December 10-14

Reading
Our focus this week was to strengthen our reading abilities when we read about controversial topics. We used strategies to help us think and wonder while we're reading so that we can consider other research that might help support our argument. Then, we learned how to both summarize and annotate our texts to make it a bit easier for us when we're building our argument. In effort to argue to learn, all three fifth grade classrooms got together to have a debate. Students prepared their arguments, had a chance to respond to the other side, and walked away with ideas for further research. As we continue to learn more about our topic, we are learning strategies to help us tackle more difficult texts.

Writing
Writers learned about the importance of balancing their evidence with their own thinking.  We included both paraphrasing and direct quotes in our writing.  We also learned about counterclaims to boost the strength of our arguments and we added on some endings that included a call to action.   

Science
Students showed what they new on a post assessment for our Structures and Properties of Matter unit. Everyone has shown so much growth! From there, we thought about our upcoming unit, Earth and Space Systems, and things that we already know about it. We watched a few informational videos about The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The information was SHOCKING! We thought about the plastics that we use everyday and thought of ways that we could reduce our plastic usage.

Math
We finished up Unit 3 this week with a math test. Look for it to come home next week!
Our next unit we will be focusing on multiplying whole numbers and fractions!


Social Studies
We wrapped up studying lots and lots of Native Americans this week!!    Chapter three was filled with amazing new concepts about our Native Americans and we took the chapter 3 test on Friday, 12/14.   Next week, we will shift gears and start learning about explorers. 

DG
The DG 4 quiz is this coming Tuesday!  Be sure to study, study, study!

December 3-7, 2018

Reading
As students continued to research about their debatable topics in reading, they began to mine other texts for information relevant to their topic. Students realized that they need to broaden their horizons by finding out more information about vitamins, for example, when researching the debate on serving chocolate milk in schools. The kids prepared quick flash-debates on their topics to get a feel for finding and using the most powerful reasons and evidence.

Writing
This week in writing, we looked back at our flash drafts on the chocolate milk debate. We learned how to paraphrase evidence from texts so that we can add it into our own writing. We saw that sometimes it is important to include the exact words that someone said. To do this, we talked about the things that make quotations powerful and began including them in our writing as well.

Science
We wrapped up our unit structures and properties of matter this week. To review, students worked with words generated from the unit, sorted them into categories, then made connections between them. Once they made all of their connections, they took some time to elaborate on a few of the concepts or connections that they had made. We read a bit from our class text, What's the Matter in Mr. Whisker's Room to review the big ideas of the unit as well.  Then, we FINALLY found out what the mystery object was! On Friday, we began our "Show What You Know Now" to see how their thinking has changed from the beginning of this unit until now.

Math
We are working on tricky story problems with fractions in math! We have been talking about strategies to help us solve the problems.

1. Play a movie in your mind - picture what is happening
2. Predict the results - what would make sense? a big whole number? a fraction?
3. Decide the operation
4. Write/Solve the equation
5. Check - Does my answer make sense in the story?

Our Journal Review pages are due on Wednesday, December 12th. Our Unit 3 test will be on Thursday, December 13th.

Social Studies
Students have been very busy working as reading detectives as we make our way through chapter 3.  Looking for clues in the reading is helping us to figure out what artifacts the Native Americans would have used in each of the different regions we are studying.  Be sure to have your student show you the amazing map of the Native American Cultural Regions.   The test on chapter 3 will be next Friday, December 14, 2018.

DG
The new  DG #4 was passed out this week.  It is due on Wednesday December 12 and the quiz will be on Tuesday, December 18.

November 12 - 16, 2018

*Be sure to check out our Twitter accounts for more pictures of our fifth graders.  We will even Tweet out some pictures from camp that you can enjoy if you are following us!   @karensocier @kj_palma

Reading:   Our readers have been super busy putting all their amazing reading and researching skills to good use this week.  They have divided into groups and are together researching social issues like "Should there be zoos" or "Should people be allowed to participate in extreme sports."   So many amazing conversations and discoveries have been happening and the students are looking forward to putting all their research to good use as they write rough drafts next week. 

Writing:   Researching has been happening in writing too,  as students learn all about the hot topic of whether chocolate milk should be served in our cafeteria or not.   Is it healthy?   Is it the best choice for students at lunch?  Stay tuned and you will be able to read our amazing argument essays!

Social studies:   This week we started what is arguably one of the toughest chapters in 5th grade social studies (just because there is so much information) but certainly one of Miss Socier's favorite chapters. As we study each of the Native American Cultural Regions, we will ask ourselves what artifacts might these Natives have used?  The GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, AND CLIMATE of the area will provide clues and then our in-class detectives will solve the mystery!   Great common sense and reading skills will be employed and practiced many times over again.   Students are encouraged to study early and often to keep all information organized. 

DG:  There will be no DGs until after we return from camp. 

Math
We worked on dividing fractions this week! We noticed that we can change our division problems into fractions!

October 29 - November 2, 2018

Math
This week, students learned about multiplying fractions by a whole number! We also took some time to do some fun Halloween coordinate graphing. 

Writing
Students are still busy being news reporters. We looked at the structure of a news story, and even realized that sometimes we can include TWO sides to a story! Students also looked at the tone of their stories to see if they could make them sound more meaningful to the reader.

Reading
Using all of our knowledge on reading nonfiction texts, students have launched into an inquiry project. They have chosen a topic that they want to learn more about. Over the next week, we will be using our skills of summarizing, picking out main ideas, and navigating tricky vocabulary within complex texts to learn more about our topic. We realize that we can learn from reading books, but have seen that there are other times we can research, like interviewing people, vising places, making observations, taking surveys, and even watching videos!

Science


Social Studies
Native Americans have been our focus for the past week.  We have looked at their migration routes, their environments, and we specifically studied the adaptations of the Inuits.  Ask your student about the seal skin floats!  What an amazing adaptation!   The test on chapter 2 will be on Friday, November 9, 2018.  

DG
Students are busy working on answering the 15 questions on DG 3.  They are due this coming Wednesday, November 7, 2018.  

Halloween Party
Thank you to all the parents who helped put on great Halloween parties in 5th grade!

Mrs. Palma's Class Party

Miss Socier's Class Party

Miss Kochanski's Class Party

October 22 - 26

Thank you to each and every family for spending some time with us this week.  We really enjoyed our conversations and are excited to see the amazing things your student accomplishes throughout the year!!

Here are some pictures of our Karaoke Party on Wednesday!

Social Studies
 Students took their chapter 1 test on geography on Wednesday.  Look for the results to come home early next week.    We have started on chapter 2, Native Americans.   Students will focus mostly on how the Natives came to settle in North America and where they chose to settle.  We will be synthesizing this information by practicing writing summaries about what we have read about in our textbook.    This is a shorter chapter, so look for the chapter 2 test to be coming soon!

DG
 The DG 2 quiz will be this Tuesday, October 30, 2018.  Students will then receive DG 3 and it will be due on November 7, 2018.    Have fun looking at maps!

Science
Students planned and conducted an investigation centered around the effect of water's temperature on dissolving a substance. All students found, based on their data, that hot water dissolves solids, like sugar, much faster than cold water. We even graphed a scatter plot as a class to show the correlation between the temperature and time! Students watched simulation of water molecules in cold and hot water. They were able to apply this new understanding to their investigations as a part of their reasoning for the claim that: Hot water dissolves sugar faster than cold water.

Reading
This week we've been continuing to read complex nonfiction texts. We focused on looking at tricky vocabulary words by looking around and in the word to try to find its meaning. Later on in the week we zeroed in on text structure and noticed that when nonfiction text gets more complex, the structure is more of a hybrid. Throughout one section of text, there may be multiple structures.

Writing
  Students have been having a blast collecting multiple news stories from around Leonard.   They have used their reporter badges to "gain access" to different classrooms and interview students about what they are learning.   Our fifth graders are drafting 3 -5 stories and then will take one story and publish it. 
On Monday, Patrice Rowbal, a reporter for our Troy School District newspaper, will be here to talk all things Journalism with our students.  I know they will gain a lot of expertise from listening to and working with a real live journalist!

Math
This week in math, we started a new Unit on Multiplying in Dividing Fractions. We worked on multiplying fractions by a whole number, and drawing comparison bars. 

October 15-19

CAMP!
Students were excited to hear about CAMP this week! Please return camp paperwork to your child's homeroom teacher by Thursday, November 1, 2018.   

Reading
This week, we launched our Nonfiction unit! We realized that our nonfiction texts are starting to become tricky. In this unit, we will explore strategies to read nonfiction texts!

Writing
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! 5th graders turned into news reporters this week! We are on the lookout for news worthy stories. We had fun writing about our read aloud "Wonder" getting taken away. Luckily, it wasn't real! Reporters received a mini notebook to jot notes in as they are discovering newsworthy stories. We also read on Newsela.com to see what topics are newsworthy. Finally, journalists got special passes that gives them "access" to interview students and teachers about newsworthy topics around Leonard. Be on the lookout for some of our published work to come out!

 

Math
We reviewed for our Math test this week! The Math Test is on Monday, October 22nd. See the answers to the review practice test and the review worksheet below. Unit 2 Math Test is on Monday, October 22nd

Science
This week in science, we looked at another property of matter: solubility. We worked to explain what happens to sugar when stirred into warm water. Then, we saw what other small, solid substances also seem to disappear when added to warm water. So far, we've determined that not all small solids are soluble but there are some that are!

Social Studies  Students were having way too much fun this week as we explored some different geography centers!   Students had the opportunity to complete different puzzles to help practice their geography learning.  The chapter 1 test is this coming Wednesday, October 24, 2018.   
Daily Geography (DG) is a hit!  Students have reported having so much fun looking at maps to answer these basic geography questions!  DG 2 is due on THURSDAY, October 25, 2018.