Promethean Board Projects

We are excited to learn a new piece of software called ActivInspire, which links to the Promethean Board. Students are designing a presentation on ActivInspire about the end of the Revolutionary War. Students were given a concept sheet with guiding questions as a layout for information they needed to include in their presentations. We are working on synthesizing information. Students gathered resources including textbook summaries, textbook photocopies, notes in a Power Point presentation, information from a film, and parts from picture books, as the basis of information used for the project. Each student has a calendar with due dates to help guide them in organizing and dividing the project. Our goal is to Toast Master the presentations. Toast Master is software that records the movements on the screen. It is like a video of the presentation in action showing where the mouse clicked, what the screen showed, and what the user did next. Ultimately, we hope to upload our presentations to the web for others to use and learn from.

Simultaneously, we are moving ahead with our Social Studies work exploring the Constitution, branches of government, and soon the Civil War with elements of the Industrial Revolution. We will examine how progress and invention transformed the land that the colonists found and grew cities and states in terms of population and industry.

Please check out the S.S. section of your child's Trapper to see details about the assignment.

Dates to remember:

Rummage sale is in full swing until Monday

Grandfriends' Day, May 7th, Dismissal at noon.

5th Grade Overnight, May 14th

Adios for now!

Laura

Congratulations to Sam and Nathaniel for Book Buzz

Great job on Book Buzz, Sam and Nathaniel. I am very proud of you and the effort you put into your presentations! You are awesome readers.

:)

Mrs. Velazquez

April 20th-23rd

Hello friends!

Integrated literature circles are about to launch! All three fifth grade classes will meet in integrated groups beginning in May for book talks. Students began by ranking their favorite book choices and from there we formed groups. Our first literature circle will focus on planning their meetings, how many chapters they'll cover for each meeting, and what they'll need to prepare.

Fifth grade overnight forms may have arrived at your homes in the mail, or will soon! Please send back completed forms as soon as possible, as we need ample time to organize for this wonderful night out. If you foresee any issues with your child where the overnight is concerned, please contact me so we can discuss them. The students will enjoy many group activities, a campfire, great food, and will make wonderful fifth grade memories - I can't wait!

In mathematics, students continue their work with fractions. We're spending time developing their understanding of how to manipulate fractions using concrete models like fraction bars. We're working our way into pictures and number models. Thus far, we've covered what fractions are, converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice a versa, adding fractions, equivalent fractions, and subtracting fractions. Today we developed understanding of how to trade in wholes when there are not enough fraction pieces to subtract. The students are making great progress with this.

In writing, I am bringing us back to basics in Framing Your Thoughts. Students are working on comma use, sentence structure, capitalization, and subject/predicate agreement. We are developing our writing in terms of content through the exploration of imagery, personification, rhythm, and the use of simile for comparisons. We are practicing self-editing of learned OG skills on a daily basis and we're continuing to incorporate OG into daily writing practice.

Our reading is focused on determining important information and summarizing. These executive functioning skills are often challenging for students with language based learning differences because they involve many steps. We have broken these skills down into they're smallest pieces and developed a procedure to follow for each. I have used a gradual release of responsibility model where I modeled correct procedure, worked with the students as a group, guided them in independent practice, and next week they'll practice the skills on their own.

Additionally, students will work to synthesize social studies information on the American Revolution into a technology project, which will be assigned on Monday. Students will take photocopied text, summaries they've written, notes from a film that were taken in Power Point, books, and other sources and bring them together into a project. The projects will depict their learning, and the students will present these to the class taking on the role of teacher and expert to inspire new learning in our classroom.

Important dates to remember:

Tuesday, April 27th - Pizza Day

Tuesday, April 27th - Rummage Sale set up begins

Wednesday, April 28th - Nathaniel Vargas and Sam Barlow present Book Buzz at All School Meeting

Wednesday, April 28th - Overnight forms due: permission slip and food sign up form

Congratulations to AJ on Book Buzz!

Wonderful job, AJ. We're proud of you!

Important Dates

Dear parents,

A few important dates to remember:

Earth Day is celebrated tomorrow. Students will present classroom flags honoring Earth Day at All School Meeting. They will be placed around the garden following All School Meeting as a symbol of our commitment to environmental stewardship.

Arts and Poetry Night is Thursday from 6:00-8:00 P.M. Please don't miss this spectacular gallery-style display of students' artwork and live poetry readings by upper division students.

The Rummage Sale is in need of volunteers! If you can donate even an hour of your time, it would be greatly appreciated. Help is needed from April 27th - May 4th. This is a huge fundraiser for Friends Academy.

5th Grade Overnight is scheduled for May 14th & 15th. More information to come.

First Week Back after break

Hello folks,

We wrapped up a successful first week back after Spring Break. The students were refreshed and we jumped right into new material. We've begun practice as editors using Every Day Edit. Students read a paragraph that contains ten punctuation, capitalization, spelling, or semantic errors. The every day edits are another tool we are using to sharpen our ability to recognize errors in print and emphasize the need to edit work. We will extend the usefulness of Every Day Edits by analyzing the structure of the sentences in the Framing Your Thoughts format. You read more at http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/edit.shtml. I sent home a completed Every Day Edit in your child's agenda. Students have been so successful working with writing process this year and their willingness to revise their work has grown dramatically. Spring will be dedicated to making sure they're growth in editing is solid as well.

In mathematics, we are working in fractions and students are manipulating improper fractions and mixed numbers. We continue to utilize manipulatives to give them concrete experiences to develop their understanding as well as consistent pictoral support when working with fractions. They will be wrapping up a game they are creating in class, which converts improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice a versa. You will see these come home as part of their homework this week.

In reading, students are finishing a class novel that links to the American Revolution through literature circles. Their ability to discuss text as a group in a meaningful, serious way continues to inspire me. These rich discussions help deepens students' comprehension of the text and the questions they pose to one another gets all members of the group thinking and leading. The connections they are making to our social studies work is cool to watch and their genuine enthusiasm around sharing books is a true pleasure to experience.

Our health class discussions were wonderful. Both the boy and girl groups asked thoughtful, age-appropriate questions about changing bodies and personal hygiene. Our conversations were comfortable, appropriate for where they are developmentally, and informative. If you would like to know more, please ask! We will continue the opportunities for boys and girls to discuss issues meaningful to them in gender groups (as we are calling them). The boys will meet with Mr. Church, and the girls will meet with myself and Ms. Pizzo twice weekly - once for a morning meeting and once for a lunch. The students are frequently commenting on how much they enjoy being with all the girls or all the boys in the fifth grade. We will continue this arrangement well into the spring, as we aim to keep discussion channels open and continue to provide integration experiences across the grade.

Happy Spring everyone! I hope to eat lunch outside on Monday.

Laura