October 7, 2019
Dear 5th Grade Families,
This week, students participated in the Student Council Executive Council elections- they heard great speeches and made their voice heard! Congratulations to the 7th & 8th grade winners, and to all the students who showed courage by running. Ms. Dana's class has held their Class Representative election, and Ms. Heather's class will hold ours next week. Students interested in running should have their speech ready by Monday.
Please be sure your child is coming to school with a water bottle, to save on trips to the water fountain, and to ensure they are staying hydrated!
A reminder that we send home graded/checked work weekly- please be sure to have your child share their homework folder with you on Mondays and Fridays, to obtain any important work that has been passed back, information that has been sent home, and homework sheets explaining the week's homework and upcoming events.
If you have questions or concerns regarding your child, please email us, and we will do our best to get back to you ASAP.
ACADEMICS
Language Arts: We have finished the main story of Wonder, and are now reading 'The Julian Chapter', to hear the perspective of the antagonist of this story. Our culmination of this unit will involve our first book project of the year, and a whole-class viewing of the movie Wonder!
Grammar lessons continue weekly- our next focus is types of sentences: Declarative, Interrogative, Exclamatory, Imperative, Simple, Compound, and Complex. Students are also focusing in on Prepositions currently, and creating a 'Preposition Alphabet' poster. Ask them what their theme is, and what some of their sentences are!
We'll be doing a mini Edgar Allen Poe unit to get ready for our field trip to Asheville Community Theatre, and personal narratives are a little behind, but will be getting underway soon!
Math: In math we are learning and practicing long division! Just as with multiplication, students are asked to try and estimate the division problem and then proceed to solve the problem as well as check their answers with multiplication. Students are also writing word problems for these division equations and drawing out visual representations.
Science: In Science students have been learning about the structure and function of both plant and animal cells. We are finishing this unit up this week and will be moving on to Genetics! Look for your student to be learning about inherited and acquired traits and to bring home a survey to evaluate common physical traits families share. This unit has a field trip to Carl Sandburg house in Flat Rock, NC at the end of the month to study the genetic line of goats that reside there, as well as learning about the writings of Carl Sandburg for our visit.
Social Studies: We have begun our Native American unit with studying the Desert Southwest region: Pueblos, Navajo, etc. We'll move from there to the Pacific Northwest, then to the Eastern Woodlands, and finally, to the Plains. All along the way, we'll be studying primary source documents, various art styles and creating art (ask students about their Anasazi pottery!), and soon we'll begin our next book, The Birchbark House, which is about an Ojibwa family.
**Fifth grade students visit the ArtSpace library bi-weekly. Books are due two weeks after they are checked out!
Fifth Grade field trip information:
We will visit Asheville Community Theatre on Tuesday, October 15th, to see a short, dramatic selection of some of Edgar Allen Poe's most popular short stories and poems. Thanks to all of our drivers! Edgar Allen Poe field trip info
We will visit the Carl Sandburg Home on Thursday, October 31st. We still need drivers for this trip! Carl Sandburg field trip
A note from Ms. Beth:
ACT has scholarships available for their fall classes. Please email Ms. Beth Lexa with questions, beth.lexa@artspacecharter.org.
Asheville Community Theatre offers Youth Production Classes for K-12 students interested in learning the ins and outs of participating in a big production and specialized classes like our Teen Production Class, Broadway Bootcamp, Youth Improv, Youth Acting, and Youth Filmmaking. All types of classes offer a performance component for a finale!
ACT offers financial assistance for our Youth Production Classes, and we work hard with each family to make sure that cost is not an abstacle to participation.
5th Grade Classroom Wishlist:
-Scissors
-Water color paint sets
-Black thin-line sharpies