Welcome to Week 7! Please remember that this is conference week. Please attend the conference WITH YOUR STUDENT at the time that was assigned to you.
Although this is a short week, we are doing quite a bit. Here we go:
In reading this week we are starting our language study. We are working with words that derive from the romance languages. Students will be learning how to break words apart into prefixes, roots and suffixes. They are also going to learn that these word chunks have meaning. We call this "Grocking", so when you hear your student using this strange word, you will understand a little bit about what we are doing. This is a long term unit of study that we will continue to work on over the course of the entire year. Another aspect of reading this week is our work with Maniac Magee. We are going to use the comprehension strategies that we have been using in isolation together to answer comprehension questions both in small groups and individually. The strategies we have been using are prediction, questioning and summarizing. The final part of our reading block is our RtI block. Some students will be pulled into small groups to work on decoding skills (breaking words apart by syllables and sounds). The rest of the students will be applying our comprehension lessons to books of their choosing. (Sorry for copy and pasting this....we are planning on continuing this same plan)
In writing this week students are going to examine how writers decide what they should write about. The students have several pieces they have started, but this week they will pick one piece that they will take through the writing process. This means they will be completing a draft, revising and editing and publishing. The topics will vary since we have brainstormed on several different prompts.
We are going to kick off our social studies work for the year this Friday. We will be learning about the many explorers who came to North America. Students will be examining three essential questions throughout our Explorers Unit: What is our history? Why do people move? How can something new influence someone's perspective on their own life? Understanding these concepts will help build the foundation for further study on the development of our country which we will explore in depth this year.
In math we are going to start our 3rd chapter on multiplication. Students will review the properties of multiplication, use mental math, and estimate products. The key word to this is REVIEW. In the 5th grade students should have their multiplication math facts down well enough to be successful during this unit. If you student is struggling with multiplication there is a very good chance that they do not have these essential math facts down. If that is the case...practice, practice, practice...and contact us so that we can practice with them at school as well.
Lastly, we will be following this blog with a quick note to all of our parents and students regarding classwork and homework. Please read the following blog and talk about it with your student.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Alaina and Allyn
No comments:
Post a Comment