5V News

Parent Conferences:
Parent conferences begin in a couple of weeks.  Here is the schedule so far: PARENT CONFERENCES SPRING 2015  Don't forget to sign up!

Curriculum topics:

• Fractions
• Fantasy book clubs
• Properties of matter

Some activities we did this week:

• Compared and ordered fractions
• Practiced putting fractions in simplest form
• Used pattern blocks to convert between mixed numbers and improper fractions
• Found a mathematical way to convert between mixed numbers and improper fractions
• Met with our fantasy book clubs
• Discussed how our main characters are multi-faceted and have both strengths and flaws
• Tried to uncover what motivates our main characters in our fantasy books
• Finished our read aloud- Something Upstairs by Avi
• Calculated density by finding the mass of an object and divided it by the volume
• Found the density of materials in relation to water
• Began discussing how matter changes states
• Held our own 5V book swap!  

Upcoming:

• Our Smarter Balanced testing will begin Wednesday, April 8th and will continue until April 21st- I will get a schedule out next week 
• Our 5th grade Artist in residence- Jeff Warner- will begin with us on Monday, April 13th.  More information on Jeff can be found here: http://www.jeffwarner.com/

Thanks and have a great weekend!  

5V News

Parent conferences begin the second week of April!  Please use this link to sign up: SPRING CONFERENCES 2015

We are learning about:

• Fractions
• Reading fantasy books
• Properties of matter 

Some activities we did this week:

• Discovered the rule for finding equivalent fractions
• Played "Rolling, rolling, rolling" to practice finding equivalent fractions
• Conducted an investigation to prove that air takes up space
• Experimented to find which materials are denser than water
• Met with our fantasy reading groups
• Discussed how the "dragons" in our fantasy books are often metaphors for something else
• Mystery Skyped with a college class from Southern New Hampshire!
• Began practicing for the Smarter Balanced assessment 

Notes and reminders:

• Next week is Read Across America Week!  Monday is wear crazy socks, Tuesday is wear your favorite hat, Wednesday is wear mismatch clothes, Thursday is dress up as your favorite book character, Friday is drop everything and read day! 

Have a great weekend!

Parent Conferences

Parent conferences will begin the second week of April.  Please use this link: PARENT CONFERENCES to sign up for a conference time.  Thank you!

5V News

What's happening in 5V....

So this is what full week of school feels like!  We've been hard at work exploring properties of matter, using thinking stems to communicate our reading comprehension strategies and understanding the different properties of polygons.

Reading: Book clubs! Next week we will begin fantasy book clubs and students will expected to be reading at home (and at school) and coming to their book club meetings prepared to discuss the planned section of reading.

Blogging: It's time to raise the quality of our blogs!  Students will now have a blogging rubric to accompany their biweekly blog posts for homework.  We have spent a lot of time looking at the rubric and looking at several examples of student blogging so that students understand the expectations.  They should be filling out the rubric based on their blog post and both should be completed by the end of the week.

Math: We are finishing up geometry and we will start working on volume next week both in math and science.  After that will be fractions!

Smarter Balanced: Our Smarter Balanced testing begins mid-April with English Language Arts first and then Math.  This will be our first time taking the test and it will be a learning experience for everyone!  We will begin "practicing" soon so that students become familiar with test taking on the Chromebooks and how to manipulate the different screens of the test.

Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!