December 8th-12th

We encourage all families to join our 5th Grade Facebook page! While the same information is always sent home through email, our Facebook page is a great place for quick reminders and to see photos of what’s happening in 5th grade. It’s an easy way to stay updated and feel connected to the exciting learning and events happening in our classrooms.

Fountas & Pinnell Reading Assessments (December 1–19)

We are currently completing our mid-year Fountas & Pinnell (F&P) one-on-one reading assessments. These individualized assessments help us determine each student’s independent and instructional reading level. This important data allows us to monitor growth, adjust reading groups, and plan targeted support so every reader continues to make progress.

i-Ready Reading Diagnostic – Mid-Year Benchmark (December 9th)

Students will also take their middle-of-the-year i-Ready Reading Diagnostic. This assessment gives us a detailed look at each child’s strengths and areas for growth across essential reading skills. The results help us track progress since the beginning of the year, set new goals, and tailor instruction and interventions for the second half of the school year.

Holidays Around the World Research Project

We will also be starting a Holidays Around the World research project in reading and writing! Students will select a winter holiday to explore and learn all about. They will research its traditions, foods, symbols, and celebrations, then use what they learn to create a final project to share with the class. This is a fun and engaging way for students to build research skills while discovering how different cultures celebrate the season.

In writing, students are focusing on Extended Constructed Responses (ECRs). An ECR requires students to read a text closely, develop a clear central idea, and support their thinking with strong, specific evidence. We are practicing how to plan, organize, draft, and revise well-structured responses that include text evidence, explanations, and complete sentences.

Students will continue building these skills over the next two weeks as we work toward writing confident, well-supported literary and informational ECRs.

Upcoming ECR Assessment – December 11th
Students will take their ECR report card assessment on Thursday, December 11th.

Unit 3: Fraction Operations

Our Focus

Our Fraction Unit focuses on adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. The student is expected to add and subtract fractions with unequal denominators, multiply whole numbers times fractions that refer to the same whole number, divide whole numbers by a unit fraction and divide a unit fraction by a whole number. 

Instructional Approach

The students will transition from working with fractions with like denominators to working with fractions with unequal denominators. Finding the factors and multiples of numbers is a very important piece of this process.  Therefore we will be spending lengths of time decomposing and building numbers. The students will use fraction models, decimals, and pictorial models to help them understand how converting fractions to equivalent fractions makes adding and subtracting fractions simpler. We will use repeated addition to represent the multiplication of fractions and whole numbers. We will use strip models to help illustrate the division of unit fractions and whole numbers. 

Family Support

• practice multiplication facts

• practicing multiples of numbers

• finding equivalent fractions within the home or real world

• have your kiddo teach you something they have learned about fractions that day

• play online games 

• vocabulary: numerator, denominator, simplify, common denominator, factor, multiple, equivalent

Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Unlike Denominators 

• Using models

• Using strip diagrams

• After building the concept, we will show the process of using multiples to find common denominators to add and subtract fractions. 

Multiplying Fractions and Whole Numbers

• Using models

• using repeated addition

Dividing Unit Fractions and Whole Numbers

• using models

We are now in our 4th unit for Science: Patterns in Space!  This unit will only consists of one lesson:

1. Earth's Rotation

By the end of this unit, your child will be able to:

• investigate how their shadow changes throughout the day

• explore how Earth’s rotation causes day and night

• understand how sundials work and how to create their own!

At-Home Activity:

To prepare your child for TEKS 5.9, try this short activity:

·         Get a flashlight and globe, or round ball. The flashlight represents the sun, and the globe or ball represents Earth.

·         Investigate how the interaction between the sun and Earth results in day and night.

Engage your child by asking these questions:

·         What patterns do you notice?

·         How do these patterns affect people living on Earth?

Science Summary:

Vocabulary for this lesson includes shadow, axis, and rotation.

·         The appearance of the sun moving across the sky results in shadows changing positions and shapes.

·         As the Earth rotates on its axis, the side facing the sun experiences day. The side turned away from the sun experiences night.

Misconception Alert!

If your child has one of these misconceptions, here’s how you can help.

·         Misconception 1: Shadows can’t be seen at night.

To address this, if possible, go outside when it is dark and preferably when there is a full moon. Together, identify places where shadows are present. Explain that total darkness and nighttime aren’t the same thing. Most evenings, there is enough light from the moon for some shadows to be present. There could also be other light sources that may create shadows.

·   Misconception 2: The sun circles Earth.

To address this, place an object in the center of the room and have your child walk around it and note how the background of the object changes. Next, have your child remain still and follow the object’s motion as you move it around them, again noting how the background changes. Your child should recognize that, in both instances, they noticed the same patterns of change.

The American Revolution

Our Focus

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….” 

What motivates an individual to risk everything to stand up against a greater power? How do words impact a revolution?  Is this adage true:  “the pen is mightier than the sword?”  We will explore these ideas in our next unit of study, the American Revolution.  Our fifth graders will analyze the causes and effects of the American Revolution and explore the important ideas and purpose within the Declaration of Independence

Instructional Approach

Your child will develop his or her understanding of the American Revolution by exploring the people and events of that time through an inquiry approach:

• Why did we seek independence from Great Britain after having a mostly positive relationship for 150 years?   Students will gather facts and evidence to find out. 

• Who were the people of the revolution?   Through the use of primary and secondary sources, students will learn about those who risked all for independence.  

• Who were the Sons of Liberty?  What happened to the Loyalists? These were interesting people who lived and made choices that affected their lives and shaped America. 

• Why did Thomas Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence have such a powerful impact?  Why didn’t King George and Parliament listen to the colonists’ argument against “taxation without representation”? 

Each 5th grader now has a Student Data Binder, which will be sent home on selected Fridays, usually in the middle and at the end of each 9 weeks. Binders should be returned the following Monday. Please note: papers should remain in the binder at all times. Inside, you will find an acknowledgment form—parents/guardians should sign this form each time the binder comes home.

Parents also have access to their child’s daily work through Google Classroom. If you need help accessing it, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher. At the end of the school year, the binder will be yours to keep as a record of your child’s growth.

This first binder will focus on your child’s Beginning of Year (BOY) assessment information.

✅ Quick Review

📅 Sent home selected days: December 17th

📖 Return the following Monday

📝 Do not remove papers from the binder

✍️ Sign the acknowledgment form each time

💻 Daily work also available in Google Classroom

🎓 Binder is yours to keep at the end of the year