Here's what's happening in 5th grade for the year.

I do my best to Adjust as we learn & list out units of learning.

ELA

Reading:

Students this year are doing something new, just like their teacher for both reading and writing. In fact, this is a district wide change for our elementary school teachers. This year, students will be learning from their teacher with a new style called the "Units of Study". This was created by Lucy Calkins, who is one of the best curriculum designers for ELA there is.

Every day in reading, students will be learning ONE new thing a day to help them grow as writers and become even better, stronger readers. Students learn this one new skill or strategy in a mini-lesson, then they are given time to read what they want to read!

Each unit has a specific focus so that students are reading and learning how to understand fiction, nonfiction, persuasive, fantasy, etc., the list goes on and on! Each skill students learn will help them with this genre, while also giving them the chance to learn how to talk about books with their peers, and sharing out about what they are reading.

Week: Aug. 24th-27th- Students have spent time focusing on what kind of reader they want to be. Students met with Ms. Hilton on the books they enjoy reading and got book suggestions to check out their first classroom book! We ended the week in making reading goals; what do we want to accomplish as readers for the next two months?

Writing:

Just like in reading, students are going to be using Writing Workshop in our classroom, which is not new to the teacher, but may be new to your child. Students will be given time to write every day, and learn how to grow and become a stronger, better writer.

Throughout the year students will be given the chance to write a personal narrative, argumentative essay, memoir, and historical paper, with some fun writing projects in-between. While they write these larger papers, students are learning new strategies to help in their writing.

Math (Overview)

Students begin their year in math with a 4th grade review and what their beautiful brains remember from last year. From there, students will learn how to create and use an interactive notebook. This notebook will serve as their resource and notes, something that can and should be taken home in case of work that needs to be completed.

We follow the Everyday Math Curriculum so each unit we are learning multiple new skills that are being built off of 3rd and 4th grade learning.

Aug. 24th-27th: Students had time this week to review what they remember as a mathematician! They had to create math problems that were all about them, completed a timed multiplication test, and completed a 'SCOOT' game with 4th grade review.

Science

This year in science students will get the chance to have other 5th grade teachers for each unit!

In Ms. Hilton's classroom, students are learning all about Ecosystems, Photosynthesis, and Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. With Mrs. Leedy students will be learning more about space, and with Mrs. French students are learning about states and properties of matter and chemical changes.

Ecosystems: Students will be learning what an ecosystem is, how all of our energy comes back to the Sun, the differences between a food chain and food web, how energy passes from each item we eat, and examples of the "circle of life".

Photosynthesis: Students will learn about what photosynthesis is and how it works with our plants. They will get the chance to read about the amazing way our plants are producers and just how they are able to not only produce their own food, but give our Earth oxygen as well. Students will participate in experiments and have to "create photosynthesis" using Legos to show how all of these pieces come together

Water Cycle: In class, students get the chance to "be water" and learn how water is constantly moving and is a continuous cycle. We take time to learn more about our hydrosphere and atmosphere and how these two connect to one another all the time. Students learn just how much water we have on our planet, and how much water we can actually use, which means we need to start thinking of ways to reduce our water intake. Finally, students will have to create a water filter to find out how they can clean water using only certain items in our class.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: The last section with Ms. Hilton will help students understand the importance of reusing materials and reducing our trash intake. Students will learn how a landfill works and then have to create something of use using only items given to them to reuse. The final piece of this small unit is creating a Reduce/ Reuse/ Recycle poster based on what they have learned in class.

Social Studies

We are taking a strong hold into our country history this yea. Students will first refresh their beautiful brains on geography in order to understand everything they will learn this year. From there we have different chapters or units to take us all the way to our country's Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Amendments.

The first section of our learning will be in GEOGRAPHY as a whole as well as the geography of the world in the 1400-1500's in North America, Africa, and Europe.

Aug. 24th-27th: Students started social studies with a book scavenger hunt to learn what's in our book and how to use the book for this year. We also had our first current event Friday... on Thursday ;) Students read different articles about events happening in our country and world and get the chance to teach one another about the topic, ask questions, and share their thinking. It's a great way to learn about what's happening in the city, state, country, and world we live in while building our classroom community and talking to one another while Ms. Hilton listens. This will be done every Friday with new articles based on our world! Take a look below at the articles that students picked this week!

https://newsela.com/read/california-fire-ecosystem/id/2001012477/

https://newsela.com/read/lib-what-are-antibodies/id/2001011855/?search_id=4c126372-692b-47f8-9e65-23f45ef100ca

https://newsela.com/read/jacob-blake-athletes-respond/id/2001012613/

https://newsela.com/read/postal-service-election-2020/id/2001012308/?search_id=db602361-a2db-473b-b025-c80fbdb35e19

https://newsela.com/read/beirut-port-explosion/id/2001011933/?search_id=bf58f75f-f257-475d-b5f8-aad1bf1992d1

https://newsela.com/read/dog-mayor-california/id/52711/

Current Events Friday

Each week students read different articles about events happening in our country and world and get the chance to teach one another about the topic, ask questions, and share their thinking. It's a great way to learn about what's happening in the city, state, country, and world we live in while building our classroom community and talking to one another while Ms. Hilton listens and will answer clarifying questions if she knows the answer about a topic or give a definition of a word. This will be done every Friday with new articles based on our world. These article comes from newsela.com, which is a nonpolitical source that teachers all over the country use everyday. Students get the opportunity to pick the articles they want to read and learn more about too. Take a look below at the articles that students picked this week!