The Fifth Grade Family was reunited this week, as we moved up to the Peterson Penthouse and moved into our cubbies! We spent most of the week getting organized with our Grade 5 cubby system, personalized calendars on lanyards, our planners (my favorite thing), labels and post-its (my second and third favorite things) and exploring our materials and some of the projects and curriculum. The enthusiasm was palpable and the smiles were infectious. What a fantastic start to the year!
While we put our academics on hold for a bit, we jumped right into our first Advisory Unit—Common Ground. In a class this large, with so many personalities and interests, in our initial days back at school, we can fall easily into a pattern of feeling like we know everything about everyone. Naturally, it’s exciting to welcome two new students to our group (shoutout to Olivia and Tucker!), but after all those years together at BCD, what’s really so special about each of us? I mean, I’ve taught some of these students for the past five years already in library and math…what’s to know? On the first day, students explored the notion of connections and commonalities though a human bingo game, as well as by working in their four color squads (as seen in the pictures) to generate a list of non-physical traits that each group had in common. Some groups noticed they all had had strep throat before; some recognized a love of animals; others figured out that they had been outside the United States. We continued to explore our unique traits and common experiences by sharing personal timelines in History. Later, students were asked to write down one thing they learned about someone in the class that they didn’t know. I was excited to hear about a dog named “Jazzy doo”, a student who breakdances, one who has shown horses, and another who attended a basketball camp at Duke this past summer. We even have one student who wanted to discuss the stock market (sorry—cut off due to 2-minute time limit) and several who share the same birthday. In just four short days, we’ve begun to see each other in new ways. The journey has just begun!
Finally, here are some helpful Fifth Grade Hints for the week:
- Planners must be signed every night, even when there is no homework.
- PTR books and the signed PTR forms are due on Wed. Please mark the project due date of October 21 on your calendar. Please be sure the purple PTR packet has been removed from the planner and is in a safe place at home. Your student will need this in order to complete the projects throughout the year.
- Back-to-School Night is Wed. Please be sure to attend as I will be giving handouts on curriculum, information about the Nature’s Classroom trip, and going over policies and expectations for students, parents and teachers. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I can’t speak to you about your individual child that night but…
- Early in the week, I will be checking in with you by email about your child.
- Pizza Friday is next Friday. Be sure to still send in snack.
Have a great weekend!
