Welcome Back Curricular Update 1/5-1/7

Welcome back! I am ready to start the second half of the year. Can you believe, just 99 days of school left?! Here's what we will be up to during our first week back:

Reading:

• The class and I will read the non fiction selection The Summer of Fire and we will read it to study the figurative language that the author uses in her writing.
• The class will study two new challenging vocabulary words. Ask your kids about the other ones-they know them real well!
• The students will have reading conferences with me and we will study particular reading skills and strategies during the conferences on Thursday and Friday.

Writing:

• The kids will be working on writing letters to Lance Corporal Mark Scott, a former May Watts Wolverine, now a marine. He visited our school prior to winter break.
• The kids will also be working on a self reflection writing project that you will see at the end of the month.
• As always, the kids will be working on their own student created literature. They will be working through the writing process and conferencing with me about their literature.

Math:

• The class will be studying number theory. They will learn how to organize data in different types of graphs.
• The kids will also learn how to find the mean, median, mode, and other values, including maximum, minimum, and range of a set of values.
• The kids will also interpret graphs and what the data means.
• This unit (unit 6) is quite a change from the fraction unit we just had.

Science:

• The kids are enjoying our unit on magnetism.
• We're studying more properties including attraction and repulsion of magnets, and magnetic strength.
• Soon, we will study the properties of electricity and circuits.

Citizenship:

• I will be teaching the kids how to respect themselves in the area of organization. This includes organization of their desks and their binders.
• We are going to also review our school's Citizenship Matrix which details the expectations for different areas of our school.

Advertising in Schools

Last week the students of 5V read an article in their Time for Kids magazine about schools raising funds for clubs, programs, and supplies by allowing companies to advertise within the school. The idea would let a company buy wall space, floor space, locker, or bus space, and post their ads in or around the building. Companies like CUB foods, State Farm Insurace, and Avery Office Supplies have already gotten involved.

I asked the kids if they thought it was right for advertisers to promote and sell their products within a school. Here were the results:

YES: 54%

NO: 46%

This was our closest vote yet! Here are some of the opinions:

Supporting:

• Schools can make money and they don't need to get rid of their programs.


• Kids see commercials all the time. Who cares if it's at schools.


• Kids can choose to ignore the commercials or ads at school. They'll be happy when the school makes money from it.

Rejecting:

• Kids are forced to see advertising at all times during school. At home they can change the chanel. At school they have to see it.


• School isn't a place for advertising. What if it's inappropriate advertising?


• School is a place for learning, not selling stuff.

Curricular Update (Week of 12/6-12/10)

Hello 5V Families! Here is what we are up to this week in 5V and in 5th grade:

Reading:

• We are studying two new challenge words this week (skeptical and subtle)
• Students will practice using vocabulary in skits.
• We are going to practice searching for evidence in texts to support our answers or opinions.
• We are going to practice drawing conclusions about characters, setting, events, or action based on evidence we find in the text.
• We are going to read articles in our Time for Kids magazine and make connections, give opinions, and share thoughts about them.
• We will study a debate topic this week as well.

Writing:

• This week in writing we focus more on poetry and four different types of poems: (Limerick, Cinquain, Free Verse, and Quatrain)
• Students will write poetry to their first grade reading buddies.
• Students are going to write letters to their second grade pen pals.
• Students are going to practice using the thesaurus, writing dialogue, using the show not tell writing strategy, and elaboration in their writing.
• All students will work on some of their own student created writing and have conferences with Mr. Vaid about their work.
• We will also research at atom from the Periodic Table of Elements.

Math:

• We continue studying fractions this week.
• This week we study how to convert fractions to decimals.
• We also study how to round numbers up to the nearest hundreth or thousandth or whole number.
• One of our more challenging concepts will be converting fractions to percents.
• In addition, another challenging concept will be to find a part of a whole when given a %. For example, if 30% of May Watts children have glasses and there are 500 students in the school, how many wear glasses?
• We will study bar graphs and learn how to create bar graphs as well using six components of a bar graph.
• Weekly quiz this Friday.
• Test is anticipated to be next Wednesday, December 15th.

Social Studies:

• We wrap up our unit with the test on Tuesday.
• We will continue to study current events through out the week.

Science:

• Our goals this week in science include studying the atom.
• We want to know what an atom is.
• We want to know the parts of the atom: proton, neutron (make up the nucleus) electron shells, and electrons.
• We will study the Periodic Table of Elements and complete research on an atom of our choosing.
• There will be a quiz on Friday covering what we have studied this week about atoms.

Important Dates and Reminders

Here are some important reminders for the next week or so:

Monday, December 6th:

• Math Fact Club 3:45-4:15pm
• Musical Practice after school
• Spelling Test: "Colonies Unit"
• Orchestra Concert for 5th graders at Hill Middle School, 6:30pm.

Tuesday, December 7th:

• Social Studies test: Part I in the morning.
• Social Studies test: Part II in the afternoon.
• 2:30pm musical practice in the gym.

Wednesday, December 8th:

• 9:30am Musical Performance for families.
• 6:30pm Students should arrive in classroom 5V for the evening Musical.
• 6:45pm Students from 5V report to Music room.
• 7:00pm Students perform Musical.

Thursday, December 9th:

• Research atoms in computer lab in computer lab continues.
• Finalize poetry books for 1st grade buddies.

Friday, December 10th:

• Friday grammar quiz on adverbs
• Quiz on parts of the atom.
• Weekly Friday math quiz.

5V Poll Results (Animal Testing)

Hello 5V Families! Recently you were asked for your opinion regarding testing chemicals and substances on animals for medical or scientific purposes. Our class also was asked for their opinion in the form of the practice being right or wrong. Here are the results:

RIGHT: 1/26= 4%

WRONG: 25/26= 96%

Here were some opinions from the students:

RIGHT (Supporting practice)

• The testing can be done safely enough on the animals.
• It's possible to test them with out hurting them.

WRONG (Rejecting practice)

• Animals don't have a choice. We don't get their permission to test on them so it's not fair.
• What is tested on an animal may be not be relevant to a human because they are different from us.
• There are other ways to test chemicals or medicines, like in a special lab.

These opinions are very different from yours and I asked the kids why and some inferred that as you grow up there is more to worry about (not just animals) or as you get older you become more selfish. Interesting thoughts from our 5th grade friends.

Neat Video

Hi 5V Families,

How are you? I showed this video to the class on Thursday after school. It goes along with our "Thankful Thursday". It's about 3 or 4 minutes long and not in English, but it has subtitles and an important message about parents and family!

Important Dates and Reminders

Hello again! Please read the list below as it contains many important dates and reminders.

Monday, November 22nd:

• Kids should bring anything to class that is related to the non-fiction presentation because we'll have some work time.
• Unit 8 spelling test in the morning during reading class.
• Please have silent reading book ready for class for work time and small group reading conferences.

Tuesday, November 23rd:

• Kids should bring anything to class that is related to the non-fiction presentation because we'll have some work time.
• IMPORTANT: KIDS SHOULD TAKE HOME ANYTHING THEY NEED TO WORK ON AND FINISH UP OVER BREAK FOR THE NON-FICTION PRESENTATIONS THAT WILL OCCUR IN CLASS ON THE 29TH AND 30TH!
• Yellow folders go home! Please anticipate the following items to be in the yellow folder:

1. 5V Unit 4 Math test
2. 5V Fractions quiz
3. Unit 7 spelling test
4. Unit 8 spelling test
5. Chapter 4 Social studies test
6. Chapter 4 social studies essay
7. Most recent two minute math fact test
8. HW % update
9. Updated grade sheet with grades for reading, writing, spelling, math, and social studies