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- Our Family
5th Grade
LANGUAGE ARTS – Mrs. Zaszczurynski
The fourth quarter is full of fun and exciting things as we approach the end of the year. Students, please remember that as the end of the year approaches the same quality of work is expected. It seems that some of you have already found the “Spring Fever” and we need to stay away from that and continue our hard work.
For the fourth quarter we will be working with mysteries. The students have each chosen their own mystery to read. After finishing the mystery they will be asked to complete a project. We are also reading mysteries in our classroom and working on solving our very own chocolate mystery. We have eliminated some suspects, but who really stole the chocolate recipe is still the unknown. April is poetry month, so students will be reading a variety of poetry throughout the month.
For writing the students will continue to work in writing workshop, working on specific skills and practicing getting complete thoughts and ideas on paper. We are also hoping to write our own mysteries. This will be a fun process and I can’t wait to see what the students come up with!!! During April, the 5th grade class will be working on writing various types of poetry.
We will have a great ending to the year!
MATH – Mrs. Anklin
Unit 8: Fractions and Ratios -- In Unit 4, your child reviewed equivalent fractions and developed multiplication and division rules for finding equivalent fractions. In this unit, your child will apply this knowledge to operations with fractions and mixed numbers. Students will learn that the key to adding, subtracting, and dividing fractions with unlike denominators is to convert them into fractions with the same denominator.
Unit 9: Coordinates, Area, Volume, and Capacity --The beginning of this unit will provide your child with practice in naming and locating ordered number pairs on a coordinate grid. Whole numbers, fractions, and negative numbers will be used as coordinates. Your child will play the game Hidden Treasure (similar to the commercially available Battleship™), which provides additional practice with coordinates. You may wish to challenge your child to a round. In previous grades, your child studied the perimeters (distances around) and the areas (amounts of surface) of geometric figures. Fourth Grade Everyday Mathematics developed and applied formulas for the areas of rectangles, parallelograms, and triangles. In this unit, your child will review these formulas and explore new area topics, including the rectangle method for finding areas of regular and irregular shapes. Students will also examine how area, perimeter, and angle measurements are affected when a figure is changed by mathematical transformations. These transformations resemble changes and motions in the physical world. In some transformations, figures are enlarged in one or two dimensions; in other transformations, figures are translated (slid) or reflected (flipped over).
Unit 10: Algebra Concepts and Skills -- In this unit, your child will be introduced to solving simple equations with a pan balance, thus developing basic skills of algebra. A “What’s My Rule?” table has been a routine since the early grades of Everyday Mathematics. In this unit, your child will follow rules to complete tables and will then graph the data. Your child will also determine rules from information provided in tables and graphs. Students will begin to express such rules using algebraic expressions containing variables.
SCIENCE – Mrs. Knape
Science projects were very well done. We hope you had the opportunity to see the displays during Open House. The students are proud of their work. Oral presentations are allowing students to share their projects with classmates.
Matter, sound, and light will be areas of investigation for the final quarter. April 22 is Earth Day and a special celebration is planned from 3-5pm. Watch for more information.
Our week of learning at Storer Camp will include activities in physical, earth and natural science areas. Thank you for allowing your child to be part of this great learning opportunity.
SOCIAL STUDIES – Mr. Esterline
We are writing the Constitution of the United States and then we are going to get it ratified and elect our first President. After this we will be looking at how our nation began to grow and the problems we had in the first years after our independence from England.
COMPUTER – Mrs. Still
During the final quarter of the year, the students will create a PowerPoint presentation on a topic of their choosing. The students will research their topic on the Internet, insert graphics, and properly cite the information used. Each slide must contain a picture, text, background and transition. When complete the slideshow will be presented to the class.
The students will use a digital camera to photograph each other and download the pictures from the memory card. They will carefully edit their picture in Paint and insert it into a ‘famous site’ from around the world they have downloaded into another Paint file (Eiffel Tower, Sea World, Disney World, etc.). Depending on how well they cut around themselves, it should look like the students are actually there.
SPANISH – Mrs. Machniak
The fifth grade will be studying seasons, weather, verbs, basic conjugation pattern for present tense –ar verbs, and telling the time.
RELIGION – Mrs. Wisniewski
Our religious education will continue to build upon the Faith Concepts of Christianity, with special emphasis on the Liturgical Cycle, especially Easter. Students have been learning the Stations of the Cross. Students will be studying religions throughout the world. As a community outreach project, students are holding a fund-raiser to purchase fleece to make lap quilts for the local nursing care home residents. Students will continue using the Peace Education program.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION – Mrs. Anderson/Girls -- Mr. Esterline/Boys
Boys - We have been working on basketball skills and playing games. We are anticipating going outside by mid to late April so we have started working on hitting and throwing skill as well as the rules for baseball (softball). We will start a short unit on team handball which incorporates both basketball and throwing skills.
Girls - The girls have now begun a unit on hockey. We are working on the skills that are used to play through a few lead up games.
ART – Mrs. Machniak
It was wonderful to see everyone at the open house with their families. The fifth grade is finishing printmaking. The students will be working with paper-mache and Picasso. In April students will begin with pattern, Escher and stained glass. The fifth grade will finish the year with repetition and movement by exploring graphic designs and Warhol using textile designs.
MUSIC – Mrs. Wisniewski
Fifth graders are working on reading music skills and continue to develop their ability to play the recorder this quarter. Recorder music is gradually becoming more complex as students progress through a “Recorder Karate” program. Students are being introduced to John Towner Williams among other composers in the upcoming quarter.
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