Classroom Update

It was a busy week at SES and in 5F! Thank you to all the parents who were able to make it to Open House Tuesday evening. It was great to see you and I hope you learned a little about fifth grade and what your child will be learning this year in our classroom. If you were unable to attend open house, but would like to know more about what to expect in fifth grade, please contact me and we can arrange a meeting. I look forward to working with you this year to ensure that your child has the best possible year in fifth grade!

In math students are learning how to locate and graph points on the coordinate grid. We also continue to review order or operations. In fifth grade we are using a workshop approach to teaching math this year. Students are divided into two groups and rotate through three stations. One station is learning a new skill or strategy with me, the teacher, a second station is then practicing the new skill or strategy they just learned, and a third station is a skill review.  One option at skill review is to play various math games to review skills that students have already learned. For example, students may play Multiplication War or Head Feathers to review basic multiplication facts, or they may choose to play Dare to Divide which reviews division and multiples. There is also Hit the Target which is a game that reviews order of operations. Two days a week, Ms. Nowak is with students at skill review and she reviews the basic multiplication facts using multiplication ladders.The idea behind teaching math using the workshop approach is to be able to be better able to differentiate instruction, provide more one on one assistance, and to keep the students more engaged with their learning.

Playing a game of Head Feathers

Jack helps a friend with their practice 

Head Feathers

Best friends take a break from math to pose for a picture!

In Writer's workshop we are still at the beginning of our narrative unit. We have been learning various way writers generate story ideas for narrative writing. One way the students generated story ideas this week was to use a mentor text to inspire us. We read the short story Eleven by Sandra Cisnero and used that to inspire us to write a story about an embarrassing moment in our life. One way that narrative writing is different in fifth grade is that students do not have to write true small moment stories. Students may write realistic fiction, a story that is not true, but has events that could happen. This has really freed the students up with their writing. I am amazed at how much writing the students are getting done in Writer's Workshop. Another thing we have been working on in writer's workshop is making sure we are showing what is happening in our story, not just telling what is happening in our story. 

A shared writing-we revised the story to show what was happening, not just tell what was happening

In reader's workshop we have completed our launch unit, which taught the routines and procedures of reader's workshop. This week we will begin our first unit. This unit includes lessons on character traits, author's message (or theme), and author's craft. Many of the lessons in reader's workshop are based on our interactive read aloud, Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. This is an amazing book!

Below of photos from different activities this week and the beginning of the year.