Highlights from Last Week:

PARCC and MCAS are finally done for the year! Students worked through 10 sessions of testing this year with focus, rigor, and endurance. We had a giant 5th grade sing-a-long on Thursday to celebrate.

On Wednesday, Ms. Mullarkey gave us the opportunity to play the last flowers in the community garden in front of the school. Students got to smell and taste some interesting plants such as catnip and chives.

Students are learning how to write an effective argument essay. Although they don't care much for the designated topic of "chocolate milk in schools," they are working hard to accurately use quotations, transitional phrases, and powerful evidence to support their arguments.

Here is the general plan for the week:

Special:

• Monday, May 25th: Memorial Day, no school.

Reading: 

• This week we finished our guided reading book groups. Students have been reading a book that has survival and resilience as a theme.
• This week we will learn strategies for summarizing and synthesizing what we read.

Writing:

• We continue our unit on Opinion Essays. Students will learn how to be persuasive and more analytical, able to weigh evidence, to follow lines of logic, and draw evidence-based conclusions. 
• We will finish our argument essays about whether or not schools should serve chocolate milk to students.

Math: 

•  We begin a fun yet challenging unit on Algebra centered around a frog jumping competition (we won't actually be using frogs).
• Students will learn how to use variables and algebraic expressions to represent objects.
• We will operate on algebraic equivalencies to create new equivalencies and solve for unknown quantities. 

Social Studies:

• We continue our study of the American Revolution by watching PBS's "Liberty". We will learn about important battles and actions of the revolutionary war, such as Bunker Hill, Trenton & Princeton, Saratoga, Valley Forge, and Yorktown. We will also learn about important revolutionary figures, such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and more. 

Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or feedback.

Highlights from Last Week:

Our field trip to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum was a blast! What a fantastic experience. We learned about colonists' motivations for dumping the tea into Boston Harbor, as well as the aftermath that led up to the start of the Revolutionary War.

We had a celebration on Friday to recognize the over 200 books we've read as a class this year. Mrs. Kimball and Mrs. Roeder wrote students a song and we all sang along happily. (I had the song stuck in my head all weekend!)

Students took session one of the Science MCAS on Friday. To prepare for the test, we spent some time conducting experiments with magnets and electric circuits. I created a practice packet of questions from previous MCAS tests for students to work through. Students collaborated with one another and researched unfamiliar concepts using BrainPop.

We launched our writing unit on Opinion this week. Students investigated the issue of whether or not to serve chocolate milk in schools. Many students suspended their judgement, looking for evidence supporting both sides of the issue before forming their own opinion. They are such thoughtful critical thinkers!

Here is the general plan for the week:

Special:

• Monday, May 18th: Science MCAS Session 2 at 9:00am
• Wednesday, May 20th: PARCC Math Session 1 at 9:00am
• Thursday, May 21st: PARCC Math Session 2 at 9:00am

Reading: 

• We continue guided reading book groups. Students will be reading a book that has survival and resilience as a theme.
• This week we will learn strategies for summarizing and synthesizing what we read.

Writing:

• We continue our unit on Opinion Essays. Students will learn how to be persuasive and more analytical, able to weigh evidence, to follow lines of logic, and draw evidence-based conclusions. We begin by analyzing the following: Should schools serve chocolate milk to students? Or should chocolate milk be banned? We will research both sides of the issue, collect evidence for our arguments, and draft a research-based argument essay. 

Math: 

• We practice with Algebra by analyzing patterns and relationships. We will write algebraic expressions to represent real-world situations and problems.
• We will review important math concepts in preparation for the PARCC test, which we take Wednesday and Thursday.

Social Studies:

• We continue our study of the American Revolution. We will learn about important battles and actions of the revolutionary war, such as Bunker Hill, Trenton & Princeton, Saratoga, Valley Forge, and Yorktown. We will also learn about important revolutionary figures, such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and more. 

Science:

• We take the Science MCAS on Monday, then we'll have a review of what students confronted on the test so they can learn from it. After that, we take a little break from Science to switch back to social studies. We'll pick up Science again next week.

Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or feedback.

Highlights from Last Week:

Students completed their memoirs this week. We had a lovely celebration on Friday where students shared their favorite excerpt with the class. Ms. Faucon taught this entire unit and did a marvelous job, which is clear when you read students' thoughtful, entertaining, and reflective writing. Bravo! Students had the opportunity to circulate and read one another's memoirs as well. The silence in the room as everyone was deeply engaged with another student's life story was impressive.

Our coordinates, area, and volume unit was a success. Students took an assessment on Friday and scores were very high. Some students even scored an all time high grade! We then started learning how to convert between measurement units in both the US Customary System and the Metric System. Students learned how to solve conversions using a structure that resembles fractions and ratios.

In Reading, groups are deeply engaged in book discussions. Students offer remarkable insights and questions that push even the teachers to think critically about the text. Students really know how to have respectful, thoughtful discussions.

Here is the general plan for the week:

Special:

• Monday, May 11th: Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum & Freedom Trail Field Trip
• Thursday, May 14th: Thursday Afternoon Program
• Friday, May 15th: Science MCAS session 1
  

Reading: 

• We continue guided reading book groups. Students will be reading a book that has survival and resilience as a theme.

Writing:

• We begin our unit on Opinion Essays. Students will learn how to be persuasive and more analytical, able to weigh evidence, to follow lines of logic, and draw evidence-based conclusions. We begin by analyzing the following: Should schools serve chocolate milk to students? Or should chocolate milk be banned? We will research both sides of the issue, collect evidence for our arguments, and draft a research-based argument essay. 

Math: 

• We continue our study of Measurement Conversions in both the US Customary system and the Metric system. We will solve real-world, multistep problems using these conversions.
• We practice with Algebra by analyzing patterns and relationships. We will write algebraic expressions to represent real-world situations and problems.

Social Studies:

• Due to the approaching Science MCAS, we have put Social Studies on hold and will pick it back up next week in order to allow students to study and experiment with Science concepts.

Science:

•  We are working on studying for the Science MCAS on Friday and next Monday. I made students a giant study packet that has questions organized by topic from the previous four Science MCAS tests. Students are self-guiding their study. They can set up experiments, research concepts they don't understand, and share their knowledge with the class. It's a little bit like a science study fair!

Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or feedback.

May the fourth be with you...
Highlights from Last Week:

Ms. Faucon completed her two-week take-over. She did a fabulous job planning, managing, and teaching. Students agree, she will be an outstanding classroom teacher!

Students learned about Bigelow Middle School on Monday. Mr. Harrison, the principal, came to Underwood to share about the life of a middle schooler and to answer questions. 

Ms Faucon ran some very exciting activities this week. Students investigated simple machines by experimenting with pulleys during science class on Thursday. In math on Tuesday, students explored volume by filling a variety of mini-sized boxes with cubes and estimating. 

We began book groups this week. Students are reading books about survival and resilience and discussing them in small groups. It's amazing to hear students share their critical thinking and insights about the texts with each other.

Here is the general plan for the week:

Special:
Thursday, May 7th: PARCC test on ELA session 1. 9:00am. It is also an early dismissal at 12:30pm.

Reading: 

• We continue guided reading book groups. Students will be reading a book that has survival and resilience as a theme.
• We will also learn some reading strategies to improve our inferring and visualization skills.

Writing:

• We wrap up our Memoir writing. Students will revise and edit their types memoirs, making sure they have a mix of narrative storytelling as well as big ideas and opinions.

Math: 

• Students take a math assessment on Coordinate Grids, Area & Perimeter, and Volume.
• We will study Measurement Conversions and how to go from units such as meters to centimeters. We will solve real-world, multistep problems using these conversions.
• We practice with Algebra by analyzing patterns and relationships. We will write algebraic expressions to represent real-world situations and problems.

Social Studies:

• We continue learning about The American Revolution. Students will read, watch videos, create skits, and write journal entries to study this epic event. Since we didn't get to it last week, we'll learn about Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill this week.

Science:

• We are studying Simple Machines. Students will investigate uses for things like: a wedge, a lever, an inclined plane, a screw, a wheel & axel, and a pulley. We will also look at force, effort, and work.

Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or feedback.