October 27 - October 31

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.

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 (middle & end of each 9 weeks)

📖 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

📚 Reading Workshop Update: Author’s Craft & Goals

Our 5th graders are diving deep into the Lucy Calkins Unit of Study: Interpretation Book Clubs. In this unit, students are learning to think like literary critics by analyzing author’s craft (the techniques writers use) and identifying the author’s goals (what the writer hopes to achieve with those techniques).

This Thursday, students will have a report card assessment where they’ll show their understanding by answering questions such as:

• What craft techniques did the author use?
  
  

• What goals might the author have been trying to achieve?
  
  

• How can I use literary language to explain the effect (for example, “the author builds empathy” or “the author creates tension”)?
  
  

This work helps prepare students to read more thoughtfully, write stronger responses, and apply these same strategies as they grow as readers and writers.

Extended Constructed Responses (ECRs)

This week, our 5th graders have been practicing how to write Extended Constructed Responses (ECRs) together as a class. These are longer written answers that require students to read carefully, use evidence from the text, and explain their thinking clearly.

Next week, students will try one on their own, and it will count as a report card grade each nine weeks. Students will also see an ECR on the STAAR test in the spring, so practicing now helps them feel confident and prepared. Through this work, they are learning to make connections, analyze characters and plot, and back up their ideas with strong text evidence. We are proud of the progress they are already making!

Decimal Unit: 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

By now we are finishing up our Electrical Energy in Circuits lesson.  We will have our 2nd 9 Weeks RCA (which is over electrical energy in circuits) this Wednesday (10/29) and Thursday (10/30).

Colony Projects

Our 5th graders are diving into early American history by researching and preparing a group presentation on one of the colonies. This project will serve as a report card assessment.

Students will select a colony they’ve studied in class and create a product from the teacher-provided Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board to demonstrate their understanding. As they design their projects, they are considering key questions such as:

• Why did the colonists leave their home to start a new life?

• When and where did they go?

• How did they adapt to the geography and climate?

• How did they use natural resources to survive and prosper?

• What kinds of jobs were part of their colony’s economy?

• Who had the power to vote and govern in their colony?

We are excited to see students collaborate, think critically, and creatively teach their classmates about the colony they’ve researched!