5KC Class Blog

Weekly Newsletter Grade 5 Date April 1 - 5 Dear Parents, Curriculum Information for this Week: Literacy: Students begin to learn about Social Issues and Human Rights through historical fiction, biography and autobiography texts. We will focus on Informational text throughout this unit.  Students will revisit informational and opinion writing in this unit. Math: The students will begin the unit titled Order of Operations. We have been practicing this skill using daily warm-ups, so they are familiar with these skills. Students will evaluate how to use numerical expressions with parentheses, brackets, and braces. They will explain how to use these symbols in order to identify, write and describe simple numerical expressions. Unit of Study: We are beginning our unit on Social Change. This will conclude with the famous “Night of the Notables” on Thursday 9 May. This week we will: Start a historical fiction read aloud Begin reading historical fiction and social issue pictu...

Weekly Newsletter Grade 5 Dates: March 4-8              Dear Parents, Curriculum Information for this Week: G5 students will be spending much classroom time on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week preparing for their student-led conference (SLC) on Thursday 7 or Friday 8 March. Students will be reflecting on their reading, writing, math and science work and preparing work samples to share with you that show learning growth. They will also be reflecting on their learning behaviors, work habits and attitude in a variety if areas and will prepare and share their learning goals to address areas of need. Learning in our reading, writing, math and science units may be temporarily suspended in the early part of this week, while teachers prepare their students for success at the SLCs. For more information and ways to support your child please visit the Parent Learning Connection page . Important Reminders/Informa...

Weekly Newsletter Grade 5 Dates: February 25-March 1              Dear Parents, Curriculum Information for this Week: Literacy: Grade 5 students are continuing to generate ideas for their fantasy stories. They will be taking all their great ideas and choosing the best one to write a story. They are including all the elements of a fantasy story including themes, life lessons, quests, magical creatures, metaphorical and literary dragons. Here are some questions you can ask your son or daughter about their story: Who are your main characters? Describe the setting of your story. Is there a quest in your story? How is your story connected to real life problems? What is the life lesson? What are the struggles your character is facing? What will come of the protagonist? How will s/he change? Math: The students are beginning Unit 5 in Math - multiplying and dividing fractions using a variety of manipu...

Weekly Newsletter Grade 5 Dates: February 18-22               Dear Parents, Curriculum Information for this Week: Literacy: Grade 5 students continue to work on their fantasy stories. This week we focus on making our stories believable by adding details to our settings, internal and external character traits and making sure to show not tell throughout our stories.  Fantasy book clubs continue as students analyze their books through the focus on metaphors, symbolism and thinking about how fantasy helps us understand the real world. Math: The students will conclude Unit 4: Place Value and Decimal Operations. Students have explored multiplying and dividing decimals using a variety of manipulatives to show their thinking . The assessment will be giving this week. (See last week’s newsletter for helpful video links.) Unit of Study:  Students will continue their second science unit: Modeling...

Weekly Newsletter Grade 5 Dates: 11-15  Feb. 2019              Dear Parents, Curriculum Information for this Week: Literacy: This week the students will continue their reading unit on the Fantasy genre. They will also continue working in their fantasy book clubs where they will discuss elements of fantasy, keep track of characters’ development and problems and identify internal and external character conflicts and themes that run through their fantasy books. Questions which you can ask your fifth grader, How can you relate to the character? What character traits the character have and how do you know? Can you compare the character or theme to another story you have read? Students will continue to work on their Fantasy writing. As we navigate the Fantasy writing, a few key concepts we will focus on are how the setting impacts the story, power in the story as well as identifying a deeper social issues that the character has to navigate...

Weekly Newsletter Grade 5 Dates: 27-31 Jan. 2019                Dear Parents, Curriculum Information for this Week: Literacy: This week the students will continue their reading unit on the Fantasy genre. They will also continue working in their fantasy book clubs where they will discuss elements of fantasy, keep track of characters’ development and problems and identify internal and external character conflicts and themes that run through their fantasy books. Questions which you can ask your fifth grader, What book are you reading in the book club? Tell me about who has the power in the book and why? How has your character changed throughout the book? What theme do you see emerging in this book? Students will begin writing fantasy stories this week. The focus of this unit is for students to be able to elaborate their thoughts (while keeping a focus!), use transitions to move from one ide...