Good Afternoon Parents,
I am sorry that I am so delayed in writing my new blog post, the district has put some tighter security around this website (even though they recommended that I use it...) so I can't access it at school.
I wanted to give some important updates from the work we have been doing these last few weeks, as well as looking ahead.
Students spent this week finishing their final (yay!) iReady reading assessments, and most will be finishing the Math assessment next week (if they haven't already.) I am happy to see all of the growth in their scores!
In Language Arts we are trying to finish our Sci Fi unit with 2 different writing activities, a comparative analysis of two sci fi books, one of them our class read aloud, and the other an independent sci fi book, analyzing themes that each have in common. So far I am seeing some really good thinking from students, and I look forward to seeing their work!
We are also working on developing our story for students' own Science Fiction picture books. We have worked really hard the last two weeks to develop a character with some depth and background, and will most likely move on to the setting of our stories next week.
We have started a read aloud by Malala Yousafzai called "We are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World" to transition us back into non-fiction reading.
Another activity that we worked on these last two weeks related to non-fiction was our Time for Kids magazines, sponsored by our PTA! This week students were asked to create a small brochure of a place in their community that is cool or special to them. I can't wait to see what everyone came up with!
In Math, our schedule has been a little out of sync with the other 5th grade classes with the snow days and winter break. Luckily, we are the ones ahead! Way to go hard workers! As a result, we have spent some more time reviewing the concepts in this first Block of our Proportions and Probability Unit. We will most likely take the Block 1 test on Wednesday of next week.
In Science, we have had several Nature Vision visits into our classroom, one covering soil and decomposers (today!) and another talking about space and our solar system (last week!). These are both finishing up our first science unit (Ecosystems), and starting our second one (Earth, Moon, Stars.)
As you are aware, we will be starting our Health unit next week as well. Lessons that we will cover next week include:
1) Introduction - setting expectations and rules for how we behave during this unit.
2) Family - "what families are for and how they (students) can contribute to their own families."
3) Self-Esteem - helping students learn to like themselves and the benefits of doing so.
4) Gender Roles - discussing the "similarities and differences between the expectations of each gender."
Many students seem nervous about this unit, and will be taking worksheets etc. home with them to discuss what they learned each day with you. Please, if possible, try to be open and available to discuss and help students process some of what they will be learning.
In Social Studies, we will be starting our unit on Discovery and Colonization most likely after mid-winter break. We just have too much going on to fit it in right now!
Extra stuff that we have been doing:
1) We had a Domino presentation and exploration from a parent from Sunrise Elementary that introduced the domino activities that are now available on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Library.
2) We have done some AWESOME art most recently with sewing and water colors!
3) We had a VERY important/impactful social emotional lesson today about empathy by practicing putting ourselves into other people's shoes using comments that my students from 2 years ago, as well as some from last year, wrote down and reading them while imagining what it would be like to live in their shoes. I am having students do something similar for homework this weekend for next year.
I am sure that there is a lot more that I wanted to talk about, but my head is currently full of report card thoughts! Don't forget that Monday is a teacher work day so there is no school!
As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Warmest Regards,
Mrs. Hart
