Please remind your student to bring their purple folder back to class.

• Check out what is going on in counseling!

• Family volunteering is important at JCCS. You are welcome to come anytime your schedule allows. 

• Volunteers are welcome in the classroom to help with math, science, social studies, reading, writing, and hiking. See the Volunteer link for times:  https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/64833852033/false#/invitation

What are we working on?

Science: Exploring Chemical Reactions and Properties of Matter

This science unit is experiment-heavy. We will use the kitchen for our experiments this unit. If you are free on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 2 to 3 PM, we will be in the kitchen on experiment days, and in the classroom on days we're planning the experiment.

Reading: 

Reading Challenge: Students are challenged to read 19 books this semester (including picture books). We will have time in school to read, but students should also read 20 minutes a day at home; they can take their book from the classroom library home with them anytime.

We will start an independent reading project next week, and a Ravens Write reading and writing project upon returning from spring break.

Reading Strategy of the Week: Summarizing text / Wrap up Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Writing: Short journal prompts and cursive practice will be a consistent activity after lunch. 

Grammar or Morphology:  Suffix review and decoding words that are open, closed, VCE syllables, and learning the meaning of prefixes: Non-, Mis-, Dis-, Un-, -ion (-tion or -sion), -able, en-. There are many spelling rules involving -ion that are confusing. 

Math: Fractions as decimals 

5th graders should be able to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.

The class did a really nice job of grasping the concept of multiplying and adding fractions that relate to decimals (3/10 = 30/100) last week during math. I think that, even though they tell me they don't enjoy fractions, they are enjoying the break from multiplying and adding/subtracting large numbers. We will need to get back into the practice of that after spring break.

ALL students: Memorize their multiplication facts! This frees up their cognitive load (brain space) for more complex math.

Social Studies: We are learning about the lead-up to the Revolutionary War, and learning about historical figures from the 1600s to the 1700s.

This week, we worked on taking notes from our Week 13 newspaper, which should have been a refresher on Jamestown.

 Students should choose a historical figure from the 1500s to 1700s who played a part in the creation of America. The rubric and worksheets to help students organize their thinking are available at this link. 

Students can read their studies weekly at home at https://online.studiesweekly.com/login.  I can send you their username and password if you need them. The online version gives students the option to have the newspaper read to them, which can be very helpful for processing the information.