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.

We are so excited to begin this new nine weeks. In reading, the focus of our next unit will be to teach students to understand informational text in order to make inferences and summarize texts. Students will also be working on finding central ideas and making connections across genres.

During Reader’s Workshop, we will read a variety of informational texts. Students will study how they are complex, find main ideas, and summarize while reading nonfiction texts. Students will learn to summarize and make inferences from informational texts. Students will learn to make connections across different genres. 

During Writer’s Workshop, the focus will be composing organized informational texts, using text evidence to support our ideas. Students will plan and draft informational essays. They will develop ideas using facts, details, and examples. Students will also be revising and editing their pieces of informational writing as part of the writing process.

Unit 2: Decimal Operations 

The focus of this unit is on place value of and operations with decimals to the thousandths place. The student will be responsible for identifying the place value of decimals, comparing and ordering decimals, and rounding decimals to the tenths and hundredths place. The student will represent the multiplication and division of decimals using objects and pictorial models, as well as solve for the product and quotient of decimals to the hundredths place. The student will continue to work on simplifying expressions that now include decimal numbers. 

We have finished our first unit of Science!  We are now diving into our next unit: Energy.  This unit will consist of three lessons:

1. Energy Transformations - understanding the different types of energy using MELTS (Mechanical, Electrical, Light, Thermal, Sound) and that there can be a transformation from one type of energy to another (i.e. turning on a flashlight causes a transformation from chemical energy (the batteries) to light energy)

2. Electrical Energy in Circuits - learning the parts of a working circuit (battery, wires, lightbulb, switch, etc.) and how they all interact with one another

3. Light - demonstrating how light travels in a straight line and can be reflected, refracted, or absorbed

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

• demonstrate how energy is transformed as it moves through a flashlight system

• describe electrical currents moving through circuits

• demonstrate how light travels in a straight line and can be reflected, refracted, or absorbed when it encounters different media

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 Fridays- October 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