5th Grade Weekly Update for Week of October 22

ELA: Our first Literature Circle groups will meet on Tuesday this week. Students should have their folder, completed assignment, and book when they meet in their small groups. A “lit circle check” pink colored sheet whet home in Friday Folders to help students understand what they have left to complete over the weekend in preparation for their group’s meeting. Students will be introduced to vocabulary terms covering chapters 6-8 in Shades of Gray early next week. We’ll practice using these terms in context and play some fun review games. We will read through each of the chapters, followed up by class discussion. In grammar, we will continue practicing diagramming sentences. We will have our first grammar test that covers parts of speech and diagramming sentences on Thursday. Our next unit will cover commas!

History: We will finish up Lessons 9 and 10 early in the week. These lessons cover war with Mexico, gaining California and the Southwest through agreements with Mexico, the migration of the Mormon population, and the Gold Rush. Once we’ve wrapped up these chapters, students will be given a study guide to help them prepare for a test the following Monday. We will also play a fun review Jeopardy to help prepare for the test.

Math: We will begin our Understanding Fractions Unit this week. Students will identify prime and composite numbers, learn how to make factors trees in order to find the prime factorization of a number, and all kinds of new skills!

Science: Our scientists are having a blast as they become young CSI agents in charge of figuring out the mysterious events that occurred at the Rozier home! As part of our performance assessment, students read a story about a pretend event that occurred. They have been given “crime scene samples” to analyze in the lab using their knowledge of the microscope. They are comparing these samples to known substances in order to determine what they are. They will use their findings to create a hypothesis of what they think happened in the story. It’s a fun way to demonstrate their knowledge!

Week at a Glance:
-Sign and return Turn Homeward, Hannalee planning calendar
-Diagramming Sentences Test on Thursday
-Westward Expansion Before the Civil War- NEXT Monday, Oct. 29th