5th Grade Newsletter for the Week of September 13, 2021

I want to thank the students and teachers who donated food, diapers, and wipes to Hope House! There’s so much food that our bin is overflowing!

I also want to thank the Dennis family for donating an entire box of gift cards for the fifth graders to write their Thankful Thursday cards each week!

We have…count ’em…4 bean bags for alternative seating! They’re so comfortable that I melt into them and get too cozy. I can’t use them for just that reason. Thank you to the Dennis (5th gr.), Sidhu (5th gr.), and Thomas (6th gr.) families for the comfort!

Thanks for making Curriculum Night so great! If you weren’t able to Zoom in on Curriculum Night, please read the curriculum overview on my school webpage to see what was discussed.

BE EARLY! For the next two weeks the school will be in MAP testing mode. Please be sure that kids are getting plenty of sleep and that they get to school promptly by 8:00. We will begin testing at 8:15 and they need time to log on. Fifth graders will be responsible for charging their laptops each night. There are four tests, so we’ll do two tests the first week and two the next.

Friendly reminder: Don’t forget those water bottles, spoons, and forks. I don’t have any cups and we can’t drink directly from water fountains. If kids pack their lunches, they may want to make a check off sheet to be sure that they’ve included water bottles, forks/spoons, napkins, etc.

This week:

Math (Blas): Lessons 1.1-1.4 powers of ten, properties multiplication & division, and standard, word, and expanded forms of numbers. Please see Mrs. Evan’s webpage to see what her 5th grade math class covered.

Literacy: Because of Winn-Dixie, main ideas and supporting details, hyperboles, similes, inferential and literal questions

Writing: editing and writing final drafts of “Power in Weakness” paper, handwriting: cursive A-H

Spelling/Grammar/ELA: Spelling Unit 1: Long a and Long e, 4 Types of Sentences: declarative (I ate pizza.), interrogative (Did you eat pizza?), imperative (Give me your pizza.), and exclamatory (I love pizza!).

STEAM: Finish studies of the Moon. How far is the Sun from the Earth? Students stood 65′ away from each other and held up proportionate images of the Sun and Earth to get a feel for their relative sizes.

Religion: “Blest Are We” Chapter 1: God’s Wonderful Creation, being good stewards of the Earth, understanding that Jesus is the Incarnation as the Word of God who became Man, understanding that the Blessed Trinity is the mystery of one God in Three Divine persons, understanding St. Damien of Molokai and the love and hope that he gave lepers.

Social Studies: OSPI’s Since Time Immemorial lesson about colonization, how so many first peoples died from smallpox and other diseases, resistance to colonization, and how land was claimed by settlers.

Junior Orchestra (5th/6th Grade): This week, Orchestra students are learning the 12 commandments of instrument care, the parts of their instruments, rest position, and preliminary “bunny” bow hold.

P.E.: