5th Grade Weekly Update for Week of September 16th

Photo Highlight of the Week: Happy birthday, Darby! We had fun celebrating this special day with you!

Math: Last week, we had fun playing Kaboom as we improved our mental math skills by studying the patterns of zeros when multiplying. Students also enjoyed our “Who Dun It?” game, where they solved math problems to solve a mystery, similar to the game Clue! We also practiced finding larger products with two and three digit multipliers as we played classmate trivia! Students were given a trivia fact about a classmate and solved a math problem to figure out who it was! This week, we will continue practicing finding larger products and learn tricks that will help us solve problems with zeros more efficiently. We will also practice problem-solving and learn how to evaluate exponents!

ELA: Last week, students worked incredibly hard to improve their writing by incorporating bigger and better transition words and adding supporting details! Students will have an opportunity to share the writing this week. In our current novel study, we suspect that the stranger in the yellow suit has a sneaky plan in mind. This week, we find out what that plan is! Our vocabulary test for chapters 15-19 will be on Wednesday! We will also introduce new words after the test. In grammar, students learned how to identify direct and indirect objects within a sentence. This week, they will learn how to diagram them.

Science: We concluded our exploration of the animal cell, and now, we are moving on to the plant cell! Within Investigation Four, students will discover that plant cells are also eukaryotic because they have a clearly defined nucleus. They will learn that the plant and animal cell have many organelles in common, however, the plant cell has a few additional organelles. These organelles include the cell wall and chloroplast. We will learn why these organelles may be present in plant cells but not in animal cells. As students complete assignments that will help them with their cell model project, I will grade them and send them home in Friday Folders with a note attached to keep it. Please look for references about the animal cell in the next Friday Folder!

History: We’re going to finish up our Daily Geography we didn’t get to at the end of the week on Monday. With Constitution Day approaching on Tuesday, we’ll use the week to celebrate and learn more about the Bill of Rights by completing a foldable that helps break down each one of the amendments. We’ll begin our next unit, Westward Expansion Before the Civil War later in the week. We’ll study one of the most notable explorers of the time period: Daniel Boone.

Other: Don’t forget to join us on Saturday for the East Cobber parade at 10:00 a.m. and our special celebration at Wood Acres on Sunday from 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.! Also, in Friday Folders, you will find a letter about parent conferences. Please sign and return these on Monday! On Friday, we will celebrate Johnny Appleseed with our book buddies!

Week at a Glance:
Saturday- East Cobber Parade at 10:00 a.m.
Sunday- Wood Acres 50th Anniversary/Constitution Day Celebration at the Woods from 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Monday- Return parent conference sheets and signed math test
Wednesday- Ch 15-19 Tuck Vocabulary Test
Friday- Book Buddies at 11:00 a.m.