Thank you all who came and supported our writing celebration before vacation ( see below for pictures). It was a great success, and I know the kiddos enjoyed getting to share their writing with all of you! I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing vacation and enjoyed making some special memories with your families.
I always love the start of a New Year as it usually marks the beginning of some new, fabulous units. This week, we will begin new units in reading, writing and science. In reading and writing, students will begin to learn the art of argument. This is always a fifth grade favorite as kids this age tend to want to argue everything :). They will choose one of the topics listed below and research both sides of the argument during our readers's workshop. Our mini lessons will focus around good research habits, debate skills and how to determine authors points of view of a text. Meanwhile, in writing, we will begin to learn how to write using argumentative craft moves. We will all test the waters in this genre with the topic of Chocolate Milk and whether or not it should be served in schools. Then, as students learn strategies in this style of writing, they will use their research from the reading block and write an argumentative piece about their chosen topic.
Below are the topics students may choose from. Students will choose their top 3 and I will try my best to make sure everyone gets their first or second choice. However, some topics may be more popular than others.
Are extreme sports worth the risk?
Should Killer Whale Shows be banned?
Should zoos be supported or boycotted?
Should plastic water bottles be banned?
Should plastic bags be banned?
Should people be climbing Mount Everest?
Should we protect humans from sharks or sharks from humans?
In science, we will begin our light and sound unit. In this unit, students will learn about how sound is produced and how frequency is related to pitch. Students will get to experiment with sound by making a paper cup telephone as well as experimenting with different objects and how they produce sound. Students will also get to design a set of head phones using materials that absorb sound. Students will also learn about how light interacts differently with specific objects. Students will learn about the reflective and refractive properties of light.
In math, we will continue our unit on adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers. Before vacation, students learned how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators using models. However, this week, we will introduce a written method for adding and subtracting fractions.
*** Reminder: Friday is not an early release day!
Have a great week!
Ms. Phillips
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