Friday, May 4, 2012

Newsletter for the week of May 7

Reading: This week in reading, we will continue reading  our Time for Kids magazines, and we will also read a story from our anthology book.  The story we will be reading this week is The Fun They Had.  In this story, two children from the future compare their schooling to the schooling of children in the past.  The focus skills for this week are open ended questions, vocabulary, compare & contrast, and drawing conclusions.  The vocabulary words we will focus on are: sorrowfully, dispute, adjusted, loftily, and nonchalantly. 

Book Report: Your book report for May must be a realistic fiction, and the presentation will be on Friday, May 25.  The presentation will focus around a T-shirt.  When you are finished reading your book, the T-shirt you design should focus around the main character of the book.  You should include an illustration and at least 10 descriptive words about your character.  You will use your T-shirt to give the class a summary of your book.  On a separate piece of paper, you need to tell why each of the descriptive words you stated relates to your character, and you also need to include a summary.  If you cannot use a real T-shirt, you can make one out of construction paper.
Math: In math we will start unit 10 which focuses on using data, algebra concepts, and skills.  Our first two lessons focused on using pan balances to solve problems.  Then we focused on using algebraic expressions, rules, tables, and graphs.  This week we will focus on interpreting mystery graphs, circumference, diameter and radius.

Writing: This week in writing the students we will create a trash monster and write about their journey.  We will also work on a variety of writing activities.  On Monday, the students will work on a persuasive piece with their magazine about sugar.  The prompt: Should government ban the sale of sugary drinks to kids?  The students need to pick a side and argue their point of view.  They will also need to use facts from the magazine to back up their opinions.  We will also work on letter writing, and the students will write a letter to a teacher they had in the past.

Science: This week in science we will continue with our small life unit.  The first lesson focused on the parts of a microscope. Then students used water drop lenses to see how a bigger lense does not magnify as good as a smaller lense. We also compared hair to thread, and learned about the range of view.  Last week they learned about plant and animal cells.  The students looked at an onion cell, their cheek cells and protists.  We will use different stains to highlight the parts of a cell.  This week we will focus on the protists and brine shrimp.  The three protists the students will learn about are ameba, euglena, and paramecium.

Social Studies: This week in social studies we will focus on the Industrial Revolution and the different reforms.

Spelling Unit 28:
describe     description     nature     natural     televise     television     apply    application     compete
competition     divide     division     beauty     beautiful     collide     collision     multiply     multiplication
bounty     bountiful     exception     explanation     ambassador     delegate     convention     adequate
categorize     strenuous     phobia     irritation     satisfied     symptom     distribution     excursion
jeopardize     sodbuster     reservation     railhead     time zone     property rights

READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read about 400 minutes for this month. This month's reward is a coupon for a free Culver's ice cream cone.

Important Dates:
Spelling Test Wednesday, May 9
Hill Field Trip Wednesday, May 9
Jump Rope For Heart Wednesday, May 9
Paw Print Redemption Thursday, May 10
Science Test Friday, May 11
Math Test Thursday, May 17
Book Report due Friday, May 25

Homework for May 4

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on May 25

Spelling - Contract & Test due Wednesday

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Homework for May 3

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on May 25

Spelling - Contract & Test for Wednesday

5P Math - Journal pages 348 & 349

5B Math - Test tomorrow

Science _ quiz tomorrow

Book Order due tomorrow

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Homework for May 2

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on May 25

5P Math - Study Link 10.3

5B Math - Study Link 8.11, Test on Friday

Science - Cell quiz on Friday

Book Order due on Friday

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Homework for May 1

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on May 25

Spelling - Test & Contract due tomorrow

5P Math - Study Link 10.2

5B Math - Test Friday

Science - Quiz on cells Friday, Cell worksheet

5S Flex - Write paragraph

Book Order due on Friday

Monday, April 30, 2012

Homework for April 30

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on May 25

Spelling - Contract & Test due Wednesday

5P Study Link 10.1

5B Math - Test on Friday, Study Guide due on Friday

Science - Cell Quiz on Friday

Book Order due on Friday