December 2015

December 2015

Important Dates

Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015: Unit 3, EDM quiz Lessons 3.5- 3.12
Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015: Social Studies Quiz
Friday, Dec. 18, 2015: Concept maps due for each settlement in chapter 6 (Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth)

Dates to Know

Monday, Dec. 7- 11, 2015: Book Fair @Pattengill in Media Center
Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015; Family Night at the Book Fair, 6:30- 8:00 PM
Friday, Dec. 18, 2015: Winter Wonderland Activities 2:45- 3:45 PM
Friday, Dec. 18, 2015: Winter Break begins, No School
Monday, Jan. 4, 2016: Winter Break ends, No School

Subjects at a Glance:

EDM (Math): We are continuing our studies of fractions. This unit includes improper fractions, mixed numbers, adding and subtracting fractions, estimating fractions sums and differences, and understanding how fractions can be used as benchmarks. This unit is rather long; therefore, I separated the unit into 2-parts for the month of December. The second quiz will be in 2 weeks.
Language Arts:
    Reading: Students are learning about the structure of nonfiction text as a part of the fifth grade data
    teams. (Descriptive, sequence, compare/ contrast, cause/ effect, and problem and solution) Students
    are given short or longer articles to summarize and analyze the structure of the text. Next, students
    are expected to state the structure and place the newly learned information into a graphic organizer.
    Word Study: My reading class along with my homeroom have begun to review the 9 parts of
     speech and analyze how it part of speech is used. This week, each class will be given a new word
     study list.
     Writing: Due to the time constraints of Project Lead the Way being taught daily for 8 weeks,  
      writing will occur in Social Studies. We will be writing an expository paragraph about the Early    
      English Settlements and a persuasive essay about My Favorite Colony.
Social studies: We are currently studying Chapter 6, Early English Settlements. The study guide is posted on an earlier post. Students are expected to understand what makes a successful English settlement and its impact. Chapter 7 is Comparing the 13 English Colonies. This is a quite intensive unit and requires a lot of memorization and analyzing. This unit will also involve a writing project and a unit test.
Science (Project Lead the Way): We are now experiencing Project Lead the Way, a STEM program. Mrs. Dawson can be followed @msdawsonteach on Twitter. This week, we learned the Engineering Process and applied our knowledge of the process as a toy designer and builder. The second activity involved creating an uniform robot via a 3D app on an I-pad. This was followed by using a remote control to create commands for a robot brain and battery. This will continue next week. I am so proud of my students, because I am not sure if I were in fifth grade I could demonstrate the same knowledge in week 1. Impressive! Week 2 involves building a test bed and learning how commands work. The latter part of this week involves the beginning stages of creating a robot.

Unit 3 outcomes, Fraction Concepts, Addition and Subtraction of Fractions with unlike and like denominators

12. Adds and subtracts fractions with unlike denominators
13. Uses estimates to reason about sums and differences of fractions
14. Interpretes a fraction as division of a numerator by a denominator
15. Solves number stories involving whole number division that lead to fractional answers.
16. Solves simple real-world problems involving fraction multiplication.

Unit 4 outcomes, Decimal Concepts and Coordinate Grids

17. Reads and write decimals to thousandths using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form.
18. Compares numbers with decimals to thousandths using >, = and < symbols.
19. Uses place value understanding to round decimals to any place.
20. Adds and subtracts decimals using models and strategies.
21. Uses data to place ordered pairs on a coordinate grind in two directions.

Winter Wonderland

This year this class will celebrate the winter break by having a Winter Wonderland celebration. Students will put icing/ sprinkles on cooking and work with recipes and fractions; the next station students will make cards for the Holidays with original poems written by themselves; and the final station will be snowflake designs.  Students will be asked to bring in treats from a list of items per the room parent.

Giving and Expecting the Best,
Ms. Hubbard