FIFTH GRADE

FRIDAY, 20 February 2026

Love was in the air this week. And to hear the students react to that statement, you'd think I said the most egregious, out-of-pocket thing in the world. But as we know, love is multiple and many-faceted. The English language feels fairly limited in regards to the word love: it's one word with several meanings and a thousand nuances. So, there's the love one has for their family, for their friends, for their pets, and for themselves. There's romantic love, yes, but there's also love of things, of ideas, of actions, of states of being. There's even the love you have for a really good sandwich. The type of sandwich that you'd gatekeep from others to prevent it from becoming too popular and ending up on social media and forcing you to become a sandwich hipster and say things like "oh, I liked it before it was ..." or "it was better when they used the old sauce" or ... I think I might've been hungry when I wrote this. Long story short (too late), love is beautiful and I am grateful for the love that we can share with each other.

Important dates + Reminders:

4 March 2026 - 5th grade field trip to Blue Ribbon Children's Festival
- Thank you to those parents who have already completed the permission form.
- Double thank you to those parents who volunteered to drive students!
- Ryan will be re-sending the email for this.
9 March 2026 - Begin Book Fair week
10 March 2026 - Night of 1,000 Stars
19 March 2026 - Nowruz assembly

Language arts + Social studies

This week ELA: Persuasive writing.

Students completed multiple reading response assignments. Additionally, they finished work on their first persuasive/argumentative essay regarding whether cellphones should be allowed in school or not.

Next week ELA: Persuasive writing; poetry soon.

math + Science

This week Math: Adding fractions.

In Science, we practiced writing directions for a partner to follow. Students chose a starting location and wrote multi-step directions designed to have their partner end up at a chosen endpoint. Students then discussed how effective their directions were.

Next week Math: Continue adding fractions; subtracting fractions soon.

4 PILLARS OF WELLBEING

COMMUNITY!

STUDENT LIFE

Several congratulations to bestow.

First, congratulations to River for being our first TCS Spelling Bee Champion! Congratulations to Hugo for qualifying for and participating in the school-wide Spelling Bee! And well done to all of the fifth graders for participating in the classroom Bee.

Second, congratulations to our Mathletes: Alice, River, and Hugo! They took the nationwide test and performed admirably. Hugo was even one question away from being part of the top 5% for the whole country! Well done to all three of these talented students!

Finally, and not at all least, happy birthday Grady!

Valentine's day

Huge thank you to our amazing room parents, Mayra and Tania! They set up decorations, helped distribute food at the party, and overall made it a wonderful celebration. Also, thank you to all of you lovely parents who sent in food/supplies! We appreciate you all!