Weekly Update: 10/26

Happy Weekend!

It was a fun and busy week in 5th grade, as usual!  

Thank you to everyone for attending conferences this week-- it is so important to have the parent/ teacher relationship to help the kiddos be successful.  Thanks for all you do!

Click HERE if you would like to volunteer your time or and item to our Halloween Party! 

Click HERE to find the Pumpkin Run permission form that we need returned by Monday next week!

Science:  We are focusing on the 4 different spheres of Earth (biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere) and how they work together.  We will be completed a project where we will be creating a model of this next week!

Reading:  We are working on understanding nonfiction texts and identifying the main idea and supporting details within a text.  We have been talking about how main idea is not just a word or phrase but a complete sentence that tells use the topic and WHY it is important.

Writing:  We continued working on our nonfiction piece about a topic from Westward Expansion.  We focused on using geography and specific "expert words" to make our story sound like a historian wrote it.  We have also been adding our own thinking into our nonfiction piece so that our piece isn't just listing off facts from another source.

Math: This week we started chapter 5 (adding and subtracting decimals).  We specifically worked on rounding to a certain place value spot and using models to add/ subtract decimals.

Social Studies:  We presented our constitution projects and will be starting our branches of government chapter next week! 

Upcoming Events: 

10/27: NO SCHOOL

10/ 31: Fall Festival (Schedule below) -- no letter day! 

11/3: Adult Trivia Night  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Meredith Holtmann

Fall Festival Schedule For Next Week! :)

Weekly Update 10/20

Happy Friday, Everyone! 

I hope you have had a great week.  

Don't forget that parent-teacher conferences are next week on Monday (10/23) and Wednesday (10/25). You can check HERE to find your conference time!  We are doing student led conferences, so please bring your child with you if possible.  We will spend the first half talking with them and then they will wait in the hall for us to finish the second half of our conference.  Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday or Wednesday!

Also, if you would like to donate an item or volunteer your time for our Halloween party, you can sign up HERE!

Here's what we've been up to this week...

Science:  We did our first round of science stations about Earth's systems this week.  We will continue our study of this into next week!  We are having fun getting to do interactive activities about our science topics -- watching videos, having group discussions, and doing investigations.

Reading: We used our reading to research more about our topic, complete our ELA galileo test, and talk more about note taking and research strategies.

Writing:  We spent time sifting through our notes and picking out the common themes we see.   We then used those common themes to come up with subtopics for our nonfiction piece.  We wrote a flash draft and noticed we still needed to do more research.  We will continue researching at we write throughout next week.

Math:  We finished up our division lessons this week and took our division test on Thursday.  Remember to keep studying multiplication facts at home nightly!

Upcoming Events: 
Next week:

10/23: Parent- Teacher Conferences

10/25: Parent- Teacher Conferences 

10/ 27: No School!

Week after next:

10/31: Pumpkin Run/ Halloween Party

Have a great weekend! 

Sincerely,

Meredith Holtmann

Please remind your kiddo to study tonight for their math test! :)

Halloween Party

Please consider volunteering your time or donating something to help us have a successful Halloween Party-- click the link below!  Thanks so much!

Halloween Party Sign Up Genius

Field Trip 10/24!

We have a Jazz Field Trip to the Sheldon on Tuesday, 10/24! 

Please be looking for permission slips in the next day or two.

Weekly Update: 10/15 (important information about conferences included)!

Happy Sunday!  I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

As I finish up report cards this quote resonated with me!  Each kiddo has worked so hard this quarter and even if they aren't there yet, they are on their way.  

Report cards for first quarter should be emailed sometime this week.  The fifth grade team got together to discuss areas we have been working on this quarter.  In the general comments section you will find important skills listed for your child as either GLOWS (strengths) or GROWS (areas to improve for next quarter).  We will discuss these further at conferences next week!

Conferences are Monday (10/23) or Wednesday (10/25).  You are encouraged to bring your child with you to conferences so that they may discuss their progress and goals with you.  They will discuss the first half of the time, then be excused so that we may talk for the remaining half.  This is strongly encouraged and a great way for them to take ownership of their learning!

Here is what we were up to this past week and where we are headed this week...

Science:  The kids finished presenting their prototypes for the second time (after reevaluating and making changes based on feedback!  They did an amazing job on this project and I was very impressed.  This week we are starting our next chapter all about Earth Systems!

Reading/ Writing:  This past week we used a lot of our reading and writing workshop time to discuss research and note taking.  We are getting ready to start our first nonfiction piece in writing and we needed to spend time getting some background information before we could get started.  Each kiddo has been given a topic within the bigger topic of Westward Expansion.  They will work in research groups to gather their notes and then use the notes to each write their own nonfiction piece.  We will start working on that piece this week!

Math:  We started chapter four-- an extension of chapter three that was all about division.  We started looking at division problems with two-digit divisors and 3 and 4-digit dividends.  We will wrap up that chapter on Tuesday.  We will review for our test on Wednesday and then take the test on Thursday (10/ 19).  Check your email for some helpful resources for studying!

Social Studies:  We spent last week learning all about the constitution and are now working on a project creating our own constitution!  Next, we are learning about the branches of our government.

Upcoming Events:

This Week

10/19: Math Chapter 3-4 Test

Next Week

10/23 and 10/25: Parent Teacher Conferences (click link for your date/time)

10/27: No School

Sincerely,

Meredith Holtmann

Skating Permission Slip Due October 13th!

Weekly Update: 10/6

Happy Friday, everyone!  I hope you have had a great week.  

Here's what we've been up to...

Science:  We finished working on our prototypes and presented them to our class.  We gave feedback and compliments to each group and now they are working on reevaluating their prototypes.  We will present again next week!

Reading:  This week we focused on comparing and contrasting across multiple texts by looking at theme and characters.  We also wrapped up our second round of book clubs.  We are going to be starting an informational unit next week and will be working in research groups!

Writing:  We published and celebrated our second personal narrative pieces-- I was so impressed with our class' writing!  We did our pre-assessment for our information pieces today and will dive into our next unit next week.

Math:  Division, division, division!  We are combining chapters 3 and 4 which are both about division.  We will be working on practicing division over the next couple of weeks.  Please keep working at home on getting those multiplication facts memorized!

Social Studies:  We finished our discussing the Declaration of Independence chapter and are now focusing on the Constitution!  We did a fun preview activity where we all tried to decide on a radio station but in the end had to compromise to make everyone happy!

Upcoming Events:

10/6 (TONIGHT!): Family Trivia Night: 6:30 PM 

10/13: Half Day -- where buddy shirt! 

I hope you have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Meredith Holtmann