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AUGUST 2025
Welcome to an exciting new school year! I am thrilled to have your children in my class, and I look forward to a year full of learning and growth. Here’s an overview of what we will be focusing on this month:
Reading: We are launching our reader’s workshop by establishing our routines in whole-group, small-group, conferring, and independent reading. These routines will help create a structured and supportive environment where each student can thrive.
Unit 1: Partners in Survival In this unit, students will explore how living things help one another survive through interactive read-alouds. This theme will guide our reading activities and discussions as we dive into various texts. Here are some key skills and concepts we will be focusing on:
Asking Questions: Encouraging curiosity and deep thinking about the text.
Inferring the Central (Main) Ideas: Understanding the main messages and themes.
Building Vocabulary: Use Context Clues (Synonyms): Expanding vocabulary through context.
Analyzing Text Structure: Cause-and-Effect: Identifying relationships within the text.
Building Vocabulary: Consult Resources to Clarify Meaning: Using tools to understand new words.
Analyzing First-Person Point of View: Understanding the perspective of the narrator.
Explaining Author’s Purpose and Message: Determining why the author wrote the text.
Introduction to the Genre of Poetry: Exploring the unique elements of poetry.
Writing: Students will start with an assessment to gauge their current skills and set goals. Following this, we will begin our first SRSD writing power cycle.
This year, we will be using the SRSD (Self-Regulated Strategy Development) model to help students become confident, capable writers. SRSD teaches students how to plan, organize, draft, and revise their writing in all three genres—opinion, informative, and narrative. They will learn strategies to improve their work, give and receive peer feedback, and use self-assessment to set goals and make their writing even stronger.
Math:
In Topic 1, we will extend students' understanding of place value to one million and include reading and writing numbers with exponents. Students will use patterns and positive exponents to write and interpret products involving powers of 10. We will also work on comparing and rounding numbers by understanding the relationship between the values of digits in different places.
Social Studies:
In Social Studies, we will use geographic tools and resources to explore and answer questions about United States geography. We will also examine the causes and effects of movement and how they shape our country.
Homework:
5th graders are asked to read for 100 minutes per week.
Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday, except on testing days.
Back to School Night: August 27st
The principal will share school celebrations and goals in the gym from 4:15-4:30 PM.
Teachers will present an overview of the school year at 4:35-5:05 PM and 5:05-5:35 PM in their classrooms.
Back to School Night is intended for parents only.
Outdoor Education Informational Meeting: August 27th, 5:45 pm, following Back to School Night in the GRE gym.
Attendance:
Attendance is extremely important, especially at the end of the day during our math block. Please try to avoid scheduling afternoon appointments or leaving early. While I understand that these can't always be avoided, minimizing them will be very beneficial for your student. If you know of an upcoming absence, please let me and your child's math teacher know so we can send work to keep them from getting behind. If your child is ill for more than one day but can do work, let me know so I can send it home with a sibling or leave it in the office. Keeping your child from falling behind and preparing them for middle school is my top priority.
I am excited to embark on this journey with your children and can't wait to see their growth throughout the year. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need further information
CLASS SHIRTS:
Orders due by Aug. 29th
We are excited to announce that 5th grade class T-shirts are now available for purchase! These special shirts will be proudly worn by our students at the Digger Dash, school assemblies, spirit days, and field trips.
Cost: $10 per shirt
These shirts run small, we recommend ordering up one to two sizes!
Math Links for 5th Grade Unit 1
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