Friday, February 26th, 2026

Happy Friday Families!

Believe it or not, Trimester 2 has come to an end and we are ready to kick off our third and final trimester! Over the last several weeks, our students completed literacy/writing assessments to demonstrate their progress on Trimester 2 learning targets.  Students showed quite the perseverance & stamina!

Check below to see what we've covered over the last couple of weeks, as well as some of the learning we are looking forward to starting!

Literacy

As the second grading period came to a close, we continued to practice analyzing multiple perspectives using nonfiction texts.  With various reading passages, we compared and contrasted different author's points of view regarding topics such as school uniforms, video games, and rescuing penguin populations.  While we read these texts, we continued to practice identifying the author’s main point, and the reasons and evidence that the author uses to support it. 

This week, we started to work on finding relationships between concepts and ideas in nonfiction.

Math

It’s hard to believe, but we completed our Unit 5 assessment this week.  Students worked hard to understand how to multiply and divide fractions using labeled models. 

Next week, we start Unit 6…Geometry!  Our students will learn about locating and labeling ordered pairs on a coordinate plane and investigate patterns within a number series.  Over the next few weeks, we will explore the hierarchy of polygons, which include triangles and quadrilaterals.  Our students will work on classifying shapes based on attributes using academic language related to angles and length of sides.

Science

We started our final science unit exploring the concept of conservation of matter.  During our lab this week, students tested liquids to see which ones would clean the tarnish off a penny.  When their pennies changed from dark and dirty to bright and shiny, they had the chance to think about where the tarnish went.  We are looking forward to many more hands-on investigations later in the unit.

Important Dates

Wednesday, March 4th - Thursday, March 5th: 5th Grade Illinois Science Assessment

Thursday, March 19th: Early Release/Conferences 5-8:30

Friday, March 20st- No School: Conferences 10-1:30

Friendly Reminders

**Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack.  Nothing feeds the brain better than something healthy!

**Please continue to have your child practice his or her multiplication facts up to 12.

**Band and orchestra students should remember to be prepared with their instruments and music books on the days that lessons take place.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Enzie Pangilinan

Sunday, December 7th, 2025

Happy Friday Families!

Can you believe that December has already arrived? I hope you were able to spend some quality time with loved ones last week during our short break! This week we have "hit the ground running" and have been working very hard! Please read below to find out what we are working on in each academic subject!

Literacy

We are currently reading a shared text titled Washed Up, a story about three families who encounter various challenges while trying to win a survival reality show.  Our students are working hard to best summarize each chapter, with a focus on how the characters respond to different challenges.  In the coming weeks, we will continue to explore various fiction texts to help our students practice summarizing, as well as working on describing how a narrator's point of view influences how events are described.

Writing

We've shifted our focus to narrative writing.  Over the next few weeks, our students will plan and compose a narrative paper based on a science fiction based prompt. This will tie in nicely with our small group novel, George's Secret Key to the Universe!

 

Math

We wrapped up our math unit on decimals and place value before Thanksgiving. Our new unit encompasses multi-digit multiplication. Students learn and practice how to use the standard algorithm to multiply. In Number Corner, we will measure our height and feet length within inches. Throughout the month of December, we will regularly plot the data onto a line plot. We will also plot the data onto a scatter plot to analyze the correlation between height and foot length. Over the last few days, we have worked on converting customary and metric measurements. We've learned a cool tic-tac-toe strategy to help us convert accurately! Be sure to ask your student how it works!

 

Science

We're continuing to dig deeper into our unit about the Earth's systems. We've learned about Earth’s four systems (biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere). The focus has been on how the four systems constantly interact.

 

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, December 9th - Early Release

Friday, December 19 - Winter Break Begins

 

Friendly Reminders

• As winter weather approaches, please make sure your student is properly dressed for recess.

• Please remind your student to charge his/her iPad and Logitech Crayon every night.

• Orchestra & Band Parents: Please make sure your students have their instrument on assigned days.

• Please remember to send your student with a healthy snack - nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!  

• Please continue to have your student practice their multiplication facts up to 12.

Thank you for your continued partnership and have a great week!

Enzie Pangilinan

Friday, October 24th, 2025

Happy Friday Families!

It's so hard to believe that October is almost in the rear view mirror and that November is just around the corner! Now that we're deep into the first grading period, I am excited to see how much more our students will grow throughout the year. There is so much to teach and so much to learn, but so little time!

Literacy

Last week, we started reading a nonfiction text titled Explorers: Triumphs and Troubles. This text highlights the details and impact of various explorers' expeditions throughout history. As we read the text, we worked on identifying the author's main point(s) while determining reasons and evidence as support. To practice determining the author's main point/s, we ask ourselves, "What does the author MOST want us to know or believe about what was written?" We continued our work on this learning target this week, using various texts, including electric vehicles and rising sea levels.

Writing

Our students are finishing an analytical writing piece, using the nonfiction text from literacy, Explorers: Triumphs and Troubles. Students had very strong opinions about which explorer was the worst! Their focus was to write an engaging paragraph that included their big idea and evidence. We also discussed what makes a strong topic sentence and conclusion sentence. Students are also practicing writing to different audiences. Be sure to ask your child to share it with you! They made quite compelling arguments!

Math

This week, we wrapped up our second unit in math, which focused on adding and subtracting fractions. Next week, we will start Unit 3, which focuses on adding and subtracting decimals.  Over the course of the next few weeks, our students will turn their focus on rounding numbers, including decimals up to the thousandths place.

In a separate email, I'm sending the Unit 3 Family Letter, which discusses the concepts covered in the unit.

Social Studies

We are really enjoying our first Social Studies unit! Our discussions have focused on the perceptions of Indigenous American Cultures and learning how to formulate questions to help guide our students' learning on how to better honor the cultural heritage of this land. Soon, we will be looking at what really happened at the First Thanksgiving Dinner!

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, October 29th- Music Show- 6:30 (6:00 student arrival)

Friday, October 31st- Halloween Parties

Tuesday, November 4th- Early Release

Wednesday, November 12th- Special Lunch

Friday, November 14th- End of Trimester 1

Friendly Reminders

**Please remind your student to charge his/her iPad and Logitech Crayon every night.

**If your child participates in orchestra or band, please remind him/her to bring their instrument on their lesson day.

**Please remember to send your student with a healthy snack - nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!

**Please continue to have your student practice their multiplication facts up to 12.

Monday, September 22nd, 2025

Good Morning Families! 

I hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having lately and spending some time outdoors! There has been a lot going on in our classroom this past month, and we are looking forward to what the school year still has in store for us. Here are the concepts we are currently/planning to work on:

Reading

Over the last couple of weeks, our students have read various texts in order to determine the narrator's point of view.  Much of our instruction revolved around Road to Freedom and Pedro's Journey, a story about a boy who works as a shipboy on Christopher Columbus' journey to the Americas.  Through these texts, our students were able to have an understanding of how a narrator’s perspective can influence the way events are described. We are looking forward to continuing our new longer shared text, The Night of the Spadefoot Toad, next week. 

Writing

Our students wrapped up their first narrative pieces. They demonstrated great success utilizing their graphic organizers to plan and develop their stories through the use of a detailed sequence of events and effective character development.  Students were also encouraged to add dialogue into their writing to enhance the reader’s understanding of their characters, setting, and events.  Over the last week, students practiced writing a continuation narrative for Pedro's Journey. They did a great job maintaining setting, character traits, and incorporating plot elements in their writing.

Math

Our students wrapped up Unit 1, which focused on evaluating numerical expressions with parentheses, using the correct order of operations.  We are also a month into our Number Corner lessons, which have been focused around clock and money fractions and finding the volume of rectangular prisms.  Next week we will begin Unit 2, which will focus on addition and subtraction of fractions.  The introduction of clock and money fractions in Number Corner will help to provide a springboard for teaching our students to find common denominators before adding or subtracting fractions.

Science

We are wrapping up our discussions about ecosystems.  Over the last couple of weeks, we learned about consumers and the flow of energy through an ecosystem.  We learned that consumers must eat animals in order to obtain their energy and to survive.  Through various discussions, activities, and investigations, we also learned that food webs can be severely impacted by naturally occurring events, such as Red Tide.

Upcoming Events

*Tuesday, September 23rd--No School

*Friday, September 26th --Fun run

*Thursday, October 2--No School

*Friday, October 3--No School

Friendly Reminders

**Please have your child charge his or her iPad every evening.  Much of what we do throughout the day revolves around our iPads.

**Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack each day. Nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!  

**Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts up to 12.

Have a wonderful week!

Enzie Pangilinan

Sunday, September 7th, 2025

Happy Friday Families!

Welcome to the first installment of our bi-monthly blog post!  The purpose of our classroom blog is to keep you informed and up-to-date about the learning that is taking place in the classroom, as well as making sure you are aware of important upcoming dates and and events.

We've been extremely busy thus far and we are looking forward to what the school year still has in store for us.  Here are the concepts we are currently/planning to work on:


Reading

Over the last couple of weeks, our students read various texts in order to determine the narrator's point of view and perspective.  Much of our instruction is revolving around Road to Freedom, a story about a young girl and mother who escaped slavery in the South. Through these texts, our students are able to have an understanding of how a narrator’s perspective influences the way events are described.  In the coming weeks, we're looking forward to beginning our new, longer, shared text, The Night of the Spadefoot Toad, 

Writing
Our students are working their way through their first narrative piece. They're demonstrating great success utilizing their graphic organizers to plan and develop their stories through the use of a detailed sequence of events and effective character development. Students have been encouraged to add pictures to their planning to help them visualize "scenes" as they put their narrative papers together. 

Math
Our students are currently working their way through Unit 1, which focuses on evaluating numerical expressions with parentheses, using the correct order of operations. We also started our Number Corner lessons, which are focused around clock and money fractions and finding the volume of rectangular prisms.  The introduction of clock and money fractions in Number Corner will help to provide a springboard for teaching our students to find common denominators before adding or subtracting fractions.

Science
We wrapped up our discussions about ecosystems. Over the last couple of weeks, we learned about consumers and the flow of energy through an ecosystem. We learned that consumers must eat animals in order to obtain their energy and to survive. Through various discussions, activities, and investigations, we also learned that food webs can be severely impacted by naturally occurring events, such as Red Tide.

Upcoming Events
*Tuesday, September 23rd - NO SCHOOL (District Holiday)
*Thursday, October 2nd - NO SCHOOL (District Holiday)
*Friday, October 3rd - NO SCHOOL (District Holiday)

Friendly Reminders
**Please have your child charge his or her iPad every evening. Much of what we do throughout the day revolves around our iPads.
**Please remember to send your child with a healthy fruit or vegetable snack each day. Nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!
**Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts up to 12.

Thank you for your partnership this school year and have a wonderful weekend!

Enzie Pangilinan

Monday, May 12th, 2025

Happy May Families! We have officially entered our final month of school... Where did the time go? We had a great time on our field trip this week and applied our learning from previous units to artifacts that can be found in Lake County!

Literacy

Students have been working on identifying the various strategies that authors use in order to develop a clear theme for their readers. After reading numerous texts, we have been working on comparing and contrasting how two authors can apply different literary strategies to their writing, but still develop the same theme. Students have engaged in many thoughtful discussions to enhance their learning and to hear a variety of perspectives. Our next step will be writing about our analysis.

Writing

In writing, we have been applying our exploration of themes in order to thoroughly develop our own narratives using various strategies. Students are considering character actions, word choice, and dialogue to ensure that their themes are clearly outlined for readers. They are composing very creative and intriguing stories!

Math

We continued working with division word problems and how to decide what to do with a remainder.  We also spent time practicing how to multiply and divide decimals by powers of ten. The students worked hard to understand and explain why we move the decimal point when multiplying and dividing by powers of ten. 

Social Studies

Our students are learning about the different branches of government and the system of checks and balances these branches use on one another in order to help balance power. Our students explored how our country’s founders established a system of federalism within the United States by reading a variety of articles and examining case studies. 

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday, May 13th --Early Release
• Wednesday, May 15th - Literacy Placement Test
• Friday, May 16th-- 5th Grade Party during the school day
• Monday, May 19th-- 5th Graders Visit Twin Groves

Friendly Reminders

• Please remind your student to charge his/her iPad and Logitech Crayon every night

• Please remember to send your student with a healthy snack

• Please continue to have your student practice multiplication facts up to 12

• Band and orchestra students should remember to be prepared with their instruments and music books on the days of lessons

FIeld Trip Pictures!

Saturday, April 26th, 2025

Happy Saturday Families!

This week we began our final cycle of the school year! Summer is just around the corner. As we progress through the final months of school, we will have many special events and dates that will be important to mark on calendars. Please pay special attention to the dates listed at the bottom of the blog updates so that you can stay informed!

Literacy

This week, we read the stories Secrets of Canyon Cave and The Two Travelers.  We read closely to understand the characters’ points of view and how their personalities and feelings impacted the choices they made. After reading, we discovered a theme and discussed the various strategies the author used to develop a theme.  Ask your child to tell you similarities and differences between the two texts.

Writing

Last week, we wrapped up our Real Life Superhero speeches. Students really enjoyed researching, working on their notecards, and presenting about their real-life superhero to the class. We learned so much about individuals, such as Ruth Bader Ginsurg and Muhammad Ali, who made a positive impact on society. The kids did a wonderful job! For the rest of the year, we will continue to work on refining our narrative writing skills.

Math

We are in our last unit of math this year! This unit teaches us multiple strategies for dividing whole numbers like partial quotients and the standard algorithm. Students have been working hard to improve their skills to divide multi-digit numbers using the strategy they feel most comfortable with. Within the unit, we will also be learning more about the powers of ten and multiplying and dividing decimals. 

Social Studies

We started our final unit of study in Social Studies- Citizens' Rights & Responsibilities. Our students are learning about democracy. They are asking many wonderful questions and having important discussions. Ask your child to explain the three branches of government  to you. In the coming weeks, our students will explore how our country’s founders established a system of federalism within the United States.

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday, April 29th - 5th Grade Music Show at 6:30 pm
• Wednesday, April 30th  - MAP Testing (Reading)
• Thursday, May 1st - MAP Testing (Math)
• Thursday, May 8th or Friday, May 9th - Field Trip to the Dunn Museum
• Wednesday, May 15th - Literacy Placement Test

Friendly Reminders

• Please remind your student to charge his/her iPad and Logitech Crayon every night.
• Please remember to send your student with a healthy snack.
• Please continue to have your student practice multiplication facts up to 12.
• Band and orchestra students should remember to be prepared with their instruments and music books on the days of lessons.

Thank you for continued support and have fantastic rest of your weekend!

Enzie Pangilinan