Freedom Center...Here We Come!

This week is our annual trip to The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.  We are truly looking forward to it!  Information was sent home with students last Friday with all of the details.  If you need more information, please let me know.  Students who are not attending the field trip should report to school as usual.

Here's what we are doing the week of 3-26-12:
In Word Work, students will continue working on GUM Book Unit 4: Grammar. This week we will work on forms of “be,” verb tense, negatives, and superlative & comparatives adjectives. In literature study, we will continue our inquiry projects. Students have created focus questions related to Civil Rights and Black History. They will have a couple of opportunities to use the media center to conduct research this week. Students will also learn how to read to get the gist of something to avoid plagiarism. In writing workshop, students will share their persuasive essays with a partner and with the rest of the class. We will also prepare for a school-wide essay by reviewing our last school-wide essays and discuss mistakes we made and how to avoid them on Thursday morning’s essay.


In math students will continue studying Topic 18: Graphs and Data. Students will use place value to organize data in a stem-and-leaf plot. Then, they will make and interpret histograms. Students will learn about circle graphs this week. Finally, students will create their own survey questions and display the data in at least three different ways.

This week in science, students will continue design their own pulley experiments. We will begin the week by determining some independent and dependent variables from our fixed pulley experiments. Students will use these ideas to come up with a focus question that will lead their investigation. They will conduct the experiment in class and report their findings.

Enjoy the Weather!

I hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather!  Here's what we are up to this week, the week of 3-19-12: 

In Word Work, students will start GUM Book Unit 4: Grammar. We will work with pronouns, subjects, and objects this week. In literature study, we will start an inquiry project. Students will be exploring topics that they are curious about related to Civil Rights and Black History to culminate our unit on these topics. Students will learn how to ask different kinds of questions, how to leave tracks of their thinking, how to read a text with a question in mind, and how to read to get the gist of something to avoid plagiarism. In writing workshop, we will continue crafting our persuasive essays.

This week in math, students will begin by reviewing Topic 17 and taking a test. Then, we will start Topic 18: Graphing Data. Students will practice how to gather data for surveys, how to create and read bar graphs, picture graphs, and line graphs.

This week in science, students will revisit the experiment from last week “Fixed Pulleys vs. Movable Pulleys.” All of the groups’ data was not consistent and we will analyze why. Then, students will investigate how two pulleys can be used together.

ISAT Continues

This week, 5th graders will finish their ISATs.  We will take our last reading test on Tuesday and our final math test on Wednesday.  Here's what we'll be working on the rest of the time this week of 3-12-12:

In word work, we will continue to review all of the words in Unit 4. The test will be this Friday. In literature study, we will be testing on Tuesday and Wednesday. For the rest of the week, we will finish reading Mississippi Trial 1955 and look for text evidence to support inferences we are making. Students’ final project will ask them to take a look at how the main character changed throughout the book. In writing workshop, we will start the week looking at a persuasive map that Mrs. Vera completed based on ideas that students had about their candies last week. Then, we will complete one together. Then, students will look at a list of debatable topics, to see which ones they agree with and which ones they can relate to personally. Then, they will start filling out their own persuasive map in order to get organized for writing their persuasive essay.

This week in math, students will identify points on a coordinate plane. Next, students will graph integers on a number line for temperatures and find the distance between them to calculate change in temperature. They will create tables of values to graph linear equations.

This week in science, students will practice using vocabulary that will be helpful in our unit on pulleys. The terms include force, fixed pulley, movable pulley, mechanical advantage, and redirect force. Students will have the chance to set up a movable pulley and a fixed pulley this week. They will do an experiment to determine which pulley requires more effort to list an object.

Rock the ISAT!

ISAT testing begins this Tuesday, March 6th, 2012!  5th grade students will be tested in both reading and math.  Please make sure that students are here on time, that they are well rested, and ready to concentrate!  Our grade will test on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.  Our school needs to achieve 92% of the students meeting or exceeding the standards in order to achieve AYP (adequate yearly progress.)  Please do your best to encourage your child towards meeting this goal.

In word work, we will begin to review all of the words in Unit 4. The test will be next week.  In literature study, we will be testing on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, we will continue reading Mississippi Trial 1955 and look for text evidence to support inferences we are making. In addition, we will act out the closing arguments in the trial and we will discuss how students feel about the outcome of the trial.  The picture to the right is a photograph from the court room during the actual Emmett Till murder trial.  In writing workshop, students will read an article with two different opinions. They will have to find the supporting reasons for each person’s argument. Then, they will do an activity where they will try to convince a classmate of something by coming up with their own supporting arguments.

This week in math, students will review the concepts of Topic 16. On Wednesday, students take the Topic 16 test on ratios, percents, fractions, decimals, and patterns. Next, we will move on to Topic 17: Equations and Graphs. Students will use a number line to locate an integer and its opposite. Then, students will identify points on a coordinate plane.

This week in science, students will read about pulley systems and take notes. They will draw a scientific diagram of a movable pulley and a fixed pulley. Finally, students will discover two ways to set up a one-pulley system to lift a load through free exploration with the components of a pulley.