 Hi Families, It was great to hear about everyone’s week away. We had a fun week prior to the break (I didn't send an update that week), with the field trip to Appleton Farms, a fun activity from Science From Scientists, and a thrilling science lab on designing roller coasters. See the many pictures below! Spring is in full swing but summer isn’t far off. We are in the home stretch of fifth grade and getting excited for all of the upcoming special events. We still have 2 sets of MCAS tests to take (Math and Science), so the hard work and learning isn’t done yet. Please encourage your child to finish the school year (and their last days of elementary school) strong by continuing to be role models for our Barrows Beliefs: be respectful, persevere, be safe, be kind, and collaborate. Starting May 15th, we will be doing a countdown to the end of the year with one fun thing to look forward to each day. I will send out more information next week. Don’t forget that the Fun Run is happening on Thursday, May 8th from 3-4pm. Good luck runners! I will be running with you.
On Friday May 30 we will be taking a walking field trip from 8:30-12:30 to the Maillet Conservation Area off Willow Street in Reading to explore the ecosystem, check out the watershed, and do some fun hands-on science. The rain date for this field trip is Wednesday May 28, which is scheduled before the actual day of the trip. We will pay attention to the weather that week and if Friday looks like a wash out, we’ll go on the 28th. I am looking for two chaperones to join our class. You would be responsible for walking over with the entire fifth grade class and then supporting a group of 12 students through six different stations. If you are available to join us, you need an up-to-date CORI and need to be available for both the 30th and 28th incase we need to pivot due to the weather. Please email me if interested! Here is what we’ve been up to this past week and the week before the April break. Math Unit 6: More Decimal and Fraction Operations We wrapped up our 2nd to last math unit. Students learned how to add and subtract fractions with different denominators, and specifically how to subtract mixed numbers when regrouping was needed. Students also learned how fraction multiplication can affect the product. Multiplying any number by a fraction less than 1 will make the product smaller than the original number. And multiplying any number by a fraction greater than 1 will make the product greater than the original number. Students took the end of unit assessment and then we began our final unit on Shapes on the Coordinate Plane. English Language Arts / Social Studies Unit 4: The Civil War Era We continued learning about the Civil War. We finished our read aloud of “Spirits of Resistance: Heroes in the Fight Against Enslavement.” We read other texts about the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. Students chose a historical figure to research and began reading and taking notes about that person. We set up our notebooks with research questions to guide our reading and notetaking. We restructured our book group time this week as well to try to maximize student productivity when they are not meeting with me. One new favorite literacy activity is our Word Ladders puzzles. Students enjoy using the clues to figure out the words, using their spelling and vocabulary knowledge in a fun way. Science Before the break, we had a blast conducting our Roller Coasters lab. Students worked in partnerships to design prototype roller coasters out of halved foam pipe insulators. Using limited materials, students needed to coast a marble through 2 loop-the-loops and a sharp curve without it falling off, using their knowledge of force, friction, potential energy, gravity, and drag, as well as their engineering skills. All groups were able to get their marble through their roller coasters! Even though there were some challenges, we all had a blast. Community Building In our Second Step lesson this week, we learned about using problem solving steps through the acronym, “STEP”: Say the problem, Think of solutions, Explore consequences, and Pick a solution. Students enjoyed my dramatization of adults using those problem solving steps in real life challenges: My neighborhood had a meeting with the Reading Police Department regarding the Austin Prep students using Arcadia Avenue as a parking lot. Students enjoyed thinking of solutions and exploring consequences to that particular problem. Homework This week I assigned a math sheet each day. I also expect students to continue reading for 20 minutes per day (or 100 minutes per week), but I will no longer be expecting them to turn in a reading log in their planners. Upcoming Events
Pictures Check out pictures from our Appleton Farms field trip, some classroom activities, and our Roller Coasters Science Lab. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
What's Happening
|
RSS Feed
Automation Setup
Red's Automation Setup activates Red's News and Events widgets on the "red" page layout.
News Widget
Red's News Widget automatically displays your blog's 6 latest posts on the "red" page layout. To activate, simply copy and paste the URL of your blog into the input box below (e.g., https://mysite.com/blog).
Events Widget
Red's Events Widget automatically displays your blog category's 5 latest post on the "red" page layout in a calendar format. To activate, simply copy and paste the URL of a blog category into the input box below (e.g., https://mysite.com/blog/category/events).
Navigation Icons
To change the navigation icons, simply go to Wordpress.org/dashicons, find your icon, grab its number (e.g., f333), and add it to the corresponding menu item below.
Note: If the new icon doesn't register on the published site, double click the number you added below and publish again.
Note: If the new icon doesn't register on the published site, double click the number you added below and publish again.
Note: You can close this box under "Theme>Theme Options>Automation [Editor Only]".
Need support? We've got your back!
