Grade 5

Growth Mindset: Mistakes Grow Your Brain

This year, in connection with the school wide focus toward Service Learning, the Fifth Grade is embarking on a year-long exploration of Growth Mindset—the belief that a person’s abilities are not fixed, but rather developed over time through a process of challenging tasks, concerted effort, feedback, and reflection. Psychologist Carol Dweck first launched the concept of Growth Mindset, and current educational research supports this philosophy. In fact, the most significant factor that impacts a student’s success in school is not IQ, but rather the student’s own belief in his or her ability to succeed.

We are taking time each Thursday in our Brain Game periods to learn about how our brain works and how we can develop our ability to flex and strengthen our brain muscles, both in and out of school. Growth Mindset also figures prominently in our academic subjects such as writing and math where our classroom is becoming a space in which mistakes are expected and normalized. “Mistakes make our brain grow,” is not only one of our mantras this year—it’s a fact that we learn more when we have to think deeply and problem solve. To this end, students are provided with learning activities that encourage them to persevere even when it might feel uncomfortable, or when they might be unsure. The students and I are working together to create a supportive environment where collaboration and encouragement foster a growth mindset.

During Brain Game periods, students participate in myriad activities from watching and discussing short video clips to hands-on activities like making a model of the brain. Last week, during our extended Wednesday advisory, we learned about how the brain of a five-year-old has more synapses than an adult’s does since every moment and every interaction is having an impact on brain development—and then we spent a period with the Kindergarten to observe the way they learned a new pattern through beading a bracelet with colored beads. This week, students will be setting individual goals for themselves and reflecting specifically on their own academic and social challenge areas.

Here are the video clips we’ve watched and discussed so far. Hope you enjoy them!

Cheers!

Jilly

(On neuroplasticity)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KLPxDtMqe8

(On the brain and math)

(On the connection the brain has to the internet)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLp-edwiGU

Dear Parents,

Here’s an update on all of our endeavors!

History

We are exploring Mesopotamian history through the lenses of the Assyrians and Babylonians. Our class was amazed to learn that the Babylonians were not only the first to have a written set of laws, but they also were the first to notice the Earth revolves around the sun, and to devise units of seconds, hours, days and years. This week, we will begin to explore another aspect of the Mesopotamian legacy—the oldest written myth, the Epic of Gilgamesh. We’ll consider two versions of the story, in order to compare and contrast elements of plot. Finally, students will embark on the first step of their yearlong civilization project by researching the geography of their chosen location.

Writer’s Workshop

We’ve been delving into exploring how writers generate and develop ideas. Last week, inspired by our touchstone text, Nothing Ever Happens on 90^th Street, we developed our observation skills and zoomed in and stretched out moments in our personal narratives. This week, we’ll see how writers can recycle old ideas into new ones and be inspired in some surprising ways…

English

Our first novel of the year, Wilson Rawls’ Where the Red Fern Grows provides us not only with a relatable story of a boy desperate for dogs, but also allows us to note Rawls’ masterful ability to show, rather than to tell, the action. Students are learning active reading strategies, such as using a reading card, pausing after each page to ask what the “take-away” is, and to notice the use of sensory detail. As we read together, there’s rich opportunity for discussion of new vocabulary.  This week, students will also have a spelling test on Friday.  PTR projects are due October 4^th and students should be finishing their books soon.

Math

While we spent the first few weeks looking at the ways that data can be represented in a variety of graphs, we will now move into a unit on place value. Students may find they need to begin reviewing their math facts at home. Please let me know if you need flashcards and I can send them home. Last week, we introduced a new challenge activity into our math routine, a visual special game called Q-bitz, which they really seemed to enjoy playing.

Advisory

Last week, I presented the class with a variety of role-plays in order to foster a discussion about compassionate behavior in (potentially) awkward moments. Using real-life fifth grade situations, the students broke into pairs and shared ideas about how they might react, and then shared them with the class.

Helpful Hints:

• Please remember to sign the planner each day.
• PTR is due October 4^th.
• Students will have a large number of typed assignments coming up. Please be sure to have ink and paper for your home printers this year as students will need to print homework at home.

Dear Fifth Grade Parents,

Whew! What an exciting week we had in Fifth Grade! I enjoyed hearing about everyone’s summer adventures, and helping our kids settle in. This was a week of many many new experiences and faces in our classroom family. We spent a lot of time organizing and unpacking, too. Here’s some of the highlights…

History:

Students organized their binders, and received three of their texts for the history course. We are starting by taking a look at the shift from nomadic life to agriculture known as the agricultural revolution. This will segue into an exploration of Mesopotamia. On the first day of school, we followed clues around the campus that lead us to dig up a can of items that hinted at some of the civilizations we would study. We discussed the role that archaeology plays in helping us understand more about the past. Later in the week, each student shared a timeline on Friday with elements of personal history, as well as artifacts that related.  

Writer’s Workshop

I shared with students the technique of linking experiences with a single person in order to generate a topic for a personal narrative. Students are currently in various stages of the writing process in crafting their own true narratives. They are learning about the format of Writer’s Workshop, and the goals and expectations of writers during this time. 

English

Our class enjoyed a lively discussion around the summer read, The View from Saturday. I also presented the Passport to Reading program to the students which is our independent reading program in Fifth Grade. Students will be selecting their books for the first project at the end of next week. I will be explaining this program in-depth at Back-to-School Night on Wednesday. Students will receive spelling words tomorrow and have a spelling test on Friday. 

Math

This week, we began by reviewing the ways in which data can be depicted including bar graphs, line graphs, line plots and stem-and-leaf plots. Students work in rotating math stations where they practiced these review topics and also tried out some new math games designed to encourage a growth mindset. 

Advisory

Our weekly advisory sessions often focus on life skills. This week, we leaned the proper format and etiquette to email a teacher at BCD. A cheat sheet is in your child’s planner which he/she can use at any point during the year. Please encourage your child to email a teacher for help or for question rather than doing it yourself! This will help not only to strengthen the relationship that teacher and students have, but also to foster independence and accountability.

We have also discussed the crucial role that the planner plays in staying organized in Fifth Grade. Please remember to sign the planner each night. I will also review this on Wednesday and be able to answer questions. 

The Brain Game

This year, our class will be working on a long-term project to better understand the concept of neuroplasticity, and our capacity to develop a growth mindset that we can use not only at school, but at home as well. During our first session, we took a small quiz about the brain, and watched a short video on youtube about the brain’s ability to develop new connections through learning and practice. 

HELPUL HINTS

• Back-To-School Night is this Wednesday at 5:30. I will be handing out information about all of the subjects I teach, as well as copies of books for home use, and the trip information for our 4-day trip to Rhode Island next month. I will share expectations and goals for the students in terms of academic and social emotional/executive functioning skills, and there will be opportunities to ask lots of questions! A copy of the homework calendar will be provided. Please make every effort to have one parent attend this evening. This is an adult-only event.
• In the front pocket of the planner, you should find a form that needs to be signed that shows you have read the BCD handbook. This form needs to come back to me tomorrow. 
• For changes in dismissal plans, please make sure you call the office and speak with Melissa. Sometimes I do not check my email when I am teaching several hours straight.
• Thank you for encouraging your child to enter Peterson Hall on his/her own. I know for some families, this is a big step, but please know, that the kids are ALL entering homeroom with smiles and positive energy. I would like the students to enter homeroom at 7:55 so there is enough time to get everyone organized for the day. Students are marked late at 8:05. 
• Please check in with your student each night to make sure homework is done, and then please sign the planner next to where I have signed it. (You do not need to check the homework for accuracy.) 
• If you have not subscribed to the BCD calendar, and the fifth grade blog, please see the BCD website.  This way you can see the homework that is due in every subject every night as it is assigned.

I’m looking forward to spending another week with my amazing class, and seeing all of you on Wednesday night. 

Cheers!

Jilly