February 2-6

ELAR (Ms. Dagger)

Whew! It has been a crazy couple of weeks between interim testing and snow days. We have one more crazy week to get through until it all starts settling down a bit. So between our ELAR field testing on Tuesday and our field trip to Colleyville Middle on Thr

We will continue focusing on the Extended Constructed Response (ECR). This is a well-organized informational essay that uses specific evidence from the selection to support their answer. 

If you'd like to support our ECR work at home, you can ask your child to write a short essay on whether they agree or disagree with an author's statement in something they have recently read in an article or news story. Remind them to use specific evidence from the article to support their answer. They should also check their writing for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. 

In grammar, we will work on articles and adverbs. 

Remember to set a time to read each night at home. Reading at home increases comprehension skills, as well as vocabulary. 

After students read, focus on the central idea of the story. Ask the following questions:

• What is the entire book or article mostly about?

• What is the central idea of a specific paragraph?

• Can you find the main idea in the title or headings? What do they tell you?

Math (Ms. Lee)

 The students are working on Unit 7 that covers "Graphing and Number Patterns".  In this unit, they learn how to plot on a coordinate grid and identify patterns in tables and transfer those patterns on to a coordinate grid. The students will take their test over Unit 7 on Wednesday February 4. After Unit 7, the students will begin Unit 8 which covers Data Analysis. They will learn how to graph scatterplots, stem and leaf plots, and dot plots.

Homework

The students will need to complete 45 minutes in i-Ready this week along with 4 fluencies.

Your children did amazing on our Math Interim!! I am very proud of all of them.  I will be creating  personalized learning plans for each child on which TEKS they need to review or TEKS for advance material.  In other words, I will be making it meet the needs of each child.  They will have more homework with this plan for this semester.  I have seen so much growth with it though over the years, so please encourage them to do their personal best and work on it a little bit in the evening.  I will let you know in the near future when each child is ready to begin on his or her personalized plan. Thank you so much for all your support and help.  

  If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me at anne.hurstlee@gcisd.net

Questions to Ask Your Child:

1. How do you multiply a decimal by a whole number?

2. How do you multiply a three digit number times a two digit number?

3. How do you divide by a two digit divisor?

4. How do you divide with a decimal in a dividend?

5. What are key words to look for in word problems for a multiplication problem?

6. What are key words to look for in word problems for a division problem?

7. How do you identify a prime and composite number?

8. How do add or subtract a fraction with an unlike denominator?

9. How do you multiply a fraction by a whole number?

10. How do you divide a unit fraction and a whole number?

11. How do you use PEMDAS or Order of Operations to solve a number expression?

Science/SS (Ms. Whelan)

Because of snow days and interim testing , we will spend this week getting caught up in all the things! In science, 5th graders will be continuing their learning on the Earth's processes and changes by learning how wind, water, and ice change the Earth's surface. They rocked their practice science STAAR last week. I am so so proud of them!

In social studies, they will be wrapping up the unit over our expanding nation after the War of 1812 with a unit learning all about the Industrial Revolution. Because we missed it last week, we will be taking our unit test in science and social studies this week. It will be a busy one!