Curriculum Updates - March
READING: This month students will be learning about the U.S. Government. Students will read non-fiction texts to support the content they receive during whole class and small group instruction. Students will focus on determining how the Constitution attempted to balance competing interests, power, and slavery. The reading skills the students will continue to work on are finding main idea and details and summarizing. At the end of the month, students will begin learning about the expansion of the United States into the western territories.
WRITING: This month students will be reading, analyzing and writing poetry using The Process Writing Routine. They will focus on the various poetic tools, the point of view the poem is written from and determining the theme of poems. In addition to this, students will begin MCAS prep twice a week in order to ROCK THE MCAS!
MATH: Last month students finished unit 5, operations with fractions. This month, we plan on reviewing decimals again and focusing more on multiplying and dividing. We will also be discussing the metric system and how that relates to multiplying and dividing by powers of 10. Finally, we will also review line plots. Much of this unit's focus will be on measurement.
SCIENCE: This month our focus is earth science! We will be learning about stars, the earth's rotation, and other objects in the sky. Students will also be doing experiments on gravity. I know how excited students get when they are learning about space, so we have a lot of great models that we will be creating in this unit.
READING: This month students will be learning about the U.S. Government. Students will read non-fiction texts to support the content they receive during whole class and small group instruction. Students will focus on determining how the Constitution attempted to balance competing interests, power, and slavery. The reading skills the students will continue to work on are finding main idea and details and summarizing. At the end of the month, students will begin learning about the expansion of the United States into the western territories.
WRITING: This month students will be reading, analyzing and writing poetry using The Process Writing Routine. They will focus on the various poetic tools, the point of view the poem is written from and determining the theme of poems. In addition to this, students will begin MCAS prep twice a week in order to ROCK THE MCAS!
MATH: Last month students finished unit 5, operations with fractions. This month, we plan on reviewing decimals again and focusing more on multiplying and dividing. We will also be discussing the metric system and how that relates to multiplying and dividing by powers of 10. Finally, we will also review line plots. Much of this unit's focus will be on measurement.
SCIENCE: This month our focus is earth science! We will be learning about stars, the earth's rotation, and other objects in the sky. Students will also be doing experiments on gravity. I know how excited students get when they are learning about space, so we have a lot of great models that we will be creating in this unit.
Curriculum Updates - February
READING: This month students will continue to learn about the American Revolution. After February break, students will begin learning about the U.S. Government. Students will read non-fiction texts to support the content they receive during whole class and small group instruction. Students will focus on determining how the Constitution attempted to balance competing interests, power, and slavery. The reading skills the students will continue to work on are finding main idea and details and summarizing.
WRITING: This month students will continue to write persuasive essays. They will show all they have learned in this unit on their persuasive writing assessment. After February break, students will begin to read, analyze and write poetry using The Process Writing Routine.
MATH: Students have just finished unit 4, decimals and coordinate grids. Moving into February, students will be reviewing addition and subtraction of fractions again, incorporating mixed numbers. We will also be learning how to multiply and divide fractions, which is usually an easier concepts for students to pick up. This unit will be ongoing, with an assessment after February break.
SCIENCE: Students have learned the conservation of matter. As we continue our study of matter, we are focusing on properties and mixtures. We will do a few experiments showing what happens during a chemical reaction and how we can tell that a new substance has formed. Our plan is to have our second quiz before vacation, so when we return we will do a short review of coding and Project Lead the Way, using Tynker.
READING: This month students will continue to learn about the American Revolution. After February break, students will begin learning about the U.S. Government. Students will read non-fiction texts to support the content they receive during whole class and small group instruction. Students will focus on determining how the Constitution attempted to balance competing interests, power, and slavery. The reading skills the students will continue to work on are finding main idea and details and summarizing.
WRITING: This month students will continue to write persuasive essays. They will show all they have learned in this unit on their persuasive writing assessment. After February break, students will begin to read, analyze and write poetry using The Process Writing Routine.
MATH: Students have just finished unit 4, decimals and coordinate grids. Moving into February, students will be reviewing addition and subtraction of fractions again, incorporating mixed numbers. We will also be learning how to multiply and divide fractions, which is usually an easier concepts for students to pick up. This unit will be ongoing, with an assessment after February break.
SCIENCE: Students have learned the conservation of matter. As we continue our study of matter, we are focusing on properties and mixtures. We will do a few experiments showing what happens during a chemical reaction and how we can tell that a new substance has formed. Our plan is to have our second quiz before vacation, so when we return we will do a short review of coding and Project Lead the Way, using Tynker.
Curriculum Updates - January
READING: This month students will be learning about the American Revolution. Students will read both fiction and non-fiction texts to support the content they receive during whole class and small group instruction. Students will focus on determining whether the colonists were justified in rebelling against England during the American Revolution. The reading skills students will work on finding main idea and details, summarizing and interpreting concepts in texts.
WRITING: This month students will be writing Persuasive Essays. Students will work through The Process Writing Routine to write persuasive essays on a variety of topics.
MATH: In the month of January we will be focused on unit 4, decimals. Students will be reviewing place value and applying that knowledge to decimals. We will also compare, order, and round decimals to a given place value. Students will learn how to add and subtract decimals as well. Finally, we will go over coordinate grids. Battleship is a great game to play to review this concept!
SCIENCE: We have finally wrapped up our water unit, students created websites to highlight the LEED features at Penn Brook and those links will be posted around the school. This month we are starting our new unit, matter. We will learn how matter is there even if you cannot see it, the properties of matter, and the difference between a chemical reaction and a mixture. Our unit will be broken into two quizzes, more information as the time comes.
Curriculum Updates - December
READING: This month students will continue reading a class novel, Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli. As they read this book, students will focus on both characterization and theme. Students will support their inferences of both character traits and theme using evidence from the text.
WRITING: This month students will continue writing Narrative Stories. Students will work through The Process Writing Routine to write Narratives based the novel Maniac Magee. Students will write narratives from another characters Point of View and write an alternative chapter.
MATH: As we start the month of December, we will be finishing unit 3. Unit 3 consists of reviewing fraction skills. Then, we will use those skills to add and subtract fractions, as well as solve fraction of problems. Out test will be in the middle of the month and then we will most likely take the last week before vacation to review old concepts and work on project based units.
SCIENCE: We are currently wrapping up our first unit, which was focused on water and reducing human footprint. Students have been learning a lot about how to conserve water, so now it is time to share that work with the rest of the school. Our school is LEED certified and students took a tour of all our LEED features. They will then be using that information to create a presentation to share with other grades about how our school conserves water/energy, and how we can do more.
READING: This month students will be learning about the American Revolution. Students will read both fiction and non-fiction texts to support the content they receive during whole class and small group instruction. Students will focus on determining whether the colonists were justified in rebelling against England during the American Revolution. The reading skills students will work on finding main idea and details, summarizing and interpreting concepts in texts.
WRITING: This month students will be writing Persuasive Essays. Students will work through The Process Writing Routine to write persuasive essays on a variety of topics.
MATH: In the month of January we will be focused on unit 4, decimals. Students will be reviewing place value and applying that knowledge to decimals. We will also compare, order, and round decimals to a given place value. Students will learn how to add and subtract decimals as well. Finally, we will go over coordinate grids. Battleship is a great game to play to review this concept!
SCIENCE: We have finally wrapped up our water unit, students created websites to highlight the LEED features at Penn Brook and those links will be posted around the school. This month we are starting our new unit, matter. We will learn how matter is there even if you cannot see it, the properties of matter, and the difference between a chemical reaction and a mixture. Our unit will be broken into two quizzes, more information as the time comes.
Curriculum Updates - December
READING: This month students will continue reading a class novel, Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli. As they read this book, students will focus on both characterization and theme. Students will support their inferences of both character traits and theme using evidence from the text.
WRITING: This month students will continue writing Narrative Stories. Students will work through The Process Writing Routine to write Narratives based the novel Maniac Magee. Students will write narratives from another characters Point of View and write an alternative chapter.
MATH: As we start the month of December, we will be finishing unit 3. Unit 3 consists of reviewing fraction skills. Then, we will use those skills to add and subtract fractions, as well as solve fraction of problems. Out test will be in the middle of the month and then we will most likely take the last week before vacation to review old concepts and work on project based units.
SCIENCE: We are currently wrapping up our first unit, which was focused on water and reducing human footprint. Students have been learning a lot about how to conserve water, so now it is time to share that work with the rest of the school. Our school is LEED certified and students took a tour of all our LEED features. They will then be using that information to create a presentation to share with other grades about how our school conserves water/energy, and how we can do more.
Curriculum Updates - November
READING: This month students will be reading a class novel, Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli. As they read this book, students will focus on both characterization and theme. Students will support their inferences of both character traits and theme using evidence from the text.
WRITING: This month students will writing Narrative Stories. Students will work through The Process Writing Routine to write Narratives based on personal experience and Maniac Magee. Students will write personal, realistic and fantasy narratives.
MATH: This week we will be finishing up unit 2, multiplication and long division. As we get into November, unit 3 will focus on fractions. Students will be able to make the connection that fractions are division, add and subtract, while also solving fraction-of problems.
SCIENCE: This month we will be finishing our water sources unit. We finished our visits to Camp Denison and now our focus will be on reducing human footprint. We will have a test in the next couple of weeks, while also creating a final project that teaches other students in the school what we can do to save the environment and reduce our impact.
READING: This month students will be reading a class novel, Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli. As they read this book, students will focus on both characterization and theme. Students will support their inferences of both character traits and theme using evidence from the text.
WRITING: This month students will writing Narrative Stories. Students will work through The Process Writing Routine to write Narratives based on personal experience and Maniac Magee. Students will write personal, realistic and fantasy narratives.
MATH: This week we will be finishing up unit 2, multiplication and long division. As we get into November, unit 3 will focus on fractions. Students will be able to make the connection that fractions are division, add and subtract, while also solving fraction-of problems.
SCIENCE: This month we will be finishing our water sources unit. We finished our visits to Camp Denison and now our focus will be on reducing human footprint. We will have a test in the next couple of weeks, while also creating a final project that teaches other students in the school what we can do to save the environment and reduce our impact.
Curriculum Updates - October
READING: This month students will be learning all about Colonial America as we focus on reading skills, such as determining main idea and supporting details, summarizing texts and explaining concepts in historical texts. Students will read and learn about the 13 Colonies and to what extent this time period in America was a land of opportunity.
WRITING: This month students will reading, analyzing and writing Literary Essays. Students will work through The Process Writing Routine to write Literary Essays based on Character Analysis and Theme.
MATH: Throughout the month of September we have been focused on area and volume. We will also be reviewing the order of operations. A study guide has been sent home, please return it to school on Monday October 7th. We will go over the guide to prepare for our unit 1 test on Tuesday! Our next unit will involve place value and exponents.
SCIENCE: Our focus lately has been on the salt and fresh water sources. Students have created models and posters to show the community how much fresh water is actually available for us to use. We also created water filters. Thank you to everyone who donated supplies! Next month we will continue our unit and focus on the water cycle and reducing human footprint.
READING: This month students will be learning all about Colonial America as we focus on reading skills, such as determining main idea and supporting details, summarizing texts and explaining concepts in historical texts. Students will read and learn about the 13 Colonies and to what extent this time period in America was a land of opportunity.
WRITING: This month students will reading, analyzing and writing Literary Essays. Students will work through The Process Writing Routine to write Literary Essays based on Character Analysis and Theme.
MATH: Throughout the month of September we have been focused on area and volume. We will also be reviewing the order of operations. A study guide has been sent home, please return it to school on Monday October 7th. We will go over the guide to prepare for our unit 1 test on Tuesday! Our next unit will involve place value and exponents.
SCIENCE: Our focus lately has been on the salt and fresh water sources. Students have created models and posters to show the community how much fresh water is actually available for us to use. We also created water filters. Thank you to everyone who donated supplies! Next month we will continue our unit and focus on the water cycle and reducing human footprint.
Curriculum Updates - September
READING: We are ready for our Reading Launch Unit. In this short unit, students will be reviewing concepts and tools that aid in reading comprehension. Some concepts we will review will be main idea, theme, genre, text structure and author's purpose. Tools that students will use as they think and write about their reading will be TAP (Task, Audience, Purpose), Top-Down Webs and Two-Column Notes.
WRITING: We are ready for our Writing Launch Unit. In this short unit, students will be reviewing both the Three Modes of Writing (Narrative, Persuasive and Informative) and The Process Writing Routine (Think, Plan, Write and Revise).
MATH: This month we will take a couple of days for a pre-assessment and to review some fourth grade standards (multiplication, division, and fractions). Then, we will jump into our first unit which consists of volume and area, using fractions. Students will be bringing home their Homelinks book this week.
SCIENCE: As we start the year we will take some time to review safety procedures and practice the scientific method. Then, our first unit will focus on earth science. We will learn about the water cycle and how to reduce our human footprint.
READING: We are ready for our Reading Launch Unit. In this short unit, students will be reviewing concepts and tools that aid in reading comprehension. Some concepts we will review will be main idea, theme, genre, text structure and author's purpose. Tools that students will use as they think and write about their reading will be TAP (Task, Audience, Purpose), Top-Down Webs and Two-Column Notes.
WRITING: We are ready for our Writing Launch Unit. In this short unit, students will be reviewing both the Three Modes of Writing (Narrative, Persuasive and Informative) and The Process Writing Routine (Think, Plan, Write and Revise).
MATH: This month we will take a couple of days for a pre-assessment and to review some fourth grade standards (multiplication, division, and fractions). Then, we will jump into our first unit which consists of volume and area, using fractions. Students will be bringing home their Homelinks book this week.
SCIENCE: As we start the year we will take some time to review safety procedures and practice the scientific method. Then, our first unit will focus on earth science. We will learn about the water cycle and how to reduce our human footprint.
Welcome!
There are a few reminders for the start of the year. If you are wondering what school supplies you will need there is a list of materials included below. We will go over the list in class so don’t worry if you have any questions. Also, if you wish to bring items for your locker please make sure you only purchase magnetic materials. Nothing will be hung on the outside. Lastly, I hope you enjoyed your summer reading book! We love that you were given the chance to choose between a few options, mystery books are so fun to read. We will be discussing your books the first week of school.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
There are a few reminders for the start of the year. If you are wondering what school supplies you will need there is a list of materials included below. We will go over the list in class so don’t worry if you have any questions. Also, if you wish to bring items for your locker please make sure you only purchase magnetic materials. Nothing will be hung on the outside. Lastly, I hope you enjoyed your summer reading book! We love that you were given the chance to choose between a few options, mystery books are so fun to read. We will be discussing your books the first week of school.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Grade 5 Student Supplies
2 3-subject notebooks (ELA)
2 1-subject notebooks (Math and Science)
5 folders
Earbuds
Pencil pouch
2 dozen pencils
Colored pencils
2 Highlighters
2 Blue pens
2 Dry erase markers
Dry erase wipe (ie. facecloth)
Wish List:
2 Tissue – Kleenex – 100 Ct
1 Roll of Clorox Wipes
2 3-subject notebooks (ELA)
2 1-subject notebooks (Math and Science)
5 folders
Earbuds
Pencil pouch
2 dozen pencils
Colored pencils
2 Highlighters
2 Blue pens
2 Dry erase markers
Dry erase wipe (ie. facecloth)
Wish List:
2 Tissue – Kleenex – 100 Ct
1 Roll of Clorox Wipes