5-2 Updates ~ 01/23/17

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2017

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

I hope you all enjoyed the second long weekend with your families!  The temperatures on Saturday were delightful - it was fun to get outside and enjoy the sunshine for a little while!

As you may have noticed, this is only my second post for January.  Since we are in the second half of the year, you will notice I begin to pull back a little bit on communication.  While I will still send updates a couple times a month, and will email any critical information, I look to the students to start communicating with you a little more on what is happening in the classroom.  I expect them to truly own their learning by keeping track of deadlines and assessments, while maintaining their own assignment notebook.  Encourage them to share with you what we are doing in each of the subject areas on the weeks you don't see a post from me.  I also do not automatically send home mid-term grading reports this term, but they are available for students to ask for at any time.  Again, this is to encourage students to own their learning and to prepare them to monitor their own grades as they move forward.  Please encourage your child to ask me for a mid-term grade report any time they would like to see one!

I do continue to post birthday photos, though!  Please continue to check back for pictures of our birthday celebrations - since we are celebrating all January and summer birthdays this month, there are quite a few posts!!

** Thank you to all of you who sent in notebook paper - we appreciate you!! **

Important Dates

Global School Play Day ~ February 1st ~ Please send in games or toys with your child for a day of unstructured play!  NO ELECTRONICS, PLEASE!  We are specifically looking for math games during our math block, but the rest of the day is unstructured!

CogAT Testing ~ February 6th - 17th ~ The Cognitive Abilities Test will be given to all 5th grade students this year, and will be used with the MAPS test to determine students' eligibility to take the Advanced Language Arts placement test.  We do not have specific dates yet, but I will let you know as soon as those dates are set.

Everybody Counts ~ Wednesday, February 8th ~ Everybody Counts is an organization dedicated to the empowerment and independence of people with disabilities.  Volunteers take the time to come into classrooms to help the students understand life with a disability in a powerful and engaging way.  THANK YOU to all the parents who volunteer in bringing this valuable program to our school  Our presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, 2/2 at 11:10.

Valentine's Day Party ~ Tuesday, February 14th ~ 2:15-3:15pm

Due to severe and life threatening allergies, we are asking that you DO NOT INCLUDE ANY FOOD OR CANDY ITEMS with your child's individual Valentines. There are many clever and creative alternatives to food items, including pencils, tattoos, stickers, & bubbles... but the nicest way to say "Happy Valentine's Day" is to write a nice note! 

President's Day ~ Monday, February 20th ~ No School

Progress Reports ~ Friday, March 10th

Parent Teacher Conferences ~ Thursday, March 23rd (PM) & Friday, March 24th (AM)

Spring Break ~ March 27th - March 31st


Advanced Placement Testing (Math + ALA) ~ April 10th - 13th

Math

We will be wrapping up Unit 6 in math this week and taking the assessment on Thursday, 1/26.  We have focused on finding data points using line plots, stem and leaf plots, and bar graph, as well as adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.  Students can prepare for the assessment by reviewing study links and these concepts on Khan Academy.

Social Studies
We will be wrapping up Unit 15 on the Bill of Rights on Tuesday, 01/24 with our final assessment, and then on to our new science unit....Earth in Space!

Reading

We have been focusing on literary elements in fiction for the past few weeks, specifically discussing characters and conflict in literature.  Students have learned to identify the different types of conflict (person vs person, person vs self, person vs society, and person vs nature) and how the conflict changes the character.  I've been impressed with the students ability to make inferences in the stories we've been reading!  We will use this new understanding to help us determine the theme in the stories we read.  

Writing

We also began our new writing unit Writing in Response to Fiction. During this unit, students will gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between reading and writing and will learn essential reading and writing strategies that they will need in order to respond to fiction throughout their educational careers. The students will be reading the book, The Liberation of Gabriel King, by K.L Going.

The Liberation of Gabriel King is a well written and highly engaging historical fiction novel about a friendship between two fifth grade students, Gabriel King, a Caucasian boy, and his friend Frita, an African-American girl. The setting of the story is rural Georgia in 1976, the year of the bicentennial, and Jimmy Carter is President. The author writes about racial prejudice and the presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Frita’s goal is to liberate Gabe from his fears. Together they list their fears and pledge to conquer them one by one during the summer between fourth and fifth grade. 

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. 
If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” 

― Albert Einstein

Cheers ~

Theresa Fowler