Blog Archives

Week of May 29, 2017

5/29/2017

Students collaborating on research for their American Revolution news reports.

Highlights from Last Week:
Congrats to Kate, Katie, and Caroline from 5K, as well as their teammates from The Blue Mustaches, and all of the Pine Hill participants at the Global Destination Imagination Competition!

Back in the classroom, we had a fun-filled week of special activities.

A helicopter landed in our playground! The pilots taught 5th graders a little about the science behind helicopter flight.
Students enjoyed a hefty amount of reading on Reading Day. We had a special celebration at the end of the day to recognize that we finished over 200 books as a class this year.
Rocky the (big) therapy dog visited 5K. Students enjoyed the calming sensation of petting his soft long fur.
In social studies, students are working in teams to create news reports of an event that lead to the American Revolution. They've written scripts, created props, and are finishing up their filming. I can't wait to see the final products!

What We Didn't Get To:

We made mostly good progress through the plan from last week.

This Week's Plan

Upcoming Special Events:

Puberty Round 2: Tuesday, May 30th. Students learn more about body changes during puberty from Mr. Carnes and Ms. Fedor.

Math:
Review Volume, Measurement Conversions, Line Graphs & Plots, and Polygons.

This week we review for a unit assessment. Student will get a practice packet as a study guide. The assessment will likely be on Thursday.

Reading:
Finish Book Groups.

We'll have our last discussion in book groups. We'll share about the theme of our stories by analyzing the challenges a character faces, the climax of the story, and the resolution to see how a character changes and what lesson he/she learned.

Writing:
Opinion Writing.

We continue our essays about homework. This week we will work on building counter arguments, constructing strong introductions and conclusions, using appropriate transition words, and commas.

Social Studies:
American Revolution. Vocabulary building.

Through readings, videos, and storytelling, we'll learn about the important battles of the American Revolutionary War.
As we study the American Revolution, students confront many challenging vocabulary words, such as oppositional, controversy, and discontent. We will record new words and use them through discussion and activities, such as creating "Word Scales."

Science:
We switch to focus on Social Studies.

Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details.

Students should be finishing up their Global Citizenship Final Project.
There is no new blog this week.
Read 25 minutes at home per day and log the title, author, and time in the planner.
There will be a math page for homework each night.

FYI End of Year Events:

Grade 5 Open House --Wednesday, June 7th at 6:00pm.
Visit to Middle School --Thursday, June 8th.
Hale Reservation Field Trip --Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, June 13th - 15th.
Grade 5 Promotion Ceremony --Tuesday, June 20th.
Last Day of School -Wednesday, June 21st.

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

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Week of May 22, 2017

5/21/2017

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5th grade girls during Get Up and Move Day.

Highlights from Last Week:

MCAS finished for the year! 5th graders finished the Science MCAS this week, which concludes the standardized testing for the year.
8th graders from DS visited the 5th grade in each classroom to give them an overview of classes, a sneak peak at the schedule structure, and some practice opening a combination lock.
In Writing, we've been reading some essays from experts and planning our opinion pieces on whether or not kids should get homework. Students are formulating some very convincing arguments for both sides of the issue.
The whole school enjoyed an invigorating morning of exercise for Get Up and Move Day on Friday. We lucked out with the nice weather.

What We Didn't Get To:

We (STILL!) didn't get to completely finish book groups yet.
We didn't get to line plots with fractions.

This Week's Plan

Upcoming Special Events:

Introduction to Puberty --Tuesday, May 23rd. Students will learn about personal hygiene and mood changes from Ms. Fedor and Mr. Carnes. There will be another session on body changes the following Tuesday.
Helicopter Presentation --Wednesday, May 24th. Pine Hill gets a special visit from an actual helicopter (or so I'm told) and the 5th grade gets a look at how helicopters work.
Pine Hill Reading Day --Friday, May 26th. Students, get a great book or two. We'll be spending the day engaged in literacy activities, including lots of reading.
Memorial Day --Monday, May 29th.

Upcoming Special Activities:

Citizenship Grade-Wide Groups Meet --Students will share their progress thus for on their Global Citizenship projects.
Rocky the Therapy Dog --5K gets a visit from Rocky the therapy dog on Tuesday.

Math:
Line Plots with Fractions. Review Volume, Measurement, and Line Graphs.

We will also graph fractional data on a line plot and find the average amount by using our addition and division skills.
We have one more unit assessment before our end-of-year assessment. This one covers a variety of topics that we've covered: Volume, Measurement Conversions, Line Graphs, and Line Plots.

Reading:
Finish Book Groups.

We'll learn how to identify the theme of a story by analyzing the challenges a character faces, the climax of the story, and the resolution to see how a character changes and what lesson he/she learned.

Writing:
Opinion Writing.

We will work on forming a strong argument, developing logical reasons to defend our argument, and supporting our reasons with evidence and logic.

Social Studies:
American Revolution. Vocabulary building.

Through readings, videos, and storytelling, we'll learn about the important battles of the American Revolutionary War.
As we study the American Revolution, students confront many challenging vocabulary words, such as oppositional, controversy, and discontent. We will record new words and use them through discussion and activities, such as creating "Word Scales."

Science:
We switch to focus on Social Studies.

Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details.

Students are working on their final homework project of the year, the Global Citizenship Final Project.
Students will be assigned a partner and must respond to their partner's blog #11 post by Friday.
Read 25 minutes at home per day and log the title, author, and time in the planner.
There will be a math page for homework each night.

FYI End of Year Events:

Grade 5 Open House --Wednesday, June 7th at 6:00pm.
Visit to Middle School --Thursday, June 8th.
Hale Reservation Field Trip --Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, June 13th - 15th.
Grade 5 Promotion Ceremony --Tuesday, June 20th.
Last Day of School -Wednesday, June 21st.

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

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Week of May 15, 2017

5/14/2017

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Grade 5 at the Minuteman National Park.

Highlights from Last Week:
Poor Ms. Kimball's been battling a cold, and had to take a couple of sick days this past week.

Students were great, doing best to accommodate my sore throat by reading verbal cues and my typing to get directions and instructions.
Students enjoyed the field trip to the Minuteman National Park on Friday.
We tackled math MCAS on Tuesday and Wednesday.
We started opinion writing, learning how to structure an essay and hammer home a point using repetition.

What We Didn't Get To:

We didn't get to completely finish book groups yet.

This Week's Plan

Upcoming Special Events:

Twin Triplet Day -Tuesday, May 16th
Early Release Wednesday -May 17th
Science MCAS --Wednesday and Thursday, May 17th and 18th.
Visit from Middles Schoolers -Thursday, May 18th at 1pm
Get Up and Move Day --Friday, May 19th

Math:
Line Graphs. Line Plots with Fractions.

We will be extending our knowledge of coordinate grids and using line graphs to analyze real world situations.
We will also graph fractional data on a line plot and find the average amount by using our addition and division skills.

Reading:
Finish Book Groups.

We'll learn how to identify the theme of a story by analyzing the challenges a character faces, the climax of the story, and the resolution to see how a character changes and what lesson he/she learned.

Writing:
Opinion Writing.

We will work on forming a strong argument, developing logical reasons to defend our argument, and supporting our reasons with evidence and logic.

Social Studies:
American Revolution. Vocabulary building.

Through readings, videos, and storytelling, we'll learn about the important battles of the American Revolutionary War.
As we study the American Revolution, students confront many challenging vocabulary words, such as oppositional, controversy, and discontent. We will record new words and use them through discussion and activities, such as creating "Word Scales."

Science:
MCAS Review.

We'll practice previous Science MCAS tests and review concepts.

Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details.

Students are working on their final homework project of the year, the Global Citizenship Final Project. Our progress check in is this Friday.
There is a new Blog #11 for students to reply to by Friday.
Read 25 minutes at home per day and log the title, author, and time in the planner.
There will be a math page for homework each night.

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

0 Comments