Monday, October 31st, 2022

Happy Halloween Families!

How did Frankenstein get around town in October? He drove a monster truck! This week, we're heading full speed into November and we're starting to wrap up Trimester 1. It's crazy to believe that we're almost through a third of the 22-23 school year! Included in this update, you will find the family letter for our upcoming unit in math on place value and decimals, which we just started at the end of this week. 

Here are the targets we are currently/planning to work on throughout the next couple of weeks:

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 will continue to work on identifying the author's main point(s) while determining reasons and evidence as support. To practice determining the author's main point(s), our students are asking themselves, "What does the author MOST want us to know or believe about what was written?" We will continue our work on this learning target using various texts.

Writing

We are continuing our writing on the positive effects of cellphones on children in school. After collecting and organizing their research, students worked to draft their extended response. During instruction, they were guided through the process of writing an extended response, which included an engaging introduction, well-supported body paragraphs, and an effective conclusion. After our students have completed a rough draft, they will work on revising and editing their writing, making sure that they include all necessary components of an analytical response. 

Math

We wrapped up our second unit, which focused on adding and subtracting fractions, and we started our next unit on decimals. This unit includes building students' knowledge of place value, powers of ten, reading/writing decimals, and adding/subtracting decimals. Although a portion of this unit is instructed in Trimester 1, the learning targets will be reported out on the report cards for Trimester 2. In Number Corner this month, weighed two carrots regularly to collect and plot data onto a double line graph. Both of our carrots have drastically changed in appearance and weight since the beginning of the month! To extend our investigation on the carrots, we decided to put them back into water to see what will happen! Be sure to ask your student about his/her prediction on how the carrots will change after being submerged in water for a few days! 

Social Studies

During our first unit, we we engaged within inquiry-based learning by participating in discussions and research. We've been focusing on the essential question, "How does a relationship to the land shape culture and way of life?" by learning about Native American tribes based on cultural areas and regions. Within groups, students were tasked to collect information and create a slideshow presentation on how different aspects of Native American life (e.g. food, shelter, tools, clothing, etc.) were influenced by the environment they inhabited. Groups did a great job presenting their findings with the class! 

Upcoming Events

• Monday, October 31 - Halloween Parade & Classroom Parties

• Tuesday, November 1 - PTO Special Lunch

• Friday, November 11 - Trimester 1 Reporting Period Ends
  

• Friday, November 11 - School Spirit Day (PJ Day)

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 - nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!  

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

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

Thank you for your continued partnership and Happy Halloween!

Enzie Pangilinan

Friday, October 14th, 2022 And Event Pictures!

Happy Friday Families!

 

It was great seeing you at conferences last week to discuss your student's academic and social emotional progress.  I loved that I was able to learn more about each student through the conversations we shared!  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!

 

Here are the concepts we will focus on as we work through the next couple of weeks:

 

Literacy

Our students started our new shared text, The Road to Freedom. The story is narrated from the point of view of a young girl, Emma, who is traveling on the Underground Railroad with her mother in hopes of making it North to freedom. Our students are highly engaged throughout text and are having many great discussions related to topics raised within the story.  Using this shared text, we will work on literacy skills such as summarizing and identifying narrator's point of view.

 

Writing

We started to lay the groundwork for analytical writing this week.  We revisited the differences between opinion and informative writing and will start to plan our first analytical paper, focusing on the topic “The Benefits Of Cell Phones In Schools”.  Students will work through the writing process step by step, writing the introduction, working on body paragraphs, and then conclusion. They will end with editing their work.

 

Math

We are continuing to focus on fractions as we make our way through our second unit in math. Our students are starting to move away from utilizing money and time to model the operations and are learning how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators by finding common denominators and equivalent fractions (5.NF.1). Over the next two weeks, we will apply and stretch our knowledge in order to solve fractions story problems (5.NF.2). 

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 other animals in order to survive.  We also learned that the flow of energy starts at the sun and flows to the producers and then to the consumers.  Various discussions, activities, and investigations allowed us to create food chains that show the flow of energy from the sun to the owl.  

 

Social Studies

This week, we started our new Social Studies program!  The program focuses on students' voices and choices and the ability to connect to their own experiences and interests.  Through the inquiry-based learning model and engaging investigations, our students will build knowledge in history, civics, geography, and economics.  Our first discussions have focused around 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.

 

 

Upcoming Dates

Tuesday, October 25th - Early Release

Tuesday, November 8th - No School (Election Day)

 

 

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.

Pictures from our Back to School Assembly and Fun Run!