Week of May 23, 2016

Students working hard on their Food Web poster.

Highlights from Last Week:
MCAS is over for the year. Hooray! Students finished with the Science MCAS on Friday. Results for the tests can be expected late in the summer.
 
Students begged for extra Science this week to work on their Food Web posters. Most students have finished and the posters look fantastic! Working in partnerships, students read about an ecosystem, listed living things, then sorted the living things based on what eats what. Students learned how energy in transferred from the sun through to producers, to consumers, to decomposers, then back into the earth. We belted out “The Circle of Life” in our best Elton John voices a few times.
 
I don’t know how one makes grammar exciting, but somehow I managed to do it this week. We learned about conjunctions and examined how they can make writing flow better and add to meaning. Students had fun combining sentences like, “My dog is cute. My dog can be naughty,” into “Although my dog is cute, she can be naughty.”

What we didn't get to:

• In math, measurement conversions. We focused solely on polygon properties.
• In writing, verb tenses.

This Week's Plan
 
Special:

• Visit from Middle Schoolers: Thursday. The eight grade Citizen Action Group from DSMS presents about the transition to middle school for 5th graders.

 
Math: 
Finish Polygons. Clean up Measurement and Volume.

• Polygon Properties: Review the hierarchy of quadrilaterals.
• Measurement Conversions: Metric system and US standard system. We’ll see how this is used in the real world.
• Volume: Review the volume formula and composite figures.
  
  

Writing:  
Grammar and Language Skills

• Interjections
• Verb Tenses
  
  

Reading:
Reflections. Connect to Grammar.

• Grammar Hunt: Students will look for conjunctions and interjections in their independent reading.
• Read Aloud: We are reading aloud from Rebecca Stead’s novel, “When You Reach Me.” Students are enthralled by the mystery, the constant use of foreshadowing, and the amazing grammar skills of the author!
• Informational Reading Groups: Similar to our earlier book groups, students will work in groups to read about and discuss an informational topic.

 
Social Studies:
We take a break from Social Studies to focus on Science. We will pick up with Social Studies after Memorial Day.
 
 
Science:
Food Webs and Ecosystems.

• Food Webs Poster and Presentations –Students work in partnerships to teach the class about their chosen ecosystem through an informative poster and an engaging presentation.

 
Homework:
Please visit the Homework Page for more details.

• Homework Project: Global Citizenship Final Project.
• Reading: 25 minutes of daily independent reading is expected. Students should log it in their Planners. 
• Reading Response Blog: Students will reflect on their progress in responding the Reading Response Blog for homework. There is no new blog this week.
• Other: Students will have some grammar and writing practice this week. Assignments will be given out in class.

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