Friday, February 19th, 2016

Happy Sunday Families!

I hope everyone had a fantastic week!  It is hard to believe that our Valentine's Day party was our last 5th Grade classroom party.  Thank you again to our parent volunteers for making the party one to remember!

Our students have been working hard to finish up all of the assessments to complete Trimester 2!    Here are the targets we will be beginning in the next few weeks:

Literacy:
We are completing our unit on the universe with the book, "Our Mysterious Universe".  The book covered many of the interesting phenomena and theories in our universe.

Writing: 

Our students are working on their second Scientific Journal writing project.  

We will revisit opinion writing in the upcoming weeks. 

​Math: 

We are completing our work on Unit 4 with the final assessment.  We will continue to intervene any of these targets next week prior to report cards going out.  

We will start a proportional drawing activity on Monday.  This activity will help introduce the next unit in math (Unit 5).  At your convenience, please read the parent math letter for Unit 5 using the link below:

Unit 5 Parent math letter

Unit 5 in Math will cover the following targets:

**5.MD.1- Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system, and use these conversions in solving multi- step,

real- world problems. 

**5.MD.4 Measure volumes by count unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units. 

**5.MD.5 Relate volume to the operations of multiplication and addition and solve real-world and mathematical problems involving volume. 

​Social Studies: 

We are wrapping up our study of the early American Colonial Times.

​Science: 
We are finishing up our study of the human body systems.  Over the next few weeks, our focus will be on the circulatory system and how all of the systems work together.  We will also look at what positive and negative influences affect our health.

​Important Dates and Friendly Reminders:

**We are starting our proportional drawing activity in math next week.  Please send in any colored comic pages from your Sunday paper.  If you not receive the Sunday paper, please do not worry.  We usually have enough for everyone to share.  

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

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

** February 23rd - Early Release

**February 26th - End of the Grading Period

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.  Thank you and have a fantastic Sunday!

Friday, February 5th, 2016

Happy Friday Families!

February has gotten off to a great start and our students are hard at work!  Here is a brief summary of what is keeping us busy in 5th grade:

Literacy

* We are currently reading a science fiction story called Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Adventure.  The two main characters of the story travel back in time and meet many of history’s famous philosophers and scientists!  Throughout the reading we will work on skills such as understanding text structure, using context clues to understand word meaning, compare and contrast characters—-just to name a few.

Writing

* Last week, our students completed a writing assessment which required students to plan and compose a science fiction story in one session.  It was especially good practice for the PARCC assessments in the Spring!  This week, we started researching for a new informative essay.  Students were asked to select a historical discovery in the area of space and write a their version of a science journal entry.  It will include facts presented in an organized format, as well as visuals to support their topic.  Students will also be asked to evaluate and cite their sources.  All students have chosen a topic and have started their research.

Spelling

* We are continuing our work with the Words Their Way program.  New homework boggle sheets were sent home on Monday.  Just a friendly reminder that each boggle choice sheet is due on Friday with three completed activities.  Please encourage your child to start working on these assignments earlier in the week rather than waiting until the night before they are due.

Math

* This week we finished a short math target that involved interpreting the size of a product of a fractional multiplication problem based on the size of each factor.  We are currently working on solving real-world problems involving the multiplication of fractions.

We are also very excited about the high level of participation in the LearnStorm contest sponsored by Khan Academy!  We are proud that so many students are choosing to work at home to improve their math skills!

Social Studies

* We will soon finish learning about the Southern colonies and the practice of indentured servitude and slavery.  The “help wanted” posters our students created to "recruit" indentured servants look great hanging in the hallway!

Science

* This week we continued learning about the body systems.  We are finishing up the digestive system and moving onto the respiratory system.

Friendly Reminders and Upcoming Events

** Please remember that the 5th grade music show takes place NEXT THURSDAY evening, February 11, at 6:30.  Students should arrive by 6:15 and meet in the music room to get ready for their performance.

** Reading Logs - Please encourage your student to work on their “Book-o-Sphere” project, which corresponds with their home reading for the month of February.  Pacing their Book-o-Sphere project will help to serve as time-management practice!

** Valentine's Day Parties - We will spend the last hour of school on the 18th in our winter parties. Many thanks to all of the parents who have helped in the planning, will be attending the parties, or who are donating items.  If your child is participating in passing Valentines, please make sure that he or she brings a Valentine for every student in the class.   Please refer to Mrs. Gluck’s principal blog for the items that are allowed to be sent with Valentines if your child chooses to participate.

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

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

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.  Thank you and have a fantastic weekend!

Enzie Pangilinan