5/11/21

After a morning meeting, the fifth graders buckled in to take the ELA portion of the MCAS test. I compliment the students for working hard through their testing time. I am sure everyone put their best effort in. In two weeks time, we will take the math portion of the exam.

Later in the school day, we wrapped up the work concerning the Boston Massacre that we had started yesterday. The kids really did a nice job with this lesson.

5/10/21

The second week of May began with an interesting lesson about the Boston Massacre. The fifth graders looked at some famous artist renderings of the event and looked to use those to help them answer some focus questions.

Members of A303 also met with their fantasy book groups to read deeper into their novels. Later this week, the kids will be doing some writing about important turning points in their stories.

As a reminder, tomorrow we will be taking the ELA portion of the MCAS test. Please have the kids charge their devices fully tonight so that they are ready to go tomorrow morning.

5/7/21

We finished the first week of May by having the fantasy book groups read with the intention of noting significant turning points in the direction of the plot. The kids took some notes as they were reading in preperation for a piece of writing that we will be doing next week.

The kids also put the finishing touches on their taxation without representation flip books in social studies class. 

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. As a reminder, the fifth grade will be taking their one session of ELA MCAS next Tuesday the 11th. Please make an effort to remind the kids to charge their devices on Monday night so that they are ready to go on Tuesday morning. 

5/6/21

Fifth graders are working on a flip book that seeks to explore the concept of Taxation Without Representation during social studies time. Pairs of students read an article and watched a short video. They then transitioned to answering some comprehension questions that will eventually serve as the foundation of a flip book. We will finish this work tomorrow.

During math class, the kids were on a multi-step word problem that involved decimals. This problem needed to be solved using both figuring and a visual component. Members of A303 did a nice job with this today.

5/5/21

We were fortunate enough to have a representative of the Concord Museum visit us this morning for a presentation about the Revolutionary War. The kids were a great audience for this virtual enrichment and they seemed to learn a lot.

During math class, we also looked to continue our new session that involves adding decimals. 

5/4/21

The students took a quiz during math class to track their progress through the first session of our decimal unit. When that was complete, we moved into session two. This session began with another math activity that saw partners looking to add decimals using grids.

We also met with our fantasy book groups, will the focus of our reading being potential turning points in the direction of the story. Later this week, the fifth graders will look to do some writing about this.

5/3/21

We began the second to last month of the school year by undertaking one final lesson in math class that saw the students comparing the values of decimals. Using number lines and grids, the fifth graders continued the work that was begun last week. Tomorrow, the kids will take a quiz to track their progress in this important unit.

The topic of our social studies unit was the Proclamation of 1763. After completing a book about the French and Indian War last week, the fifth graders moved on to the next domino to fall on the road to the Revolutionary War. Using a short video and some maps, the students attempted to create a compromise that would have a avoided further conflict between Great Britain and the colonies. This work will continue tomorrow.