The past month has been a very busy one in Fifth Grade. Here’s an update on all of our adventures:
History: We’ve moved south from Mesopotamia and are now exploring the mysteries of ancient Egypt. This past week, students worked in small groups to research and design informational posters on Egyptian culture. They were able to practice essential skills of collaboration, delegation and conflict resolution. After the presentation of the posters in which the students each selected a portion of the project to present, we discussed the challenges of working in a group, and recognized a few students who emerged as leaders.
Math: We are wrapping up Chapter 4 in which we have been exploring the inverse relationship between multiplication and division. Students worked with four mathematical properties (Zero, One, Associative, Commutative) and learned to distinguish between prime and composite numbers, as well as to draw factor trees. Next, we will be investigating more complex division problems, including with double digit divisors.
English: In preparation for the middle school poetry assembly, we had a mini-unit of poetry. Students learned how label the rhyme scheme of a poem, and we identified common poetic devices such as assonance, alliteration and personification. We continue to enjoy reading Wilson Rawls’ Where the Red Fern Grows. Students are deepening their knowledge of grammar, by identifying specific parts of speech within passages, and through the weekly spelling lists.
Writer’s Workshop: We have moved into our study of the trait of Organization. Currently the students are crafting compare/contrast essays, and learning to identify and write topic sentences. This week, we explored the use of transitions and transitional phrases.
Advisory: Our weekly advisory period is one that we look forward to! Over the past month, we have role-played how to call a teacher for help (and students did this for HW), and also learned how in the “olden days” people listened to music by playing records on a record player. (We listened to the Beatles’ White Album). Our class created a wooden puzzle plaque to serve as a metaphor for the bonding we did as a class in Nature’s Classrom. During MS Morning Meeting, we presented not only our plaque, but some of our favorite memories of the trip, and our slideshow as well. Recently, Fifth Grade had an engaging discussion about what kindness and compassion looks like in our BCD community, and made a list of our observations and hopes. This past Thursday, we made colorful beaded safety pins to give out to fellow BCD community members to represent that BCD is a place where everyone can be accepted, and feel safe.
Thank you for all your support this year!
Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving,
Jilly
