Week 27: Adding and Subtracting Fractions, Mysteries, and Colonial America

Welcome to week 27!  School Dance on April 8th from 6-9pm. It is a beach party theme.

Please notice the previous post to see our schedule for our March 31st 5th Grade Work Day.

Here's the week:

In math we are starting a new fractions chapter on adding and subtracting fractions.  This week we will be looking at adding and subtracting with like denominators, common multiples, unlike denominators, and adding mixed numbers.  The kids did a pretty good job on our first fractions test on Thursday.  Those that struggled will continue to work on the ideas behind fractions this week during our math RTI block.

In reading this week we are going to continue to work with mysteries. Your student will have homework on Monday and Thursday nights this week.  On Tuesday and Wednesday we are going to take a brief break to work on identifying Author's Purpose.  We are going to be examining works that are meant to entertain, persuade, and inform.  Many of the examples we will be looking at this week will be very clear examples of each variety. We will be working together as a whole class to identify the characteristics of each.  Next week, students will be working on their own to identify and classify the author's purpose.  You can reinforce what we are doing at home by asking your student to define each type of purpose and show you examples as they read on their own. 

In social studies we are going to conclude our examination of the the New England colonies and move to the middle colonies. Students will be taking a quiz on Tuesday on the New England colonies. You might want to help your student study by going through their Puritan book with them.  It is important that they can identify why the Puritans came to America, what some of their beliefs were, what the Great Awakening was and what the Puritans beliefs were when it came to democracy.  If they can answer these questions, they will do well on the quiz and will have a solid understanding of the beginning development of the New England colonies. 

We are also going to continue to work with students on following directions.  We have completed two different activities and students, for the most part, are having a lot of trouble with these. The worksheets, if read carefully and slowly, are not hard to complete. A typical question might be to solve all of the addition problems and ignore the subtraction problems.  Please encourage your students to take these exercises seriously as they are intended to improve their ability to read carefully and follow the multi-step directions. We are using these activities for the report card, as well as to prepare students for the MSP. 


Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.


Allyn and Alaina