Our first few weeks of fifth grade have gotten off to a great start! We have established students’ Hopes & Dreams and classroom expectations for the year as we build connections within our classroom community. So far, the class has shown good collaboration and responsibility with following routines.
In Math we have recently launched Unit 2: Numbers and Operations in Base Ten: Decimals & Place Value. Students have been reviewing some 4th grade material in terms of decimal place value: tenths, hundredths, and thousandths, and we have begun to use estimation as a strategy for problem solving.
Our Writer’s Workshop has been focused on generating ideas for personal narrative stories. These are true, small moment stories that we hope to write in a way that lets readers experience our stories as if they were there with us!
We are still working on building a reading life in Reader’s Workshop. This entails keeping information and thoughts in our reader’s notebooks. Students have begun “Word Collection” pages where they record interesting and new vocabulary, Sketch-to-Stretch to help us visualize, and predictions. We continue to build student’s abilities to discuss the texts we are reading.
In Social Studies, we are wrapping up our unit on Rules, Laws, & Responsibilities which includes the Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Students have enjoyed discussing the rights provided to citizens through the Bill of Rights and relating them to everyday freedoms we have in our country.
Next week, we will begin our Weather Investigations Science Unit! Students are encouraged to collect weather maps for later use in collecting data.
In Math we have recently launched Unit 2: Numbers and Operations in Base Ten: Decimals & Place Value. Students have been reviewing some 4th grade material in terms of decimal place value: tenths, hundredths, and thousandths, and we have begun to use estimation as a strategy for problem solving.
Our Writer’s Workshop has been focused on generating ideas for personal narrative stories. These are true, small moment stories that we hope to write in a way that lets readers experience our stories as if they were there with us!
We are still working on building a reading life in Reader’s Workshop. This entails keeping information and thoughts in our reader’s notebooks. Students have begun “Word Collection” pages where they record interesting and new vocabulary, Sketch-to-Stretch to help us visualize, and predictions. We continue to build student’s abilities to discuss the texts we are reading.
In Social Studies, we are wrapping up our unit on Rules, Laws, & Responsibilities which includes the Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Students have enjoyed discussing the rights provided to citizens through the Bill of Rights and relating them to everyday freedoms we have in our country.
Next week, we will begin our Weather Investigations Science Unit! Students are encouraged to collect weather maps for later use in collecting data.