Week of September 30th - October 4th

Hi Families,

Another fun and busy week! Thank you for your patience regarding the district-wide email crash. I’m sure I had some unread emails from some of you, and now they are stuck in the ether. Please reach out again if you haven’t heard back from me!

Math: 
Unit 2: Fractions as Quotients and Fraction Multiplication. 
We reviewed our End-of-Unit Assessment for Unit 1 and kicked off Unit 2. In these first few lessons, students are representing and explaining the relationship between division and fractions. We explored this concept through the idea of sharing sandwiches. For example, if there were 5 sandwiches being shared by 3 people, then each person would get 5/3 of a sandwich. We are representing these scenarios using division sentences and diagrams. 

• Ask your child why they have to be careful when writing a division expression involving people (2 people sharing 3 sandwiches is not 2 ÷ 3 …for a funny reason).
• Keep practicing multiplication facts each night to help your child succeed with our future fraction work!

English Language Arts
Historical Fiction novel study of, “The Watsons Go to Birmingham -1963,” by Christopher Paul Curtis. 
We finished the book this week! We discussed the enduring understandings of the novel, such as how personal and historically significant events shape a person's identity, as well as the greater historical context of the Civil Rights Movement. Students chose one of the enduring understandings and listed related details and events from the story. We learned how to develop a single-paragraph outline and will use that scaffold to draft a paragraph about the theme of the story.

• Ask your child what “The Wool Pooh” is and what it symbolizes.
• Ask your child how Byron helped his brother Kenny overcome two traumatic experiences, as well as how Kenny matured by the end of the story.

Science: 
We had a fun visit from Science From Scientists this week. Students learned about observing, drawing models, and testing ideas. We are making our way through our Matter in Motion unit.

• Ask your child to tell you more about the “Mystery Tubes” engineering activity!

Community Building
We discussed how to show empathy to others. Students shared stories of how someone in their life helped them through a difficult time using kind words and compassion.

Safety Stars!
Please reach out if you have any questions about safety stars. A great place for kids to meet if they are carpooling home after school is the flag pole by the office. 

Lunch with Mrs. Gallegos! 
Every Friday Mrs. Gallegos will be having lunch with fifth grade students. This is a special privilege so she can get a fifth grader’s perspective on Barrows. If your students say they had lunch with Mrs. Gallegos, it is not a punishment!

Homework
Due to the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, there was no homework for October 2-4. Next week homework resumes. The two assignments for next week will be a math sheet per day and at least 100 minutes of out-of-school reading.  Don't forget to check and sign your child's log of their reading in their planner! You can check my Homework Assignment Log to see what I assign and when it’s due.

Important Dates: 
October 14- No School Columbus/Indigenous People’s Day

Pictures Below:
Enjoy pictures below of students during Science From Scientists, our morning activity, 5th grade girls catching leaves at recess, and a science investigation.

Thank you for reading! Have a great weekend!

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