Friday, February 16th, 2018

Happy Friday 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 are working hard to finish up all of the assessments as we start to wrap up Trimester 2!    Here are the targets we will be beginning in the next few weeks:

Literacy:
We are completing our final unit the grading period, which focused on the theme of Finding Courage.  Our students are currently working hard on completing their end-of-unit assessments.  As we start our next unit, our focus will shift to the theme of Exploring New Worlds!  Our first text in the unit, Explorers: Triumphs and Troubles, focuses on various explorers and their positive (and some negative) impact on the world.

Writing

Students will turn their focus to opinion writing.  Students' strong opinions typically lead to many interesting discussions and debates within our classroom!

Math

We are wrapping up Unit 5, which focused on multiplication and division of fractions. Please make sure your child studies for next week's Unit 5 Post Test over the long weekend.

In the coming weeks, our focus will shift to Unit 6, which covers the following targets:

** 5.G.4: Classifying two dimensional figures.

** 5.G.1: Locating points on a coordinate grid.   

** 5.MD.5b: Apply the formulas V = l x w x h and V = B x h when solving for the volume of rectangular prisms.

** 5.OA.3: Use the relationship between x and y coordinates to generate a multiple operation expression that represents the rule for the coordinate pairs

Social Studies

We are ending our patriotism unit and we will begin the third trimester studying Supply & Demand and Trade. We will be looking at the difference between goods and services and the importance in our lives. 

Science

We will start to study matter and work on investigations to help us determine what causes substances to change. 

​Important Dates and Friendly Reminders:

** 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.

** Monday, February 19th: NO SCHOOL (President's Day)

** Friday, February 23rd - End of the Grading Period

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

Friday, February 2nd, 2018

Dear Families,

Happy February! With the chilly temperatures coming up, it seems as if spring couldn't come soon enough. Trimester 2 is wrapping up, and Trimester 3 is quickly on its way.  

Here is what we’ve been working on in each of our content areas:

Literacy

*We are continuing to read through Angel Island, which discusses the journey and challenges of Chinese immigrants as they entered the United States. To dig deeper into the topic of Angel Island, students also began reading about Li Keng Wong's personal story as a Chinese immigrant. By exposing students to first and second hand resources, we are continuing to explore more about perspective and point of view. As students are reading about Angel Island, many of them made connections to Ellis Island, which they learned about in 4th grade. 

Writing

*Recently, students read Real-Life Superheroes, which they learned about honorable names such as Rosa Parks, Richard Martin, Raoul Wallenberg, and Thomas Barnardo. From these four "superheroes", students chose a person to conduct research and create a Google slides presentation to highlight his/her biography and accomplishments. Be sure to ask your student about his/her chosen superhero! 

Math

*Within Unit 5, we are continuing to work on multiplying fractions. This week, we've practiced multiplying fractions by fractions. The students are working on creating diagrams using the area model and geoboards to represent dimensions and the area of rectangles. As we head into the next week, students will be practicing their skills with fraction multiplication story problems. 

Social Studies

*We are beginning to learn about patriotism. Previously, we've learn about liberty and the Pledge of Allegiance. Connecting those two topics, students will explore the meaning and importance of patriotism. They will also discuss how people in the United States can show patriotism to their nation. 

Science

*We have started our unit about the Earth, the Moon, and the Stars. This week, we learned about the sun and other stars. Students read about how the brightness of star depends on their proximity to the Earth. We even learned that one star (Rigel) is 773 light years away from the Earth. This means that the light left that star 773 years ago! 

Change Donation Boxes
*Within each classroom, there will be a donation box for students to bring in any loose change. All proceeds are collected to provide underprivileged students with reading books. All and any donations are appreciated. This is a school-wide event, and all the classrooms will be participating. Let's see which class can collect the most change to make a change in the world!

Upcoming Events

Feb. 6th-8th (Tuesday-Thursday) - Book Fair
Feb. 8th (Thursday) - Ivy Hall Celebrates @ 7PM
Feb. 13th (Tuesday) - Early Dismissal @ 2PM
Feb. 13th (Tuesday) - Band Concert
Feb. 14th (Wednesday) - Valentine's Day Parties @ 2PM
Feb. 19th (Monday) - No School: President's Day
Feb. 23rd (Friday) - Half Day Dismissal @ 11:45AM

**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.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.  Thank you and enjoy your weekend!

Enzie Pangilinan