Grade 5

Grade Five has left Mesopotomia in the dust, and is now immersed in Egypt, which is also pretty dusty! We’ve been reading about the Old and New Kingdom periods and making connections with Mesopotomian rulers. As nearly every aspect of Egyptian life was driven by their belief in the underworld, so have our  class projects. In exploring hieroglyphs, each student created his or her own cartouche, a symbol of protection in the afterlife journey. We used watercolors and oil pastels on bristol board to craft some of the more popular Egyptian symbols you’d find inside the tombs. For our year-long civilization creation project, we devised personal written languages, along with a sample and a translation. Soon, the long-awaited chicken mummification process will commence. Over a four-month period, we will preserve our little Chickopatras and Tutenchickies using the exact same process that was used for thousands of years in Egypt. And we will be filling their sarcophagi with all of the things that the poultrymummies need in their afterlife.

In Writer’s Workshop, we are discussing ways to organize stories and non-fiction pieces. Some of these include chronologic, reverse chronologic, “looping”, according to features, and compare and contrast. To model the compare and contrast approach, students worked in small groups to create a list of features that were specific to cats, dogs or both. We discussed different ways to organize the features, modeling both a Venn diagram and a T-chart. Then we reconvened as a group, to share these features and brainstorm how we might organize the data into paragraphs. After adding topic sentences to each paragraph, as well as transition words to help shape our lists into fluid sections, we have written an essay together on giant chart paper.  Currently the students are brainstorming their own features on a variety of topics including cookies vs. cake and  country life vs. city life.

In English, we are approaching the dramatic end of Where the Red Fern Grows. All of the highlighting and annotation will serve the students well, as they will soon be learning to write their very first literary essay in upcoming weeks. We will be practicing using quotations and indirect characterization to support a thesis. In our weekly spelling tests, we continue to draw from vocabulary from both WTRFG, and our history text, The Story of the World, as well as commonly misspelled words. This term students are also required to know the parts of speech for each spelling word. In Grammar, we are learning to identify the form and meaning of suffixes that can aid students in the identification of parts of speech, as well as how to distinguish between run-ons, comma splices and fragments.

Finally, our class poetry readings were simply stellar this past week. I could not have been more proud of their crisp execution of poems on the theme of language.

Helpful Hints:

• PTR projects are due Tuesday, November 24. After Thanksgiving, they will be asked to select books for the December project, which will be due December 17. Please mark your calendars accordingly.
• Ski Friday forms need to be brought in or sent to the office.
• Our time in Egypt is filled with many projects. If you happen to be at the dollar store and would like to contribute one item:  a pack of modeling clay in assorted colors, spices like cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves, a roll of gauze or colored duct tape, or a can of salt–these are all things for our mummification process.
• Look for Scholastic book forms in your child’s planner tonight. These are due back to me on Monday, Nov. 23 (in one week). There are tons of excellent and inexpensive books here!

Thank you for all your support. This year continues to be one of smiling faces, challenges, surprises and joy. Cheers!

Jilly

After our exciting trip to Nature’s Classroom, we have dived right back into our busy academic lives in Fifth Grade!

In History, students have been working on developing their capital cities for their year-long-civilization project. In addition to creating a capital city map, they are writing paragraphs that describe the layout and population of their city. Next they will be creating a language!

This past week, the students took their first large history test. While the test focused on the major themes and concepts explored in our study of Mesopotamia, the preparation for the test allowed our group to practice essential study skills such as note-taking, creating flashcards, writing practice essays, and organization. Students were guided through a week-long process of assembling their binders, creating a study plan, and then finally studying a little bit each night. I was impressed with the group’s diligent attitude toward embracing this process. As you know, time management and organization are important executive functioning skills that are emphasized this year. On Friday, we happily purged our binders of all things Mesopotamian and made room for new notes and ideas. Our focus now shifts to ancient Egypt. This unit will carry us through to December break.

In Writer’s Workshop, our group of writers have brought their personal narratives through a detailed process of pre-writing, drafting, editing, peer editing and revision. It has been a challenging few weeks, as students have been trying to add detail and incorporate the five senses. Many found the peer editing step challenging as they had to give very specific feedback on another student’s work. Most of the writers have moved on to a shorter piece, entitled, “Show not Tell”, in which they are given an unusual picture and must craft the back story by showing the action rather than telling it. Both of these pieces are part of a larger unit concept on “Ideas” which is one of the 7 traits of good writing. The traits are the cornerstone of our WW program in Grade 5.

In English, we continue to read Where the Red Fern Grows and to annotate our book using highlighters and sticky notes. This week the students will have a spelling test that incorporates several vocabulary words we discussed in class.

Helpful Hints and Dates:

• PTR projects are due November 24. Please be sure to check in with your student on his/her progress.
• There will be a short map quiz this Wednesday on the Egypt map. Students will practice this map in class, but I will send home practice maps on Monday.
• We will resume our spelling tests this week. Please be sure to have your child practice daily.
• Prior to signing the planner, please check with your student to make sure he/she has done the homework. Many students are reporting that parents are signing the planner before homework is done and this defeats the point. 🙂
• A huge thank you to the parents who helped make our Halloween party a success!!!
• If you would like to send one or two small pieces of candy with your student’s lunch this week please make sure they are following the allergen protocol set up for our classroom. After this week, we will resume our classroom policy of no candy in lunch/snack. Thank you for adhering to this policy.

Have a great week!

Jilly