Tuesday, May 28th, 2024

Happy Tuesday Families! 

It’s hard to believe that it's our our last week of school! Although we’ve been wrapping up the year with some final assessments in different subject areas, we’ve also been fitting in many fun activities! Our hope is for your student to end 5th grade with many fond, lasting memories! Highlights of last week included Field Day on Wednesday, as well as today’s 5th grade games rotations! We are looking forward to more fun this week!

Please also note: donation boxes have been set up by the student council for the purpose of donating unused school supplies. Kindly have a discussion with you student about whether you would like any unused supplies to be donated, or would prefer them to be brought home.

Literacy

We have spent much of our time in literacy comparing and contrasting the way in which authors approach the theme of stories. We’ve learned that they often show the theme through character actions, dialogue, repetition, and other devices. We’ve also analyzed poetry for this purpose as well.

Writing

Our latest writing samples have piggybacked on our learning about comparing and contrasting how authors show theme. Here, we’ve been taking our ideas one step further, and organizing them into analytical papers. Our final PBA of the year required students to compose an essay which compared and contrasted the ways in which the authors showed the theme in two folktales. 

Math

We wrapped up our final math unit of the year on Wednesday, which included skills in multi-digit division, as well as multiplying and dividing decimals. 

Science

This week we finished a series of lessons within our matter unit about how to know when new substances are created. We ended with an investigation where students mixed substances such as water, vinegar, iodine, baking soda, salt, and sugar together in different combinations and observed whether new substances were formed! We Looked for changes in color, temperature, and fizzing/bubbling to indicate when a chemical reaction had taken place. 

Upcoming Events

Monday, May 27: Memorial Day No School

Friday, May 31st: Last Day of School 1/2 Day Dismissal at 11:45

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

Enzie Pangilinan

Thursday, May 9th, 2024

Happy Thursday Families!

It is crazy to think we have already reached our last month of the school year! Students have worked hard this week and finished our last round of MAP tests for the year.

Literacy

This week, we read the adventure 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 both stories we discovered a common theme and discussed the strategies each author used to develop the theme.

Writing

In writing, we used the science fiction stories, Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Adventure and  Mayday on the Moon of Jupiter, to write an essay comparing strategies authors use when developing themes.  First, we identified common strategies authors use such as setting, dialogue, character actions, character thoughts, word choice, repetition, conflict, and resolution. The students then completed a double bubble comparing which strategies were used in both stories.  Finally, they used details from each story to support how the authors developed the theme.  The students showed a lot of perseverance with this challenging task!

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.  Ask your child to explain the direction the decimal point moves when we divide versus when we multiply.

Science

This week we completed our study about the Conservation of Matter.  The students had a lot of fun doing various activities to learn about physical and chemical changes.  They used digital scales to weigh the mass of Skittles and legos, and created bar graphs comparing the mass of different colored candies and blocks.  We also started our last science unit about mixtures and solutions.  The kids loved testing different solutions of baking soda, borax, vinegar and milk to see if any had a chemical reaction.  We even made slime! Ask your child to explain the process to you.

PTO Reminders

*May 17th - 5th graders will enjoy an in school party sponsored by Ivy Hall PTO,  with a complimentary lunch from Wiener Take All, and an afternoon full of music and fun activities. One per student. Students may also purchase lunch from Organic Life or bring lunch from home. Please select their entree at http://linktr.ee/ivyhallpto  

*Submit a baby picture by May 12th for a photo montage that will be displayed during lunch and at the in school party on May 17th.  Submit a baby photo at https://forms.gle/6Dyc1a1omUtuqxTKA

*May 30th 6:30pm - 8pm - Combined celebration event with Prairie School at Just For Fun Roller Rink in Mundelein, sponsored and chaperoned by Ivy Hall PTO. Tickets are $20 and includes 2 slices of pizza, water, skate rental and light-up giveaway.  Sign up at http://linktr.ee/ivyhallpto

Upcoming Events

• Monday, May 13th - Band Concert 6:30 pm

• Wednesday, May 15th - Literacy Placement Test

• Thursday, May 16th - Orchestra Concert 6:30 pm

• Friday, May 17th - Tour Twin Groves 8:45am

• Friday, May 17th - 5th Grade Celebration 1:15 pm

• Friday, May 17th - PTO Family Picnic 6:00 pm

• Tuesday, May 21st - Early Release

• Wednesday, May 22nd- Field Day

• Friday, May 24th - Half Day - dismissal at 11:45 am

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