5th Grade Weekly Update for Week of March 5th
Photo Highlight of the Week: We loved celebrating Dr. Seuss with our book buddies this week! Students discovered that green eggs and ham can be scrumptious and enjoyed reading classics with their book buddies! Check out some of the pictures below!
Math: Students loved learning about probability using our beloved Wood Acres gumball machine! This week, we will practice making tree diagrams to find the possible outcomes of dependent and independent events. We will also practice problem-solving and prepare for our unit test, which will be Monday, March 12th.
In honor of Pi Day on March 14th, we will have a contest! Each year, students love competing with one another to see who can memorize the most digits of Pi. I will introduce the contest this week, and we will even make Pi bracelets to help students practice!
Science: Last week, students explored simple machines, including the fixed pulley and lever. This week, students will continue to discover how levers make work feel easier by changing the force needed to lift a load or the distance over which the force is applied, without changing the work done. We will also learn about the similarities and differences between first, second, and third class levers. After concluding Investigation Four, students will take a quiz to assess their understanding of Investigations 1-4.
During parent conferences, we discussed the importance of helping our children develop study skills by teaching them that we use different methods depending on the subject area. This week, we spent time learning how to effectively study for science by creating flashcards to use in review sessions. Students created flashcards of vocabulary terms. Then, we learned how to identify the big ideas from each investigation and turn them into questions and answers for our flashcards. We attached a plastic bag to our science folders to store our flashcards, and they will be collected and graded at the end of our unit of study. Students should bring home their folders each night, so they can study the flashcards 5-10 minutes daily. Reviewing a little each night will help tremendously!
ELA: We will continue writing our outlines this week, hopefully finishing up the majority of them over the course of the week. Our practice of topic and closing sentences really helped students add them to their outlines as we move through each section. This week, we will practice identifying transitions throughout writing, adding appropriate transitions to paragraphs, and then finally creating a paragraph about ourselves using those transitions. Students will use their outlines about themselves last week and add in the transitions among the sentences to model what they will be doing with their presidential research paper. In literature this week, we will use the Studies Weekly series. Students will learn about the sacrifices Americans made at home during World War II, the tough decision to use atomic bombs to end the war in the Pacific, important figures in the fight for human rights, and the development of the United Nations.
History: Students have done a great job working together as groups to research their ancient civilizations. They have completed the research process and now are working on their posters to display their information. Some of their research will be presented on their posters and some in their oral presentation. Each student in the group will create an artifact or costume item to add to their presentation, along with a paragraph explaining that item or costume piece.
Other: Correction on the Shadow Date with sixth grade! Shadowing will take place on Wednesday, March 14th! Pi Day!
In Friday Folders, please look for a letter to parents explaining how we are helping our students develop the study skills they need to make them successful this year and next! We created a handout filled with study tips specific to content areas. We encourage you to place it somewhere visible in the home for your child to refer to as he or she practices these suggestions.
