Week of January 11, 2016

Students working in their new groups during Morning Meeting to come up with a synchronized dance.

​Highlights from Last Week:

​The fifth grade has launched the beloved Citizenship/Community Service Project this week. Our class started with the ongoing homework project about Human Rights. The entire fifth grade gathered on Wednesday to discuss the meaning of the project and learn about the spirit of caring and giving to others.
 
To improve our vocabulary, we learned about Latin and Greek root words, as well as prefixes and suffixes. Students went on a “word hunt” to find vocabulary built from certain root words, such as “tactile” and “intact” built from the root word “tact.” Some students, especially Liana, thought it would be fun to use root words to create their own words. She’s got quite a list of imaginary (but realistic) words!
 
Our study of division with decimals is going surprisingly well. We did such a thorough job learning how to model decimal addition, subtraction, and multiplication that students are just transferring those techniques to division. I am very impressed! Students tackled a couple of open response problems related to decimals and used their skills independently –I barely had to help anyone! I am hoping this understanding of operations with numbers less than 1 makes learning operations with fractions much easier.
 
In Reading, students learned how to determine the theme of a story by analyzing the challenges that characters have to overcome. We used Eve Buntings “A Day’s Work” as a read aloud and determined the theme to be something like, “Honesty and integrity are important traits to have and will reward you in unexpected ways.” Students used their theme-determining skills on our Reading Response Blog this week, too!

 Check out of fun Morning Meeting Activity on the Student Work Page: Synchronized Dance!
 
What we didn't get to:

• We didn’t make it as far as I would have liked in our Spelling Groups.
• Yet again, progress is slow in Social Studies. I was hoping to launch a group project next week, but that might have to wait until the following week.

This Week's Plan
 
Special:

• “Keeping It Real” (formally known as DARE) begins on Monday!
• Early Release on Wednesday
• Geography Bee Finals on Thursday @ 9:30am –Go Henry!
• First Term end on Friday (Report cards come out on January 29th)

 

Math: 
Decimal Division. Numerical Expressions & Grouping.

• Math Open Response –Students will work on two more open responses to practice their problem solving skills and explanation skills.
• Dividing out the Remainder into a Decimal –Students will learn how to divide numbers until there is no remainder using the partial quotients method and decimal knowledge.
• Using Parentheses, Brackets, and Braces –We’ll solve expressions like this: {20 –[2 x (3+2) ]} x 3
• Order of Operations –We’ll evaluate expressions using the secret rules of PEMDAS.

 
Writing:  
Spelling and Vocabulary.

• Spelling Groups –For students that need work with basic spelling rules, such as the doubling rule, we’ll be working in small groups to practice.
• Advanced Spelling Rules –As a class, we will learn some common yet advanced spelling rules and apply them in our writing.
• Latin & Greek Root Word Hunt –We will continue our exploration of Latin and Greek root words to increase our vocabulary.
• Vocabulary Activities –We will use scales, word wheels, and other strategies to play with and practice new vocabulary.
• Writing About Theme –In connection to Reading, students will write about theme using a fun format called a RAFT, which gives students a role to take on, and audience to write to, a format to write within, and a topic to write about.

 
Reading:
Book Groups. Determining Theme.

• Book Groups –Groups continue to meet using Reading Reports to prepare for insightful discussions.
• Determining the Theme –We will continue our practice of how to determine the theme of a text. We will explain the theme by describing how characters respond to challenges. I will read aloud short stories with connected themes.
• Reading Response Journals –Students will write a response on a topic of their choice about their independent reading.
• Informational Text –As part of our exploration of early American Colonization, we will read informational texts and primary sources. See the Social Studies section for more details.

 
Social Studies:
Colonial America.

• Compare and contrast Jamestown and Plymouth –Students will look for similarities and differences between the two colonies and explain reasons for them.
• Colonial Region Research –Working in groups, students will embark on a research project about a group of colonies, choosing from the Northern, Middle, or Southern colonies.

Homework:
Please visit the Homework Page for more details.

• Homework Project: Students continue to work on the project “Human Rights Exploration”.
• Math: There will be a page or two of math practice each night.
• Reading: 25 minutes of daily independent reading is expected. Students should log it in their Planners. 
• Reading Response Blog: Students must respond to my comment, and to another student’s post on Blog #9.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback.