I hope you're enjoying a great weekend. This week's update is titled "One More Week" because we are one week away from Spring Break. I know your fifth grader is thrilled for the break.
Last Week Before Spring Break:
We will have a busy last week before Spring Break. We will be finishing up a Blue Diamond on Monday that your child started on Friday. This Blue Diamond is covering fat/skinny questions, connections, and personification, tone, and flashback. I will review with students before they get their test booklet and scan card. This information will be useful for us to discuss at your child's conference coming up.
Report Cards
Please remember to sign and return your child's report card envelope. I hope you also each found a conference letter inside your envelope. Many of your voiced interest in wanting to meet me in your feedback from the survey. Coming in midyear, it's been difficult to get in touch with all of you. I apologize for that. I'm hopeful you will each choose a time so we can sit down and discuss your child's progress. I also look forward to meeting each of you!! I love my fifth graders and want to share that love for teaching with each of you.
Survey Feedback - I am taking every word you offered in the survey feedback to heart. I'm starting by giving less homework. In accordance, I am also creating a homework schedule so it's easier for everyone to keep up with homework assignments that are due. Understand, though, that homework is important. It reinforces ideas and topics we're learning in the classroom. For those students that are completing homework assignments, their other grades are reflecting that hard work. The spelling contract is given to help your student work with his/her spelling words each week. The vocabulary activities are given to help your child understand the meaning of their words, since the vocabulary test asks your child to write a meaningful sentence with the word. At this time, I am going to keep these two activities - your child voiced that they were both helpful.
Grading for spelling contract/vocabulary activities - These will no longer be graded 1-4 on the grading scale. Your child will receive credit if they choose to do six activities on the spelling contract list. These will be practice for their spelling test. The vocabulary activities are shorter - your child will receive full credit if they complete each of the activities on the list. This will be denoted with a check-plus on your child's paper.
Reading Log Changes - The reading log is going to undergo some changes. I am going to give your child the option as to what they want to write about each week. Reading logs are meant to help your child think more critically about the book he/she is reading. This activity also helps your child write with more detail and description, which will translate into papers and performance assessments they are asked to write in the classroom.
Your child should choose to respond to ONE of the bullets below. Each bullet has multiple parts, but this should be easier for your child to do, since they all connect. No longer will they have to choose to write and answer three questions. Look for a new reading log assignment sheet on Monday.
- Write a response to what you've read this week. How did it make you feel? What was the tone of the story? How did the character's make you feel? Why? Make sure you include details from your book to support your ideas/thinking.
- Choose a character from your story. Using that character's point of view, write a prediction as to what will happen next in the story. Why do you think that? Make sure you include details from your book to support your ideas/thinking.
- Find 5 examples of personification in your book. Write a description of what's being personified (taking on human characteristics). Tell how that description affects your understanding of the book. What visual did you get in your head after reading that specific section in the book? How did it affect your understanding of the book?
- Use your CROP-QV strategies. From the section of the book you've read for this week, list a connection, reaction, opinion, prediction, question, and visualization you had while reading. Make sure you give details for each one. Only writing one sentence for your connection doesn't give me enough details. Make sure you also use evidence from your book to support your thinking.
This Week
Math - We will be finishing up our measurement unit. Please continue to help your child work with units of customary measurement at home. If you're using a measuring cup to cook, ask your child how many ounces are in a cup? How many cups are in a pint? How many pints are in a quart? How many quarts are in a gallon? Etc. Students also learned about liters, grams, kilograms, etc. Whenever possible, ask your students questions about these units of measurement. It will help them stick! And will be good practice for you too (:
Social Studies - We finished up our Civil War unit with a test on Wednesday of last week. We are now looking west. Your child created a poster sharing information about the west with other pioneers - everyone decided the west was too dangerous, so their posters were meant to keep the pioneers on the east coast. On Tuesday, students will create a poster to recruit workers to factories. Many factories gained popularity during Reconstruction, which followed the Civil War. We'll continue to talk about growth and change on Friday as well.
Science - Your child is working with Ms. Veltri in the weather. They seem to be enjoying this and are more interested in the weather since they've started. I love the weather, so I look forward to asking them questions as they move through this unit.
Language Arts - We will be starting a unit on poetry this week! This month is National Poetry Month and I've decided we will be working to complete a unit on poetry for the next 30 days. Your child will write poems during class, either as a whole group or during stations. Students will create a variety of poems and we will work to choose their best poems to put into a poetry book. At the end of this unit, I look forward to inviting each of you into the classroom for a Poetry Jam. Students will share their poems and you'll get an opportunity to see other student work. More details to come!
Calendar Update
Students will be participating in Super Kids Day this week. Fifth grade will be out and about participating in Super Kids day on Wednesday, April 13.
Thanks for reading this long post. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Have a great week (:
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