Hello Parents! Whew! It has certainly been a whirl wind these past two weeks! We are finally getting into a groove of normalcy in schedule and classroom activities. We have been introducing new procedures and different learning groups each week.
Wordly Wise: Last week we began Wordly Wise. All students are working in Book Five. The children worked through Lesson One, A-D after reviewing the words in class on Tuesday and throughout the week. On Thursday, we went over in great detail Lesson One, Section E. We read the passage together, recorded a definition of each word above the word in the passage, recorded a short summary sentence of each paragraph of the passage, and recorded the paragraph number of each question posed in the reading comprehension questions. These measures will aid the students in better answering the questions. They children were all given time to complete these questions in class. On Monday, we will cover sections A-D. Tuesday the students will turn-in their books for us to review their answers for section E. The test for Wordly Wise will be on Tuesday. It is a multiple choice test. The children were given copies of the words and definitions to practice at home. I have also added some practice activities to our website (https://mtcmafifthgradeone.weebly.com/) that you may print off and use with the children to practice the words. There are also online activities at https://www.vocabtest.com/wordly_wise_3000/book_five.php.
Word Study: This upcoming week we will begin Word Study. Each student has been placed in a word study group based on their performance in the word study assessment. Each group will participate in a guided lesson on the spelling patterns within their sort and then they will be asked to complete three activities from a choice menu. The first activity will be geared to their spelling sort. The second activity will be a writing activity using the words to encourage the use of the meaning and spelling of each word, and the third activity will be something to practice the spelling of each word. These activities will be assigned on Tuesday and will be due the following Monday. The children will be recording their words in their word study notebook on Tuesday. They will also receive a list and word cards to keep in their binder to practice at home and at school.
Social Studies: In Social Studies this past week, we worked through a review of government. The children will be taking their work in this topic home in their Monday Folder on Monday. For this unit the children were provided Word Cards with definitions of each of the vocabulary words. Each lesson the children were provided a lesson packet (four lessons in total). We went through the packets in class completing them together and taking notes in class. The children were then given a review worksheet (called a "Quick Quiz) to complete. They were instructed to use their word cards and packets to help them complete this review worksheet. The children's scores varied greatly on these review worksheets. We were hoping that children would all use their packets and word cards to assist them in answering the questions as each answer could be found in their packet; however there were some children who did not take advantage of the resources available to them. Please note these grades will not hinder the children's grade in social studies. This unit served as a review of government and a practice in utilizing the resources provided to complete an assignment. We will be covering government again in greater detail at the end of the school year.
This week we will begin working in our Social Studies text books. We will start with Chapter 2 on Native Americans. We will be providing children notes and outlines as we read each lesson. Then the children will have a few questions to answer on their own as well. They will be encouraged to utilize their notes, outline, and book to help them with the questions.
Math: We started our official math lessons last week. We are currently working on Unit One: Adding and Subtracting Fractions. This is a difficult Unit. Having an understanding of multiplication facts, factors, and multipliers will help the children the most during this unit. We have created several review activities for the children to practice these in the classroom. As the weeks continue, the children will be placed in different learning groups to assist their comprehension in math and allow us to target their individual instructional needs. Please note the homework in each group will vary significantly.
Daily Checklist & Binders: Thank you to those who have been signing your child's Daily Checklist. The Daily Checklist provides us a way to remind you of unusual things coming up as well as provides a communication log between home and school for quick comments. Please look this over nightly with your child. Also, please assist your child in placing their materials in the correct location of the binder. We instruct them where to put every paper/assignment received. The children are not to keep loose papers in their desk. All of their papers are to be kept and saved in their binder until they are instructed to place it in "Work to Keep at Home” section. The only section that should be emptied and not returned to school is the "Work to Keep at Home" pocket. The "ToBe Completed" section should be reviewed, completed, and returned to school.
We are certainly enjoying getting to know your children. We feel very lucky to be their teachers this year. Thank you for your support and patience as we all get to know each other. Mrs. Klemm (Rousseau) and Mrs. Balasis