Parent conferences:
Please check out the shared document to sign up for a conference time.  You can find it here.

Curriculum topics:

• Fractions
• Reading and writing nonfiction
• 13 colonies

Some activities we did this week: 

• Compared and ordered fractions
• Found equivalent fractions
• Practiced growing talk from reading
• Discussed parts of Something Upstairs by Avi by doing "save the last word for me"
• Used Google maps to research the Daniel Stillwell house in Providence
• Continued researching the 13 colonies
• Gathered images to use in our 13 colonies commercial
• Began adding text features to our nonfiction books
• Used the "Read&Write" app to listen to our writing out loud
• Added to our altered books- "Where I hope to be in ten years..."

Notes and reminders:

• Our Boston Freedom Trail date has been set!  We will be going on Tuesday, May 20th.  All parents are welcome to attend- more details to follow.  
• Jeff Warner, our 5th grade artist in residence will be joining us soon!  He begins with us on Monday, April 7th.  
• Early releases- Wednesday, April 9th and 16th 

5V News

Parent conferences:
Please check out the shared document to sign up for a conference time.  You can find it here.

Curriculum topics:

• Volume
• Reading and writing nonfiction
• Colonization 

Some activities we did this week: 

• Found the volume of composed figures
• Reviewed volume and took our math test
• Started Front Row Math 
• Wrote introductions and conclusions to our nonfiction books 
• Decided on text structures that matched our nonfiction book subtopics 
• Theorized about the mystery at Roanoke
• Compared Roanoke, Jamestown and Plimoth 
• Memorized the locations of the 13 colonies 
• Began researching for our 13 colonies travel commercial 
• Experimented with the WeVideo app on Chrome to make our travel commercials 
• Started to read Something Upstairs by Avi during read aloud 

Notes and reminders:

• Our Boston Freedom Trail date has been set!  We will be going on Tuesday, May 20th.  All parents are welcome to attend- more details to follow.  
• Jeff Warner, our 5th grade artist in residence will be joining us soon!  He begins with us on Monday, April 7th.  

Parent Conferences

It's that time of year to begin thinking about April parent conferences.  I've created a shared document to sign up for conferences.  Please click on this link to find the schedule: Parent Conferences April 2014

Anyone with this link is able to edit the schedule.  Please let me know if you need a different time and we can find a time that works.  Thank you!

5V News

It was great to see so many students and families at the 5th grade basketball game last night!  It was a lot of fun and I know all the students and teachers had a great time!

Curriculum topics:

• Volume
• Matter
• Reading nonfiction
• Writing nonfiction books

Some activities we did this week:

• Compared area and perimeter of different shapes 
• Created a foot, a square foot and a cubic foot 
• Used blocks to create rectangular prisms with different volumes 
• Calculated the volume of rectangular prisms with the formulas V= l*w*h and V= B*h
• Decided on our nonfiction book topics
• Wrote interesting and clear titles for our table of contents 
• Created a glossary and began researching for our books 
• Investigated how to separate solids
• Made a "Whatzit" mixture and discovered how it had properties of both liquids and solids
• Observed chemical changes with baking soda and vinegar
• Took our final matter quiz
• Practiced finding facts and opinions in reading
• Had a class discussion and debated whether statements were facts or opinions
• Continued our Genius Hour research and presentations 

Notes and reminders:

• No school on Friday, March 14th- teacher workshop day
• Parent conferences will be in April- I will post a sign up to the blog next week