1/29/21

We wrapped up our last week of January by looking at our final task in our opinion writing unit. The fifth graders compared the lifespans of elephants in the wild and in zoos by using bar graphs. This lead into answering some comprehension questions. Starting next week, will begin to craft of actual opinion pieces.

Science also saw the students do some reading and watch a video about the earth's rotation and its place in the solar system. The kids worked in pairs to answer some questions.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone back at school in February. 

1/28/21

 The fifth graders journeyed to Swaziland in southern Africa during our writing class this morning. We watched a video and read an article about a miraculous group of elephants and the efforts made by people in Africa and America to save them. This will better inform our opinion writing piece. 

Science saw the students learning more about the solar system, particularly what causes night and day. This work will continue into tomorrow. 

1/26/21

The fifth graders continued their work with fractions and opinion writing. The article that we looked at in our opinion writing unit concerned a group of elephants that were rescued from within Africa and then sent to a zoo in America for a new lease on life. Fifth graders then looked to compile information in their graphic organizer. Two really productive writing lessons in a row for the kids.

We also continued our exploration of the earth and its rotation around the sun. Pairs of fifth graders watched a short video and then used that information to help them answer some questions. 

1/25/21

The start of the last week of January saw the members of A303 continue to progress deeper into our exploration of the conditions of animals in zoos. Today, the fifth graders looked at an article that went into detail about a mental condition that can afflict certain animals. Working in pairs, the students then accumulated valuable details from the article into a graphic organizer. We will continue this important work tomorrow.

We also undertook our next science lesson during the later stages of the day. The focus of the lesson was sunrise and sunset and what exactly is happening during these periods. 

As a reminder, this is the week that the kids should be looking to complete reading Fenway & Hattie. On our online learning day this week, we will look to do some more writing about the book.

1/22/21

The Polar Bear half of the class had a productive end to the school week. We continue to look at resources pertaining to our zoo opinion piece of writing. Today, the kids were tasked will pulling out important facts from an essay and then compiling them in a graphic organizer.

Math time was centered around looking at fractions on the face of a standard clock. This lead into completing some fraction worksheets. 

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

1/21/21

The fifth graders are hitting the ground running with their opinion writing unit. Today, the kids viewed two videos that spoke of the efforts of zoos in the southwest to save a collection of endangered animals. We also familiarize ourselves with a graphic organizer that we will be using to collect evidence for our final papers.

The heart of our math time today was spent learning a game that helped us learn how to compare the value of fractions. This segued nicely into two workbook pages, in which the kids were able to show their thinking concerning a few word problems. 

As a reminder, the cohort that was in the classroom today will be learning from home tomorrow 
(Friday 1/22).

1/19/21

The start of the new week, saw the Polar Bears cohort at work in math, social studies and writing. Our writing time saw the fifth graders kickoff their opinion writing unit. The kids looked at a video from the Phoenix Zoo, which spoke of their efforts to save the Arabian oryx. This lead into some work using one of our graphic organizers. The kids did a nice job with this.

Math time was a continuation of the fraction work that was begun last week. Students worked on problems that saw them comparing the values of fraction cards.

As a reminder, the students in this cohort will also be in school this upcoming Friday, the 22nd.

I look forward to seeing all of the fifth graders online tomorrow. 

1/15/21

We wrapped up a very productive week together in room A303. The fifth graders had another quality lesson involving fractions. The versatility of the students when it comes to solving these problems has been exciting to see. Kids also had the chance to play an in-between game using fraction cards.

Our ELA time was focused on exploring another anchor source for zoos and the animals that live there. The kids will continue to be exposed to a variety of sources into the next two weeks. I look forward to digging deeper into this topic with the fifth graders.

I hope everyone has a great long weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone back at school next week. 

1/14/21

 We launched our next unit of writing during our ELA time. The fifth graders are going to be looking at the effects that zoos have on wildlife. This will eventually culminate in an opinion piece concerning the best place for animals to live out their lives. We looked at a video about the efforts of workers at the Phoenix Zoo to save the Arabian Oryx. 

The focus of our work in math was on comparing the values of fractions. The kids were partnered and were tasked with creating a number line using fraction cards. They then turned their attention to a few workbook pages. 

Tomorrow, we will continue our work with opinion writing and fractions. 

1/12/21

We had a second productive lesson concerning text structure during the ELA portion of the school day. This lesson saw the fifth graders working to classify non-fiction stories by their text structure format. The kids did a nice job with this.

The fifth graders also kicked off their first science experiment. This lesson saw pairs of fifth graders tracing each other's shadows in the morning and the afternoon and making observations in their science journal. Over the next two weeks, the kids will continue deeper into this unit of study.

1/11/21

 The start of the new week saw the AA cohort working with equivalent fractions during math class. The fifth graders were tasked with shading in arrays to prove equivalence. A solid start to the week and this lesson will serve as a nice foundation for the work that we will do over the next few weeks.

Our ELA time was spent looking at non-fiction text structure. As we are about to begin our next reading unit, this key lesson allowed the students to get exposed to the five core structures. Tomorrow, we will look to continue this work with a small group activity.

As a reminder, there are parent-teacher conferences this Wednesday. The kids should also be reading Fenway and Hattie, in preparation for our author visit next month.

1/8/21

I must admit, I am a little tired after my first full week back. But saying that, what a week it has been. It has been great to finally get to meet all of the students in person and to start to learn with them.

We continued with both our fraction work as well as our investigation into text structure during ELA time. The kids impress with both their participation and their willingness to ask questions. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I will see everyone back at school next week.

Just as a reminder, the kids have all been given a copy of Fenway and Hattie. Along with the book, is a schedule for when the book should be finished by. This book may be read while at home, when the agenda calls for DEAR or Lexia time. The kids are also welcome to read at a quicker pace then the included schedule calls for. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

1/7/21

I was finally able to meet the students in the BB cohort. We began the day with a morning meeting and a fun energizer that the kids seemed to enjoy.

Later in the school day, we continued to progress deeper into our fraction unit. The kids are off to an impressive start. Both with the vocabulary that they are using and their ability to break down complex problems, they are off to a nice start. This work will continue into next week.

We also did some work identifying different types of text structures. This is going to inform our next reading unit and also serve to help the kids as we prepare to kick off our next writing unit. 

A very productive day and I can't wait to see the kids back at school tomorrow. 

1/5/21

 We had a productive day in A303 today. The students continued to be hard at work on a series of volume word problems in math class. The kids are doing a great job of disassembling the problems and then showing their work with both words and calculations. 

Our social studies time saw the kids continue to work on their history journal pertaining to the current times that they are living in. 

We were also able to read deeper into our read aloud book, Auggie & Me by RJ Palacio.

The students also received the book Fenway & Hattie, which they will be reading over those next few weeks. This will culminate with an online author visit in February.

1/4/21

 It was fantastic to be back in the classroom with with the students in cohort AA today. We began the day with a morning meeting that featured an energizer that the kids seemed to enjoy.

We began the school day by revisiting some of the volume concepts that the students had been working on prior to vacation. Later this week, we will look to kick off the fraction unit.

Our ELA time saw the fifth graders watching a video about a remarkable youth soccer team from Thailand. This segued into pulling out some key concepts from the video which tied in nicely with some of the literary writing work the kids were doing back in December.

I look forward to seeing AA kids again tomorrow.