5th Grade Weekly Update for Week of October 28th
ELA: Congratulations to Jonathan as the winner of our haunted house writing! Students had fun reading the sales ads of others and placing bids on their favorite houses. The writing is currently on display in the class, so feel free to pop in and take a peek!
Last week, we met our protagonist, Will Page, in our new novel study, Shades of Gray. We were introduced to many characters and created a character chart to use as a reference for later on. We also introduced new vocabulary terms. There will be a vocabulary test on Wednesday on these terms. On Monday, students will need to turn in the Turn Homeward, Hannalee assignment for chapters 1 and 2 and be prepared to orally discuss the discussion questions listed. In our reading last week, students were very interested in the telegraph and had many questions about how it works. Therefore, this week, we will learn about the history of the telegraph and how it works. Then, students will use morse code to create their own comprehension questions about the books we are reading!
I have offered a fun extra credit assignment to students called the “Selfie Challenge”! Help our children make connections with our current novel study and explore a little local history by taking them to visit Civil War landmarks, such as the Roswell Mill and Kennesaw Mountain! There are many other locations around the Atlanta area that they can visit too! I highly recommend the Southern Museum located in Kennesaw! It is affordable, and they have fun activities for the children including a scavenger hunt! As your child visits these locations, have them take a selfie picture there and bring it in for us to put on display! If you have photos from previous visits to these places, I would love to put them on display too! However, for your child to earn bonus points for the picture, it must be a picture that is recently taken! The goal is to help him or her experience these places with a new perspective of our novel characters and class discussions!
Math: Last week, students explored prime and composite numbers and learned how to find the prime factorization of a composite number by using factor trees. This week, we will practice finding the greatest common factor and least common multiple when given a set of numbers. These are two terms that children often confuse. Therefore, we will begin by practicing them independently. Then, students will practice them together as they solve a fun puzzle with partners! On Thursday, I have a special Halloween math activity! Students will practice the divisibility rules and estimation as they try to guess the number of pumpkin seeds taken from a pumpkin. We will also practice measurement topics as they try to guess the circumference and weight of the pumpkin. Those with the closest guess will go into a raffle, and one lucky winner will go home with the pumpkin and a carving kit!
Science: Last week, students were introduced to simple machines! We learned that work is force applied over a distance, and we can measure it by multiplying force and distance. Students practiced measuring work done by completing experiments. They looked for relationships between the force exerted, distance a load is moved, and work done. This week, we will discuss their findings and learn how to make a line graph to display our results.
History: We will continue our unit of the American Civil War this week. We will look at three maps early in the week that will help students better understand the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Missouri Compromise. We’ll then combine the information gained from these causes of the Civil War into a cause and effect table. Thursday and Friday will be all about Abraham Lincoln! We’ll look at his childhood and early adulthood leading up to his presidency. We’ll create a timeline of events using research we’ve found online and throughout our textbook. In Daily Geography, we’ll practice using the Robinson Projection map and using latitude and longitude to find locations on the map.
Other: On Tuesday, we will help our book buddies create glow-in-the-dark slime! If students would like to bring some of the slime home, they will need to bring in a plastic container with a lid to store it in. On Thursday, the children will enjoy a special Halloween treat at lunch time, and they are invited to dress up as a book character. Please remember that all costumes need to be school appropriate and nothing scary!
Week at a Glance:
-Monday: THH Ch 1 and 2 Assignment Due
-Tuesday: Slime with book buddies. Bring plastic container.
-Wednesday: SOG Ch 1 and 2 Vocab Test
-Thursday: Dress like a book character (optional)