January

Happy New Year!

We hope the holidays and Winter Break brought peaceful times together for all students and their families. For teachers, it was a chance to recharge the batteries and prepare for the continuation of learning to begin the new calendar year. With much eagerness, we look forward to an enjoyable, productive, and busy second half of the school year.

Preparing for Middle School

With the holidays behind us, new work in the classroom begins with an ambitious schedule of learning.  Some of the best learning and development occurs at this time of the year.  

As a reminder, part of fifth grade is meant to be preparation for middle school.  Beginning later this month, West and Campus counselors will visit fifth graders to begin the registration process. 

After the holidays, we may need to jump-start student's awareness of their responsibilities.  We recognize the instinct of parents to provide as much support and assistance as possible to help students avoid setbacks.  However, setbacks and even failure are building blocks for students to develop resilience and to provide motivation for creating their own success.  Our goal for these students is for them to become independent and responsible learners.  Every day, students are independently responsible for the following:

• Updating planners with ALL homework assignments.

• Bringing the Doc-It and planner home AND consulting the planner before completing assignments.

• Bringing home all materials related to homework assignments, including laptops.

• Completing all homework assignments AND bringing all homework assignments and related materials back to school, including fully charged laptops.

• Advocating for themselves when they need help, or when they are absent. Students should be the ones arranging for makeup work, not parents.

• Bringing lunches and healthy snacks to school.

• Dressing appropriately for school and for winter weather.

• Treating others with respect, courtesy, and kindness.

• Working on all assignments or projects with the very best efforts at school and at home.

Balanced Literacy

Summary of what we have done so far:

• • Reading Literature. Students have read and analyzed increasingly complex literature through short stories and novels. Our focus was on plot structures, character analysis, and conflict/resolution analysis and how these connect to theme. We have studied authors' use of literary devices, such as figurative language and symbolism, to support themes. Students have develop skills in responding to reading through active discussion and written expression using textual evidence.

  • Reading Nonfiction. Developing nonfiction reading skill is heavily integrated within science and social studies content. Our nonfiction reading focus has been on text structure, identifying main ideas with supporting details, summarizing, note taking, consulting multiple sources, and applying concepts read to overall understanding of science and social studies.

  • Vocabulary. Reading comprehension has been enhanced with the study of academic vocabulary acquired through nonfiction and fiction reading. We have also developed comprehension through studying common Latin and Greek prefixes, roots and suffixes to hypothesize the meaning of unknown vocabulary.

  • Writing. We have had a heavy focus on CER writing, which is a form of structured expository writing requiring a claim, use of evidence from text, data, or observation, and a reasoned analysis of the evidence. We have used CER writing in response to reading but also with science and social studies content. We briefly touched on narrative writing through small, personal moments.

What's next in January:

• • Reading. Building on the first half of the year, we turn to historical fiction (American Revolution novels), in addition to short stories, to continue analyzing character, conflict, and theme and adding point of view as a focus. Nonfiction reading continues with integration in content areas. In particular, students will read information text on the American Revolution, as well as scientific text on plants, systems, and cells. Vocabulary development continues as an integrated component of reading as well as discrete instruction.

  • Writing. Our attention turns to opinion writing this month. We first study persuasive writing which includes emotional appeals as the tool for persuasion. Next, students learn argumentative writing, which utilizes fact, logic, and reason.

Math

Family letters containing overviews of current math content and objectives can be found here:

• Bridges Unit 4 - Multiplying & Dividing Whole Numbers & Decimals

• Bridges Unit 5 - Multiplying & Dividing Fractions

Plants

Our initial study of systems in living things is focused on plants. We will begin with a look at plant cells, comparing/contrasting them with animal cells.  We will establish the fact that cells rely on various systems that consist of a variety of parts that each perform a specific function. After that, we will study the various parts of a plant and the function that each performed for the plant's survival. Students will have a detailed look at the processes of photosynthesis and reproduction of plants.  Students will be provided a study guide and a review powerpoint presentation which they may reference for studying. 

The study of plants as a collection of systems will lead us directly into our study of the human body and its systems.  

From Colonies to Revolution

With an understanding of the government and economies of the colonization, we turn our attention to the rise of conflict with Great Britain with emphasis on the following:

• The causes and effects of the French and Indian War

• How this war directly contributed to the problems that led to the Revolutionary War

• The Stamp and Sugar Acts, Townshend Acts, Quartering Act, and the Intolerable Acts, with a discussion of the notions of "taxation without representation" and self-government

• Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre

• Negative impacts of continued settlements and establishment of the United States on Indigenous Nations 

• First and Second Continental Congresses, and the ascendancy of George Washington

• Siege of Boston and the Battle of Lexington and Concord 

From there, we will proceed with a detailed look at the battles of the Revolutionary War and the major parties involved in the conflict.  The study of the revolution will culminate in a Project Based Learning task.  

All reading and writing instruction will be integrated with our study of the American Revolution.  Students will read a variety of materials, including nonfiction text, short articles, and video narrative of the events of the revolution.