All fifth graders are also now hard at work on their timeline posters for the anchor text, A River Ran Wild. They are looking to track the important dates in the life of the Nashua River. This will continue into next week.

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night

Math - finish page 322, if not done in class

2/5/20

The student's put themselves into the shoes of John Adams during social studies this afternoon. They began work on a letter written from the perspective of Adams that is attempting to persuade George Washington to take command of the Continental Army. The kids were invested in this lesson and the early stages of the letters have turned out well.

We also had another literary essay writing day during our ELA time. The fifth graders are making nice progress in working to complete their graphic organizers. A few kids have also begun their first draft.

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night

2/4/20

We started the second investigation in unit 5 during math class. Today's session saw the fifth graders working to write equations that describe the relationships between two varying quantities.

We also finished out work with the book A River Ran Wild during reading class. 


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night

2/3/20

A point of emphasis in our ELA work today was in having all students finish crafting their lead paragraph for their literary essays. Many of the students were able to do that and then progress into their first body paragraph.

We also finished the first investigation in unit 5 during math class. The students worked to create one final coordinate graph and then moved on to noting observations about the data contained in that graph.

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of reading per night