Reading: This week in reading, we be reading the story
William Shakespeare & the Globe. This story explores the world of Elizabethan England, focusing on the life and times of William Shakespeare and on the building of the Globe theater. The skills we will be focusing on are determining the importance of information, word analysis and contextual clues, determine the meaning of words in context using denotation and connotation. On Friday we will have an assessment on the story, and we will read a
Time for Kids magazine. The magazine we will be reading focuses on women pioneers. After reading the magazine, the students will have to decide how they would celebrate Women's History Month in the magazine, and come up with new and different ways to explore the topic.
Book Report: Your book report for March must be a fairy tale.
The presentation will be Thursday
, March 22.
For this book report you have three options to select from.
- After reading your fairy tale, you can create your own fairy tale.
- For the second option you can create a twist to the fairy tale you just read. This means that you can change a character, change the setting, change the character traits, etc. You do have to keep the message the same. You will rewrite your fairy tale with this twist.
- The third option is to create your own parody. An example of a parody would be Cinderella's Rat. Cinderella's rat tells the story instead of Cinderella. Another parody is the Wolf telling the story of the three little pigs.
Math: In math we are finishing unit 9. The first two lessons focused on reading and plotting coordinate pairs. The next lesson focused on the area of rectangles. Last week we worked on the area of triangles and parallelograms. This week we will work on the volume of prisms and conversions of liters, milliliters, cubic centimeters. On Monday of this week, we will go over the study guide, and on Tuesday there will be a test. We will start unit 8 on Wednesday. The first lesson of unit 8 will be focusing on renaming equilvalent fractions and comparing fractions. The second and third lessons will focus on adding and subtracting mixed numbers.
Writing: This week in writing the students will finish their parallel timelines and present them. Our prompt is: If you could go back in time and change an event in history what would it be. The class will make two timelines. The first showing how history really evolved with all the major events before and after the event. They will also make a parallel timeline showing how the world might have been different if they could go back in time to change the event. Imagine if JFK would have lived because you stopped Oswald... what would the next few decades been like? Would the U.S. have gone to war in Vietnam? Would RFK have run for president and been killed like his brother? The final project will include these two timelines showing what the world was like and how it would be different and a written plan explaining how they would actually succeed in stopping the event. We will also work on using the BIG6 steps for research. These steps are task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.
Two other writing assignments this week will be on social studies topics. The first prompt: Do you think it was a good idea for the colonists to start the American Revolution? Explain your answer using evidence. The second prompt: If you lived during the time of the Revolution which side would you have taken and why? Explain your answer using evidence.
Science: We have finished the digestion unit and our next unit will focus on stars. This unit will be done after our unit in social studies.
Social Studies: The students have learned about the French and Indian War which led to the taxes that were placed on the colonists. The students also learned about taxes, and the taxes that the colonists were required to pay. Last week they will learn how the colonists protested these taxes and the start of the American Revolution. This week the students will learn about the American Revolution.
Spelling Unit 22:
pretty service thunder blanket effort fellow subject perhaps attack entire
chimney tunnel effect suspended challenge pretzel survive pillow hunger
college determined autobiography disease eternal composition percussion
malignant elastic silkworm signal suburban warranty yielding perfection
language undeniable despair concocted homestead brooded
BOX TOPS:
The PTA is always collecting box tops. They can be found on many different products such as: Progresso soups, Kleenex boxes, Suddenly Salad, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, and many more products. Check all of your purchased goods and send in your box tops. This is an easy way for the school to make money to enrich our children at May Watts.
READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read 325 minutes for this month. The incentive will be sponsored by the Chicago Slaughter Professional Indoor Football Team along with Buffalo Wild Wings and GameWorks. Students who meet their goal will receive 2 ticket vouchers to a 2012 Chicago Slaughter game, a free kid's meal courtesy of Buffalo's Wild Wings, a free game card from Game Works, and other prizes. Since all reading must be done before Spring Break, and the month is shortened, the reading goals have been reduced.
LMC NEWS:
The Book Fair is coming! Preview was March 7-9, and sales are March 12-17. We will be open during the Fun Fair! Our online homepage can be accessed directly by going to
http://goo.gl/7jFU4 or go to
www.scholastic.com/schoolbookfairs and follow the path to May Watts.
Important Dates:
Math test Tuesday, March 13
Spelling Test Wednesday, March 14
Social Studies Test Thursday, March 15
Paw Print Redemption Thursday, March 15
Band Concert at Hill on Thursday, March 15 @ 6:15
Orchestra Concert at Hill on Thursday, March 15 @ 7:45
Fun Fair Saturday, March 17 11:00-3:00
Book Report due Thursday, March 22
