Grade 5

Dear Parents,

Here’s an update on all of our academics!

History: We’ve transitioned from the Middle Kingdom the New. This week we will be taking a closer look at Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh who had a lasting impact on Egyptian culture. We will also present the research projects that the students complete in pairs last week.  These projects involved researching a god or goddess and learning how to complete a bibliography and to rephrase facts to avoid plagiarism. The students showed cooperation and creativity in crafting their posters. Each group will be graded using a rubric provided at the beginning of the project.

Math: We have been working with multiplication concepts. Students are expected to know their 12s. Some students need to be practicing at home; please check in with your child or with me if there is a concern. We’re building upon our previous lessons in estimation and decimals by learning different strategies for multiplying across decimals and working with digits up to three numbers. In class, students have been spending a lot of time working on word problems and math puzzles that help them to develop their problems solving skills and foster a growth mindset. These puzzles are not designed to be solved in a single step or even during a single attempt and require students to play around with concepts and organize their data. I am encouraging them at home to work on problems independently and without parent instruction of algebra. It is important that they learn to try different strategies and struggle a bit on their own. Thank you for your support.

English: In grammar, we have been exploring basic syntactic structures of subject and predicate. Students learned to distinguish between simple, complex and compound variants. They are all improving in their understanding and ability to identify elemental parts of speech (verb, noun, adjective, and adverb). I am emphasizing in their weekly spelling test that the definitions of the words need to be ones that the students actually understand. In class, I am teaching them how to highlight and use sticky notes to mark important passages in Where the Red Fern Grows.

Writer’s Workshop: While the first half of the trimester was devoted to the Ideas trait, we are currently working on ways to organize paragraphs. This past week we took a closer look the components of a well-written paragraph: topic sentence, details, and concluding sentence. We discussed the distinction between topic and topic sentence and we practiced writing topic sentences as well. The students are becoming more familiar with the form and function of transitional words and phrases, and their importance to paragraph cohesion.

Integrated Studies: We try to devote one period per week to Typing Club. Some students may need additional practice at home; I will begin to assign some students practice this week.

Helpful Hints:

• Please let me know if your child is not here for Thanksgiving Soup.
• PTR projects are due on November 20.
• Now that it is cold, please be sure your child wears a coat and brings a hat and gloves to school for recess.
• Many of the students are complaining of hunger in the afternoon. Thanks to Arlin for sending in a bag of healthy snacks. We would love to have occasional donations of similar snacks, clementines, bananas or apples to have on hand.
• Thank you to all of you for coming to conferences. I enjoyed sharing the successes and challenges of the kids with you, and appreciate all of your support and help.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers!

Jilly

Greetings from Wakefield!

I’m not going to try and mask my enthusiasm for Day Three: Nature’s Classroom.

Blue skies, crisp England air and sunshine—check!

More opps for crab catching and coastal exploration—check!

Hamburgers, mac and cheese, hot chocolate with whipped cream…and Kool-Aid—check!

It’s all the hallmarks of a successful day with my amazing class in Rhode Island.

This morning after breakfast, students learned about sea turtles and their environmental challenges through an environmental simulation. “We tried to keep our sea turtles alive by surviving different endangerments like plastic bags, sharks, birds, and pollution,” explained Libby. After lunch, students had a choice of doing yoga and meditation with Luna and doing a creative civilization exploration with AJ. The field groups went exploring again out in the woods and along the shore. They also prepared for tonight’s big event…Thursday Night Live!—a variety show in the vein of SNL starring…the 11 of them! Each field group will have a chance to write and perform their own skits. Tim and I know from past years, this is one of the most memorable parts of the NC experience. Weather permitting, we’ll conclude tonight with a campfire and making s’mores.

Tomorrow we plan to arrive back at BCD by dismissal. Please be prepared to encounter wet and soggy belongings. It’s likely you might end up with some things that don’t even belong to your child—so do us a favor and wash them and send them in to me and we’ll have a lost and found fashion show in homeroom.

This has been such a tremendous week of growth and new experiences. At lunch the students at my table were talking about how much closer they feel to each other and to me and Tim. Once you’ve all stood around in pajamas together (girls and boys separately, of course), and combed out the knots in your friend’s hair, you can never go back, right? Even though it’s only been a few days, relationships have evolved and each person will be able to see his/her peers in some new way. I’ve loved being with them, and want to thank you for sharing your insightful, curious, and fun kids with me.

Best,
Jilly

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KfPid8J1goMSt75m7

Greetings from misty Wakefield, Rhode Island!

Day 2 of the epic Nature’s Classroom trip has been an exciting one. This morning we enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, bagels, cereal and yogurt before our dissection labs. Students had a choice of individual squid dissections with Kelly or a group shark dissection with Luna. In the end, the groups came together to share and notice the similarities and differences between these two creatures. Luna’s group discovered 8 shark babies inside their shark—4 boys and 4 girls. It even beats the Brady Bunch! Next, we headed to the boathouse and docks for some quiet time. Students were able to sketch the waterfront with colored pencils or write about their observation of the trip thus far.

At lunch, we devoured the grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, pretzels and salad prepared by Chef Derrick. And then back to the cabin, we headed to get ready for the afternoon sessions which would be outside and down by the shore.

Field group was a combination of crabbing and exploring the edge of the salt marsh. We used bits of sausage left over from breakfast, a clothespin, some string, and a stick to make low-budget, high-yield crab catching devices. And as you can see from the pictures, we caught a variety of types of crabs and lots of them!

For the afternoon electives, students chose between a creature camouflage activity, and making “spa” style facial masks from edibles.

Hopefully tonight the weather will hold for our outdoor night hike….

The staff here at NC have shared with both Tim and me what a kind and curious bunch of kids we have. It is such a pleasure to be with them on this trip and enjoy the downtime making string bracelets, playing gaga and hanging out in our cabin at night. When I was writing this, a few of them asked to be included in the blog:

“The food facial felt smooth and rough at the same time,” remarked Ellie, after the exfoliation stage of her oatmeal and honey mask.

“There were the biggest crabs we’ve ever ever EVER seen and the spider crabs have a rounder body. The green crabs are more of a classic crab shape,” shrieked Orli!

“My skin is seriously glowing,” shared Niyah.

“I feel fabulous,” insisted Ashley.

Stay tuned for more NC adventures!

Fondly,
Jilly

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wft9L4FnKaBEVPpC7

Nature’s Classroom Day One!

Not a tear was shed by the parents or the kids as the Fifth Grade jubilantly embarked on their 4-day adventure to Nature’s Classroom in cloudy, Wakefield, Rhode Island. After a brief tour of the Charlton rest stop mid-way through the bus ride, we arrived at Nature’s Classroom where we unloaded the bus, ran around to get out some transportive ya-yas, and headed to our cabin, fondly called “Aspen” by the nature-y staff here at Nature’s Classroom. Aiden, Neal and Ethan have happily nicknamed their trio, “The Three Cookie Monster Cats”, while the girls have chosen,” The Eight Herculette Hawks.”

The girls and I “settled” into our side of the cabin, learning the mysteries of fitted sheets, and discovering that Ashley doesn’t use a pillow, even at home!

Lunch was a masterful presentation of festive corn dogs, alternative tofu pups, salad and French fries catered by Chef Derek. At my table, Niya was the responsible waitron who organized the dispensing and cleaning up of nourishment, while Kara took on the role at Tim’s table. The meal concluded with the Ort Report Dance and the announcement of the ort–that is the amount of non-compostable, non-recyclable waste from the meal. We weighed in at 3 pounds. I’m optimistic about dinner!

After lunch, the students split into field groups with their counselors, Kelly and Luna to do a variety of team building activities down at the salt marsh. They discovered all the organisms that reside in both the woods and the estuary and learned how they interrelate. “It’s so excited to work with BCD students this year because they always eager to learn and already have such a kind community in place, ” remarked Luna, a veteran NC staff member since 2015.

Enjoy these low-quality pictures from my phone and know there will be more to come. Your kids are spirited, fun and keep me and Tim laughing all the way. Now, go have a kid-free dinner and use that time you are not making tomorrow’s lunch or signing that planner to do something for yourself!!

Cheers!

Jilly

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4kD1g3eEDbcXRNae8