A few more fifth graders crossed the finished line and published the final copy of their informational writing pieces this morning. We will look to have all students reach this goal by the end of next week.
Good luck to all of the fifth graders who are involved in the play this weekend. I am sure that things will go very well.
Look forward to seeing everyone back at school in June as we start the final three weeks together.
Bravo to all of the Thompson students involved with the play. We were able to be in the audience this afternoon and the finished product was excellent. The kids should feel proud of their accomplishment and confident heading into this weekend's performances.
We explored the qualities of four sided polygons during math class this morning and also worked in some review of converting metric units of measurement.
The kids are excited for tomorrow's in-school performance of the play. Many of the members of A303 have been heavily invested in this endeavor.
The kids are going to be working to classify and identify triangles in math class this week. Partner groups did a nice job of collaborating on today's work.
Our social studies time was spent building a timeline of events concerning the Boston Massacre. The kids are enjoying this work, which will continue on Thursday.
The kids took part in the Wingmasters science enrichment program. Jim Parks brought in birds of prey that have been injured and rehabilitated to share their stories with the fifth graders. The kids were an attentive audience and greatly enjoyed this session. Thanks to Jim and the great work that he continues to do. Here is a link to his program's website:
http://www.wingmasters.net/raptor.htm
I hope everyone has a nice weekend.
Refinement and editing continue to be the words of the day in our writing class. Each of the fifth graders has finished their draft and while some of the kids are meeting with me, others are peer editing. A lot of time and effort have gone into these informational papers and the work will continue on Friday.
We dedicated quality time this morning to reading deeper into our fantasy novels. Our focus was on identifying character motivations.
On Friday, the fifth graders are going to take part in a science enrichment program involving local wildlife.
We had one final day of work within unit seven. The fifth graders worked once again with division and multiplication of decimals, as well as some more time spent with converting units of measurement. Tomorrow the kids will take an assessment to conclude the unit
Fantasy books and conversions of standard units of measurement were the order of the day this Friday. We are approaching the later stages of unit seven in math class and will look to conclude this section next week.
On Friday May 24, we are going to take part in a science enrichment program in school.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend.
Congratulations are in order for the fifth graders. They officially completed the last session of this year's MCAS testing this morning. We will return to a much welcome regular school day tomorrow.
We set out this morning on our walking trip to the Gibbs. The kids were able to spend some quality time in the school and met some of their future teachers. The fifth graders were also able to interact with some sixth grade tour guides who answered questions and walked them around the building. Today went very well and the fifth graders made a favorable impression.
Tomorrow, we are going to officially wrap up the second and last science MCAS day.
We worked with standard units of measurement during math class this morning. A productive lesson that we will continue with on Thursday.
Tomorrow we are visiting the Gibbs. We are asking all fifth graders to be at Thompson by 750 so that we can leave promptly.
The focus of our social studies work this afternoon were the taxes placed on the colonies by Parliament in the 1700s. We answered some focus questions and some of the kids were able to spend more time working on their informational writing.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. As a reminder, next Monday and Thursday we are going to take science MCAS. And on Wednesday the 15th, we are visiting the Gibbs in the morning.
The kids undertook a math lesson that saw them converting units of measurement. Using references tables, they worked on both metric and standard conversions. Slow going at first, but there was a lot of positive momentum towards the later stages of the period.
Tomorrow we will spend some time reviewing for next week's science MCAS exam.
We were able to dedicate a significant amount of time to continue to work on our informational writing drafts this morning. Each of the kids has a completed draft typed up. Over the next two weeks, the fifth graders are going to refine and sharpen these.
Next Wednesday, the 15th, we are walking to the Gibbs to tour the building.
We began our exploration of division of whole numbers by powers of 10 decimals during math class this morning. The fifth graders persevered through some challenging early questions and this turned into a productive lesson.
In the afternoon, we met with our second grade book buddies.
We are rapidly approaching the end of unit seven in math class. As we get ready for our final assessment, we are going to be doing some converting with various units of measurements later this week. Our focus today was on refining our multiplication of whole numbers by decimal methods.
Tomorrow we are going to meet with our second grade reading buddies.
After another productive fantasy book group session during ELA time, the kids turned in their three step journal packet. This will be an assessment grade towards their report card.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend.
A large portion of the kids have now completed a draft of their first two body paragraphs. Their focus and attention to their writing was excellent during our ELA time this morning. We are going to look to have everyone done with a draft by tomorrow.
The kids were able to spend a solid hour reading deeper into their fantasy book during our ELA time this morning. Each of the five groups is making quality progress and we had a nice share out at the end of our time today where the kids spoke about some interesting plot developments.
In the morning, the fifth grade had an enrichment program that talked about water pollution, storm drains and how to help avoid water contamination. The fifth graders were a captive audience.
