Weekly Update 1/30/17

Upcoming Events:

• 2/3          DUE DATE FOR TYBEE FORMS AND MONEY
• 2/3          Due date for Narrative Writing piece for Term 4
• 2/8          Science Summative Assessment
• 2/9          Social Studies and Math Summative Assessment
•                ***all study guides will come home this week
• 2/9          7:00-7:30 pm: Expressions on the Ave: Our students will perform @ 7:00. I would suggest arriving a few min. early to find parking. Students will perform in assigned rooms, then you will be able to visit the book fair
• 2/13-1/17   February Winter Break

Instructional Updates:

Last week students explored signs of chemical change. We did lots of hands-on labs to find different forms of evidence of chemical change: color change, precipitate forms, temperature change (endothermic vs. exothermic reactions), a gas is produced or a light is produced. Students also continued to express their creativity with narrative writing. We used a mentor text to help us think about how to make our writing clear with appropriate use of paragraph breaks and punctuation. Finally, students are hard at work preparing various forms of creativity to share with you for Expressions on the Ave. Some of the options students have chosen include: music performance with guitar, African Dance and drumming, animal portraits or poetry.

We had a visitor from the Wylde Center that led us through several activities that help us think about chemical/physical changes that fruits and vegetables go through.

Our African dance instructors hand sewed costumes for students to wear at their performance. The students got to try the costumes on for a fitting last week.

Students combined substances and measured temperatures before and after. They wrote observations and made predictions about which combined substances resulted in a mixture and which combined substances had a chemical reaction.

Homework 1.30.17

Math Video Help: Lesson 25

Math Video Help: Lesson 26

Math Video Help: Lesson 27

Weekly Update 1/17/17

Upcoming Events:

• 1/18         Math Quiz on problem solving a taking fractional parts of a set: I.E: What is 2/3 of 36?
• 1/27         9:00 am: 5th Grade going to Decatur High School for a Performance
• 2/3           Tybee Money and Forms Due
• 2/9           6:00 pm  5th Grade Night of Expressions
• 2/13-2/17 Winter Break

Instructional Updates:

Last week students inquired into physical changes in matter. We explored a mysterious mixture and looked at matter in various states. We also working on organizing structures for narrative writing. Students have had the opportunity to begin drafting several narrative pieces at this point. We will be choosing one of those pieces to continue this week. Writing goals this week include: finishing a rough draft, peer review and revising and editing.

Students exploring properties of the mysterious mixture. This substance had properties of a solid and a liquid.

Math Homework 1.17.17

Lesson 14

Lesson 15

Weekly Update 1/9/17

Upcoming Events:

• 1/9               Mid-Year Map Scores and Progress come home
• 1/12             5th Grade Village Gathering  8:00 am
• 1/27             5th Grade Walking trip to Decatur High
• 2/9               5th Grade Night of Expressions

Instructional Updates:

Last week we kicked off our Unit of Inquiry for Term 4: How We Express Ourselves. The central idea for this term is: Creativity leads to the discovery and expression of new ideas. Students will be inquiring into various forms of expression. In math we will be extending our fractions unit to include multiplication and division of fractions. Last week students focused on taking fractional parts of various wholes. This week we will move on to focus on fraction x fraction multiplication. In science we are exploring matter and its various properties and forms. In social studies students are inquiring into World War I, or The Great War. Be sure to review the mid-year Map reports and progress notes. Let me know if you have questions or concerns.

Homework 1.9.17

Lesson 10

Lesson 11

Students expressing creativity with everyday objects. This was a part of our UOI Kickoff task. Students were given a cup, a binder clip, tissue paper, string, duct tape and a pencil and asked to create something. Ask your student what their group created!

Students explored measuring mass. We were inquiring into the concept that all matter consists of the sum of its parts.

Notes from Spanish:

¡Saludos F.AVE familias!

Welcome back from Winter Break!  As you know, Spanish classes were assessed over Listening and Writing before we went on break.  Please watch for graded assessments in the red Communication folder.  Re-take opportunities for students that received a one on either assessment will take place January 9 – 13.  Looking ahead, we have begun Term Four!  For extra, at-home review, please visit our Quizlet page and practice Term Four activities:

https://quizlet.com/subject/fourfiveacademy/

¡Gracias! 

Maestra Wagner

hwagner@csdecatur.net

Weekly Update 12/12/16

Upcoming Events:

12/13       Science Summative
12/14       UOI Celebration 1:30-2:30
12/15       Social Studies Summative

Enjoy the break!

Students participating in the African Dance Genius Hour project.

Students working on their UOI projects for our celebration

There is a group of students collecting supplies to send to Haiti, including hygiene products and supplies for first aid kits. If you can donate...please send in with your child.

Happy Monday! It's hard to believe it's the last week of the term. The students have their study guides for science and social studies assessments that are this week. We are looking forward to seeing you at the UOI Celebration if you can make it. If I don't see you Wednesday, please enjoy your winter holiday and I'll see everyone in the new year!

Weekly Update 12/5/16

Upcoming Events:

• 12/7-12/9          MAP testing for our class: We will test the last hour of the day (1:30-2:30), so please try not to check out early Wednesday-Friday
• 12/14                Walk and Roll to School
• 12/14                 UOI Celebration (1:30-2:30 pm A Living Museum-Come see your students present connections to our Unit of Inquiry and join in a time of refreshments before the winter break

Curriculum Updates:

We have been exploring our lines of inquiry: Causes of movement and impacts of innovations with our inquiry into electrical circuits. Students should be able to explain the components of a circuit, the difference between and open and closed circuit as well as the difference between a parallel and series circuit. We will be exploring Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell this week and relating inventions and innovations to our science content for the term. We will be having our UOI Celebration on Wednesday December 14 @ 1:30-2:30. I really hope you can join us. Students are hard at work creating presentations that they will share with visitor to our "Living Museum". I can't wait for you to see the connections THEY have made to our Unit of Inquiry!

Students experimenting with conductors/insulators and open/closed circuits.

Students experimenting with parallel and series circuits.

Students received their last spelling list for this term last Monday. They met in small groups and we sorted the words and looked at spelling patterns and roots. We will continue to work with these words throughout the week. 

Spelling word sort

Math Homework and Video Links:

Homework 12.5.16

Lesson 13: Use benchmark fractions to assess reasonableness of answers

Lesson 14: Strategize to solve multi-term problems

Lesson 15: Multi-step Problem Solving

Weekly Update 11/14/16

Upcoming Events:

• 11/14-11/18                Crossing Guard Appreciation Week
• 11/15                           College and Career Explorations
• 11/16                           Walk and Roll to School
• 11/17                          5th Grade Thanksgiving Lunch--Our class eats at 11:45
• 11/17                           PTO Meeting @ 6:30
• 11/21-11/25               Thanksgiving Break--Enjoy time with friends and family!

Instructional Updates:

Last week students made connections with our UOI: Where We Are In Time And Place, and content from science and social studies. We explored what motivated groups of people to "head west" and what the experience was once they arrived. We also explored static electricity. Students made connections with our "causes of movement" and the movement of electrons.  We will continue our inquiry into electricity this week with a look at current electricity. 

Homework 11/14/17

Lesson 4 Homework Help

Lesson 5 Homework Help

Weekly Update 11/7/16

Upcoming Events:

• 11/8           Election Day: No school for Students
• 11/9           Field Trip to Atlanta Symphony-5th Grade
• 11/10         Parent Meeting for Tybee--5:30 pm
• 11/17         Thanksgiving Luncheon--5th Grade
• 11/21-11/25   Thanksgiving Break-No School

Instructional Updates:

Last week we kicked off out UOI for Term 3: Where we are in Time and Place. Our first line of inquiry is: Causes for movement. We made connections in both science and social studies content. Ask your fifth grader how the cattle trails and magnetism relate to our UOI this term.

Student created a timeline of events in Social Studies and in Science they predicted and tested objects' magnetism.

Students "wrangled" cattle along the trails as a way to explore experiences of cowboys during the cattle boom of the late 1800's.

We began our inquiry into fractions by reviewing important fraction concepts like "What is the One?" Students created models and represented those models to show fractional relationships. This week we will continue with our fraction work to create equivalent fractions as well as add and subtract fractions. See links below for homework and video help.

Math Homework 11.7.16

Lesson 2: Equivalent Fractions

Lesson 3: Add Fractions using area models to create equivalent fractions