11/12/15

As we returned to the classroom today after celebrating Veterans Day, students began to compose their Christopher Columbus essay in social studies. Over the course of this week, the fifth graders have been presented with different perspectives of the Columbus discovery. The students have been tasked with using this evidence to give their own point of view of whether or not Columbus Day should be celebrated. I look forward to hearing students share their opinions with the class.

We are rapidly approaching the end of unit 1 in math class. Students continued their work with some division cluster problems today. Room 312 also retouched upon some challenging order of operation problems. I am confident that as we approach the unit 1 assessment, the fifth grade is well prepared.

Finally, we ended the day by continuing to make nice progress in the writing department. I once again enjoyed getting to conference with my writers and work with them as they strengthen their clean water opinion papers.

Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading

Character Trait project - today students were given directions for a character trait project that is due on November 13th. The directions are fairly straightforward, but if there is any confusion or questions that I can help to answer, please don't hesitate to contact me.



Trivia

Where did Christopher Columbus believe that he was when he made land on his famous voyage?

Note about parent teacher conferences

I wanted to let everyone know that the conference schedule for this year is going to be a 15 minutes chunk of time for everyone. Although the sign-up genius site penciled everyone in for 20 minutes of time. The conferences will be 15 minutes, with 5 minutes of transition time in between.

11/10/15

During math today, students looked at divisibility rules for certain numbers. The fifth graders took the lead during this portion of the lesson and worked well together to come up with conditions and examples that worked for each number. Later in our math block, we continued our work with division cluster problems.

Christopher Columbus continued to be the topic of the day in social studies. After being exposed to the native perspective of events yesterday, room 312 was given a more traditional account of Columbus' exploration today. Students were then tasked with weighing the two different perspectives and writing a reflection, in which they gave their own perspective of the events.


Homework

Math - workbook page 62

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading

Character Trait project - today students were given directions for a character trait project that is due on November 13th. The directions are fairly straightforward, but if there is any confusion or questions that I can help to answer, please don't hesitate to contact me.


Trivia

Can you name three Civil Way generals?

11/9/15

During social studies, students began to turn their attention to Christopher Columbus. The fifth grade was presented with two different perspectives of the same event and asked to determine which they believed to be accurate. We began today's lesson by reading the book Encounter by Jane Yolen. This story presented an uncommon view point of events to the students. Later we followed that up by looking at a more traditional view of the Columbus expedition.

Later in the day, students once again put on their writer's hats and kept up the good work on their opinion writing pieces. We are getting closer to publishing these papers. Students looked to included transition words into their early drafts today.


Homework

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading

Character Trait project - today students were given directions for a character trait project that is due on November 13th. The directions are fairly straightforward, but if there is any confusion or questions that I can help to answer, please don't hesitate to contact me.


Trivia

How long, in feet, is the Mississippi River?

11/6/15

Students wrapped up the week by continuing their hard work during our ELA block. My writers are making significant progress in their opinion writing pieces. Today, students looked at supplementing their writing with quotations. We talked about both the proper formatting and just what makes a good quote. Next week, we will continue our work as we make our way to publishing.

Earlier in the day, students were able to hear the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Students have recently begun their European explorer unit. To launch this unit we have been talking about the idea of perspectives and what tends to happen when two foreign cultures come into contact with one another.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.


Homework

Character Trait project - today students were given directions for a character trait project that is due on November 13th. The directions are fairly straightforward, but if there is any confusion or questions that I can help to answer, please don't hesitate to contact me.

11/4/15

Students dedicated much of their ELA time to their opinion writing piece. The fifth graders are putting the finishing touches on their first drafts and today, we looked at the proper way to insert quotes into ones writing. Students talked about the reasons why inserting an appropriate quote would be a positive and then worked with a few examples.

Earlier in the day, the fifth grade began their next social studies unit on European exploration of the North American continent. Students kicked off the lesson by talking about what their reaction would be if they were to encounter an alien. This lead into an informative talk about what tends to happen when two different cultures come into contact with one another.

Tomorrow, I will be out of the building for meetings. I look forward to seeing everyone on Friday as we wrap up the first week of November together.


Homework

Math - workbook page 57 and 58

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading, fill out reader's log on a nightly basis

Character Trait project - today students were given directions for a character trait project that is due on November 13th. The directions are fairly straightforward, but if there is any confusion or questions that I can help to answer, please don't hesitate to contact me.


Trivia

What was the name of a Civil War battle that took place in Pennsylvania?

11/3/15

It was nice to see everyone back in school as we started the month of November together. During math, we continued our work with division. Students were working on division cluster problems, which were very similar to the work that they did with multiplication a few weeks ago. Students are getting quite comfortable with using stories and cluster problems to better solve division problems.

Later in the day, the students continued their work on their opinion writing assignments. Students continue to collect data and quotes from reliable sources to back up their opinions. I have enjoyed getting to sit with my writers and listen in to them create compelling arguments. Later this week, we will look to inject more transition words into our writing.

Homework

Math - workbook page 54

Reading - 30 minutes of quiet reading, fill out reader's log on a nightly basis

Character Trait project - today students were given directions for a character trait project that is due on November 13th. The directions are fairly straightforward, but if there is any confusion or questions that I can help to answer, please don't hesitate to contact me.


Trivia

What was the largest species of dinosaur?