We have been lucky since the snow days with a mild January month. As I look forward to February I hope that our luck continues. Here’s an overview of curriculum for the month of January and February.
WEX: Students were excited to receive their very own copy of the Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going to read, and more importantly, annotate in. The novel will be used in conjunction with our WEX response to literature writing unit two. Annotating is valuable skill they will carry with them as they go to middle school and beyond. In grammar this month, we will be covering pronouns, their antecedents, subject and object pronouns and pronoun-verb agreement.
Reading: We are wrapping up our January mystery book review and students are working on uploading their recorded book reviews to their blogs. For the month of February our genre is going to be fantasy. We have started reading a whole class novel, Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt. We will look at fantasy noticings, and will also work on applying our C-E-I-E-I-O extended response strategy to cite text evidence for our ideas about the characters and themes in the novel.
The PARCC test is right around the corner, and will begin the first week of March. The 5th grade team is working to prepare our students for this new assessment. Test samples have been made available for teachers to utilize to familiarize students with how the PARCC test is different from the previous ISAT tests students are used to. A focus we have for this month is to familiarize students with the new format of the PARCC.
Math: Hands on Equations was a raging success last month. Students now know how to solve algebraic equations and better prepared to sixth grade with this new understanding. In February, we will continue working on Unit 5 to explore mixed numbers, compare and order fractions, find equivalent fractions, practice turning fractions into decimals and percents, and review properties and constructions of bars and graphs. Please encourage your child to continue to practice these skills on IXL. Students who practice consistently are better able to apply the concepts consistently and accurately.
We will also look at PARCC related math assessments to familiarize students with these new assessments and better prepare them for the test in March.
Science: The Watery Earth unit is in full swing. We are learning about surface water and students are realizing what a precious and limited resource we have right now. To reinforce these ideas, We are working with Mrs. Polita and Mrs. Fajks in the LMC to research water pollution issues all over the world. Once we have gathered, analyzed and synthesized our information, we will be creating public service announcements with the assistance of Mrs. Fajks to disseminate our message and call to action.
While we are taking a break from History Alive at this time, we continue to focus on several social studies skills such as Daily Oral Geography (G.O.D.) to reinforce map and geographical skills. We continue to stay abreast of local, state, national and international issues with the current events self-selected articles of interest. And of course we read the weekly issue of Time for Kids and use it as a launching off point to discuss many topics that affect our world today!
WEX: Students were excited to receive their very own copy of the Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going to read, and more importantly, annotate in. The novel will be used in conjunction with our WEX response to literature writing unit two. Annotating is valuable skill they will carry with them as they go to middle school and beyond. In grammar this month, we will be covering pronouns, their antecedents, subject and object pronouns and pronoun-verb agreement.
Reading: We are wrapping up our January mystery book review and students are working on uploading their recorded book reviews to their blogs. For the month of February our genre is going to be fantasy. We have started reading a whole class novel, Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt. We will look at fantasy noticings, and will also work on applying our C-E-I-E-I-O extended response strategy to cite text evidence for our ideas about the characters and themes in the novel.
The PARCC test is right around the corner, and will begin the first week of March. The 5th grade team is working to prepare our students for this new assessment. Test samples have been made available for teachers to utilize to familiarize students with how the PARCC test is different from the previous ISAT tests students are used to. A focus we have for this month is to familiarize students with the new format of the PARCC.
Math: Hands on Equations was a raging success last month. Students now know how to solve algebraic equations and better prepared to sixth grade with this new understanding. In February, we will continue working on Unit 5 to explore mixed numbers, compare and order fractions, find equivalent fractions, practice turning fractions into decimals and percents, and review properties and constructions of bars and graphs. Please encourage your child to continue to practice these skills on IXL. Students who practice consistently are better able to apply the concepts consistently and accurately.
We will also look at PARCC related math assessments to familiarize students with these new assessments and better prepare them for the test in March.
Science: The Watery Earth unit is in full swing. We are learning about surface water and students are realizing what a precious and limited resource we have right now. To reinforce these ideas, We are working with Mrs. Polita and Mrs. Fajks in the LMC to research water pollution issues all over the world. Once we have gathered, analyzed and synthesized our information, we will be creating public service announcements with the assistance of Mrs. Fajks to disseminate our message and call to action.
While we are taking a break from History Alive at this time, we continue to focus on several social studies skills such as Daily Oral Geography (G.O.D.) to reinforce map and geographical skills. We continue to stay abreast of local, state, national and international issues with the current events self-selected articles of interest. And of course we read the weekly issue of Time for Kids and use it as a launching off point to discuss many topics that affect our world today!