12/20/24

The fifth graders have worked tirelessly throughout these first four months of the school year. They all deserve a nice, long vacation. I hope everyone has a wonderful break and happy holiday. Look forward to seeing everyone back at school in 2025.

12/19/24

We continued to explore the benefits of protecting the rain forests in ELA. Each of the students read an article and then used a graphic organizer to summarize. They then used that organizer to help craft an essay touching upon the most important details. The fifth graders did a fine job with this.

As a reminder, tomorrow is board game day in A303. Each of the kids is welcome to bring one board or card game to class with them.

12/18/24

Our math time was dedicated to continue to work with adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers. The last two sessions have been strenuous ones, but the fifth graders have risen to the challenge.

Compliments to the members of A303 for their coordinated effort to decorate the classroom door. The finished product looked great.

 

12/17/24

We worked on a chronological structure activity during ELA this morning. The fifth graders were tasked with listing the events that took place in a portion of our anchor text. They then took part in a language dive were they familiarized themselves with some important vocabulary.

Later in the school day, the kids put the finishing touches on our winter classroom door decorating contest. The final outcome was impressive. The judging will take place tomorrow.

12/16/24

Using some of the unfamiliar vocabulary words from our anchor text, the members of A303 began to work on creating a vocab word wall during ELA. This work will continue tomorrow.

Today and tomorrow the fifth graders are going to gameplan and decorate the door for the school wide door decorating contest. They came up with some creative ideas this afternoon and will implement them tomorrow.

12/13/24

The last two days have been valuable ones in math class. After working with some fraction subtraction problems yesterday. The kids turned their attention to adding and subtracting mixed numbers this afternoon. Next week, the members of A303 will take their final math assessment of 2024.

The fifth graders spent some time making birthday cards for a worthy recipient today. Chief Petty Officer William Monfort is turning 108-years-old on December 17. He is one of the oldest living World War II veterans in America. After talking a little about his life, the kids did a nice job of crafting cards. Please share this link, if you know anyone else who would be interested in making cards for this extraordinary man.

https://www.wkrg.com/state-regional/florida/what-floridas-oldest-wwii-vet-wants-for-his-108th-birthday-how-you-can-help/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co+

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. One more week to go until vacation.

12/12/24

Our subtracting fractions lessons was a valuable one. After a few bumps in the road, the fifth graders made some nice progress. We are going to continue to work on these problems tomorrow.

We also spent some time tossing around ideas for what we want the classroom door to look like. The door decorating contest is next week and the members of A303 are keen to win.

12/11/24

We built upon yesterday's work in ELA this morning. The kids read an excerpt from the text and then responded to some questions.

Tomorrow in math class, the kids are going to begin working with subtracting fraction problems. This is an important transition and one that we will spend the next few days on.

12/10/24

The fifth graders were introduced to their anchor text for our second module during ELA. After spending a short amount of time scanning the pictures contained within and making some predictions, we read the first chapter. The kids then worked to respond to some questions about unfamiliar vocabulary words that were present in that chapter.

We met with our book buddies and worked on some coloring pages that will be used by both classrooms in the school wide door decorating contest.

12/9/24

Two weeks left until winter break. In that time, the fifth graders in room A303 have some important things to accomplish. Today, we began digging into rain forests during module two of our EL curriculum. The kids looked to share some background information that they may have had about these important ecosystems and then we looked briefly at our anchor test for this unit. The book The Most Beautiful Roof in the World by Kathryn Lasky will serve as a valuable text for the fifth graders.

Tomorrow we are going to meet with our second grade book buddies one final time in 2024.

12/6/24

We learned another fraction game called Fraction Tracks during our math time this afternoon. Each of the fifth graders used a game board and plastic chips to add fractions with unlike denominators.

Next week, the fifth graders will take a fraction assessment and we will once again meet with our second grade book buddies. I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

12/5/24

The kids continued to add fractions with unlike denominators during math class. Today. we looked to make estimates before solving each of the word problems. With the time left over, the fifth graders played another round of the game Roll Around the Clock.

Tomorrow in ELA class, we will launch the second module which has to do with rainforests.

12/4/24

We spent time in math class playing a fraction game called "Roll Around the Clock". This game saw the kids rolling two dice, that have fractions on the faces and then using different strategies to add these two fractions. The kids then transitioned to completing two workbook pages. The last two days have been filled with excellent conversation and teamwork.

12/3/24

Time was spent exploring the early English settlement of Plymouth during social studies this morning. The kids worked with a graphic organizer to gather some important information about the colony, which we visited on a field trip earlier this school year.

In math class, the members of A303 began adding fractions. Using blank clock faces, the kids worked on a few workbook pages. A productive lesson.

12/2/24

The first week of December will see the fifth graders conclude their group monologue and poster concerning Esperanza Rising. A lot of time and effort have went into this work over the last two weeks and we are all eager to see the finished results.

We are also going to move into the second portion of our fraction unit. We will start adding and subtracting fractions these next two weeks. Some very important lessons are upcoming.