Dear Families,
Spring Break is fast
approaching, and we have exciting events on nearly a daily basis until then!
Please review the updates here and email me if you have any questions.
This
Friday: Field Trip to the de Young museum
We will be visiting the
Colonial and Revolutionary galleries to culminate our fall-winter American
History curriculum. We will also look at some of the westward expansion and
Civil War art to prepare for the final months of 5th grade. You may visit the
de Young's education website here for more information.
Next
Friday: 5th Grade Assembly!
The 5th grade has
been hard at work preparing for our next assembly. I will discuss costumes with
the kids on Thursday, so please check in with your child to find out what they
need to wear. As a general note, everyone but Maya, Mia, Lea, Ava, Erik, Miles,
and Duncan will need to wear dress pants (black or khaki slacks). If you don't
have any, please let me know so we can come up with an alternative plan.
April
1st through 3rd: Sacramento!
Please check
the Sacramento Master Doc for information
on this field trip. It will be updated frequently prior to and during the trip.
Please email me if you have any questions.
Academics
In math, we are
studying multiplication and division of fractions. The Common Core standards do
not call for mastery of these concepts in 5th grade, but instead require
building a strong foundation for future work. You can learn more about the
standards here. For more information about the
type of work we are doing, check here for an online tutorial.
Soon, we will begin
work on geometry concepts. Topics will include graphing ordered pairs on the
coordinate plane, classification of polygons, and a review of volume.
To merge reading,
writing, and history, we are deeply engaged in the historical fiction novel My
Brother Sam is Dead. We read about 2 chapters per week, and students
respond to writing prompts (available online through google docs, though
students may opt to write their answers by hand). Students are to state a main
idea and support it with strong evidence from the text. Students have the
opportunity to revise their work with teacher feedback and resubmit when
necessary.
After Sacramento, we’ll
study the Constitutional Convention and students will write a brief persuasive
essay to convince the constituents of their chosen state on the question of ratification.
