News From 5-4
February 9, 2014
Our classroom is buzzing with excitement about the class set of iPads we have the whole month of February. Our favorite discovery so far is using Air Server. Whenever the students want to quickly share a strategy or an idea, they can project right to the white board. This has proven helpful in sharing math strategies, writing prompts, and presentations like "Explain Everything."
We will be having our Valentine's Day party on Friday from 2:45 until the end of the day. We will exchange valentines on Friday. Please don't worry about creating a container for the valentines, as we will take care of this at school. Here is a list of student names for your child as he/she is creating the cards: Kaitlyn, Alex C., Ava, Jamie, Lexi, Jack, Jade, Alex G., Ben, Max, Audrey, Logan, Ajla, Rick, Miranda, Eric, Michael, Jake, Kaley, Ryan, Mia, Lukas, Nick.
Dates to remember:
2/11- 100th Day of School
Dates to remember:
2/11- 100th Day of School
2/14- Valentine's Day Party 2:45
2/17- No School Presidents' Day
2/19- Student Variety Show Rehearsal in gym 4:00
2/20- Student Variety Show Dress Rehearsal in gym 4:00
2/21- Career Dress Day
Variety Show 6:30 in commons
Here's what's happening in 5-4:
Literacy:
We have finished another novel in guided reading groups. The end of book tests came home in the Friday Folder this past week. The students will also be assessed on their daily work in their literature logs including signposts, words worth noting, figurative language, comparing characters and events in literature, and identifying problems and solutions.
During shared reading time we have been reading informational texts related to our science unit, The Human Body. While reading The Human Machine, we focused on identifying the internal structure of the text. Identifying the structure not only helped the students decide how to best structure their notes, but also strengthened their comprehension of the material. While reading Bones and Muscles and Respiration and Circulation, we will focus on choosing and defining words worth noticing. We will be reading and taking notes with a text dependent question in mind. The students will be asked to explain the relationship between the respiratory system and the circulatory system, using text evidence and their interpretations of the text to support a claim this week.
Math:
During Unit 7 we have been exploring exponents and negative numbers. We've worked on understanding exponential notation, powers of 10, scientific notation, parentheses, and order of operations. This week we will work on ordering and comparing negative numbers, adding and subtracting negative numbers, and continue practice with line graphs and line plots. Our Unit 7 test will be the week of February 18. Unit 8 will dig deeper into fractions and ratios.
Science:
The fifth graders have been enjoying our Human Body Unit. Through experiments and models we've discovered how the body moves and what systems work together to make that happen. We've determined the importance of the nervous system in movement and explored voluntary and involuntary movement. Seeing our reflexes in action and comparing that to our ruler grabbing experiment last week, helped us to determine how the body works differently to move in different situations.
Math:
During Unit 7 we have been exploring exponents and negative numbers. We've worked on understanding exponential notation, powers of 10, scientific notation, parentheses, and order of operations. This week we will work on ordering and comparing negative numbers, adding and subtracting negative numbers, and continue practice with line graphs and line plots. Our Unit 7 test will be the week of February 18. Unit 8 will dig deeper into fractions and ratios.
Science:
The fifth graders have been enjoying our Human Body Unit. Through experiments and models we've discovered how the body moves and what systems work together to make that happen. We've determined the importance of the nervous system in movement and explored voluntary and involuntary movement. Seeing our reflexes in action and comparing that to our ruler grabbing experiment last week, helped us to determine how the body works differently to move in different situations.
Our class created a Human Body Wonder Wall where we can post any questions we have as we are studying the human body and its related systems. These questions have evolved into a mini-research project where the students are researching, documenting, reflecting, and commenting on peers' documentation. It is exciting for me to see how many of them have changed their questions as they've dug deeper into a topic and how their peers' feedback has moved them forward in their thinking.
We've split into small groups to research the different systems in the body. Groups are using Google Docs to record facts that help them to answer the two essential questions: How does this system work? Why is this system important to the body? They will be creating Explain Everything presentations to incorporate videos, photos, diagrams, and text to convince the rest of the class of the importance of their system. We will share these presentations with the entire fifth grade.
As always, please feel free to email or call me with any questions and concerns!
Sincerely,
Kelly
As always, please feel free to email or call me with any questions and concerns!
Sincerely,
Kelly
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