10/12/21

After the holiday weekend, the fifth graders returned to their literary writing during ELA time. The kids were exposed to two more short stories that they worked to annotate and do some writing about the theme of the pieces. Later this week, the fifth graders will look to select one of those stories to turn into a fully fleshed out literary essay.

We are also going to continue to work on division problems during math time. The kids persevered through some challenging problem sets this morning. 

Later this week, the kids will be taking the math portion of their iReady assessment. This online assessment will serve to show where the kids are with learn math progress at this point in time. Because of this, please make sure all of the kids charge their devices before coming to school in the morning. 

10/8/21

We concluded a productive week by completing the next unit session during math class. The fifth graders did quality work on their most recent multiplication quiz and that carried over into the lesson's work, which saw them moving into division. The next few weeks will allow us to fully explore this important skill.

Our book groups also met and read deeper into their texts. The focus of the after-read writing piece centered around observable character traits of the protagonist in each book.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Let's go Red Sox.

10/7/21

The fifth graders received their most recent math quiz back today. The results were quite impressive. They did a nice job of working through the multiplication problems and explaining their thinking. We continued to progress towards the conclusion of the next session in unit one during the math portion of the day.

It would be helpful for the fifth graders to charge their devices at home before coming to school. We are in the midst of our first writing unit and I would also like the kids to start using Dreambox to supplement their math work. Both of these work items require the kids to use their devices.

10/6/21

The book groups were able to meet again during our ELA time this morning. The first two days have been productive ones. After reading together for the majority of their time, the members of the groups then did some writing about a scene from the book that has stood out to them.

We also continued to work with different strategies for solving multiplication problems. The fifth graders did a nice job on yesterday's quiz and I was impressed with the work that was finished today.

10/5/21

Our ELA time saw the book groups meet to do some reading in their realistic fiction texts. While reading, the students are keeping a journal going. This journal will serve as fodder for various pieces of writing that the kids will be undertaking throughout the course of their work with the novels.

We also took a brief quiz in math class this morning. This quiz required the kids to solve multiplication problems and explain their reasoning. It will allow me a nice insight into where the students are with their progress in unit one. 

10/4/21

The first full week of October began with a bang in A303. The students continued to work with cluster problems in math class. This series of problems has been a great tool for the kids to use as they are attempting to learn different strategies for solving two digit by two digit multiplication problems. Great partner work this morning.

We also had a fantastic writing lesson during our ELA block. The kids are in the process of reading and annotating a series of short stories that will eventually serve as the foundation of literary essays. 

10/1/21

The start of October was a busy one for the kids in A303. The fifth graders completed their reading pre-assessment during our ELA black this morning. Now that this is complete, we can kick off our realistic fiction book groups next week. The kids are eager to start reading.

We also played a multiplication compare game during math class. The students used various strategies to help them solve problems and then kept track of the results on their recording sheets. They finished up the math session by working on two workbook pages.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.