#4 This Week in 5th Grade

WHAT WE'RE LEARNING IN CLASS

Math: We finished our place value unit, and the class did great! I was really impressed with their hard work during the unit. On Wednesday we started our multiplication unit. By the end of the unit, students will be able to multiply 3 digit by 2 digit numbers.

Literacy (Reading & Comprehension): In 5th grade, we focus heavily on text evidence to answer comprehension questions, as well as include in our writing. We are using the "formula" ICE a Quote to answer literal and inferential questions. I stands for Introduce (credit the author/text), C stands for Copy (copy a sentence from the text using quotation marks), and E stands for Explain (explain the evidence).

Here is an example of a question and answer using ICE a Quote.

• Question: How did Nina solve her family's problem?
• Answer: The text states, "Nina remembered back to her rafting lessons." Nina was able to remember that they needed to pull the raft from the rock in order to keep moving forward.

Writing: We will be focusing on opinion writing till January. Right now, we are specifically focusing on writing a great introduction paragraph. This includes having an engaging hook, a thesis, background information, and three reasons that support the thesis.

Social Studies: We are learning about explorers and Native Americans. This week we read about Juan Ponce de Leon. On 9/11, we also had a lesson about the events of that day. The students were given photographs from that day and they made inferences on a poster about what happened before, during, and after the photograph was taken - I included photos of them collaborating to make their posters.

In the past couple of weeks, we've added a standing table and floor table to our flexible seating arrangement!