Weekly Update :)

Just a reminder that we have a 3 day week this upcoming week.  The students are off on Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday is a professional day, so teachers will be at school, but students get the day off. (Remember to get out and vote on Tuesday!) Friday school is closed for Veteran's Day. Thursday is the Sunderland's annual Veteran's Day ceremony at the Sunderland Town Hall at 9:30.

It was another busy week in our classroom. In math we finished up our unit on multiplying whole numbers. This week we focused on multiplying multi-digit whole numbers, 2 digit by 2 digit, all the way up to 4 digit by 3 digit multiplication. We started the week by reviewing partial products and the area model. We connected those two multiplication strategies to the standard algorithm. Fifth grade students are expected to know how to multiply multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.  We ended the week with an amazing lesson on multi-step word problems. Students will be taking an assessment on this first unit in math, so they can show all that they have learned. After the assessment, we will be starting a unit on whole number division.

Mathematicians Hard at Work

In reading we focused on author's craft.   We learned that authors have certain goals in mind when they write a passage. Some of those goals include to stir empathy, to set up the problem, or to raise the stakes. We looked at passages from the book Home of the Brave to decide what goal or goals Katherine Applegate had in mind when she wrote a particular passage. We also learned about the different techniques authors use to reach their goals. A few of those techniques are symbolism, first person narration, and dialogue. We  used the same passages from Home of the Brave to decide what techniques Katherine Applegate used to reach her goals.

We also finished reading Home of the Brave on Friday. It is such an amazing book. I always cry at the end. Be sure to ask your child about the book!

In writing we spent the week editing our narrative. This week we will be using the Chromebooks to publish our narrative stories.

Have a great Sunday afternoon!

I love this picture of Cole lost in his book. He didn't even notice I took his picture, he was so in the world of his book. I love it!! :)