Week of May 12-16

Hi Families,
     It was wonderful to see so many of you at Open House on Thursday evening. I hope you enjoyed engaging in a few 5th grade activities to experience “a day in the life” of your 5th grader. Our water filters were especially fun to discuss the next day. We selected our clearest filtered water samples and calculated the cost of purchasing 10,000 of those filters as if we were a company. We debated whether to buy the filters that produced the clearest water yet were the most expensive, or to buy the filters with the slightly less clear water but saved us money. We had a very practical and thoughtful discussion!

    We’ve got 20 school days left in the 2024-2025 school year! Students worked hard on their Math MCAS tests this week. We are so proud of their perseverance. 

     To celebrate our 5th graders, we give them a day of fun: 5th Grade Fun Day! It is on Tuesday, June 10th (Rain date June 12th) and we need parent volunteers to help run it. Here is a message from the Fun Day Committee:
    We’re looking forward to a fun few days for the 5th graders!  If you’re unable to attend the fun day but still want to contribute, you can Venmo Alicia Curtin @Alicia-Curtin.  We will use this money for anything miscellaneous for field day and graduation expenses.  If we have anything leftover, we’ll donate it back to the PTO.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Alicia Curtin- [email protected]

Sign Up to Help Here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C054EAEA62DAAFBC61-56898941-5thgrade

   Here is what we’ve been up to this past week and the week before the April break.

Math 
Unit 7: Shapes on the Coordinate Plane
    We learned about coordinate grids, properties of polygons, and types of triangles. Students enjoyed my analogy of the hierarchy of quadrilaterals to “The Polygon Mansion of Fun.” Feel free to ask your child about it to see if they can describe the special “rooms” different polygons get to go in based on their attributes, such as “2 pairs of parallel sides,” and “four 90 degree angles.”
     We also reviewed a number of math concepts from throughout the school year in preparation for MCAS.

English Language Arts / Social Studies
Unit 4: The Civil War Era
     Students finished researching their Civil War Era figure and created a biographical slideshow to present their learning. Students worked so hard and created some very engaging presentations. Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony, and Robert E. Lee were some of the fascinating historical figures students learned about.
   We also continue to read and hold discussions in our book groups.

Science
     We spent time reviewing our science standards and content in preparation for our Science MCAS next week. We had a “cram session” on Friday where students used a kid-safe search engine to seek out infographics on science concepts that were confusing, and we discussed them as a class. Students continue to enjoy the occasional Bill Nye the Science Guy video from my archive. 

Homework
   We are all done with physical homework papers for the rest of the school year. I still encourage you to have your child read 20 minutes per day to keep their reading skills strong.

Upcoming Events

• May 19 & 20:  5th grade Science MCAS
• May 30: Walking field trip to Maillet Conservation area. (Rain date 5/28)
• June 2: 5th Grade Move Up Day to Parker, arrive at 1pm.
• June 3: Field Day (Rain date: 6/4)
• June 6: Evening Talent Show rehearsal (parents may attend this).
• June 10: 5th Grade Fun Day (Rain date: 6/12)
• June 11: 5th Grade Moving On Ceremony and Celebration 8:45-10:00am. Students will return to class after the ceremony. There will be yearbook signing and other fun activities.
• June 13: Talent Show (students only).
• June 16: Last day of school! 5th grade clap out: parents, meet on the blacktop by 10:30am.

Pictures
Below​ are some pictures of students playing Coordinate Grid Battleship and showing off their water filters.

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​I hope you have a wonderful weekend!