Hello to All,
Students are back from break and into the swing of things. We have started new areas of study in Science and Social Studies and we are moving on in Math. Reading clubs coming up next week as well.
Updates:
Math-
Students in Ms. Schilmoeller's, Mr. Shahriari's and Mrs. Audi's classes have been focusing on fractions (including decimals and percents)and data analysis through graphs and will be starting some prealgebraic skills with exponents, order of operations, positive and negative numbers. Ms. Rivers's class has been focusing on Division with some review of previously learned skills. We will be moving on with measurement and conversion of measurement later this week.
Science-
We have completed types of energy and we are now starting to learn about sources of energy. Heated feelings and debates have been discussed regarding fossil fuels and forms of alternative energy.
Social Studies-
As many of you may have heard from your children, we have just finished the formation of our U.S. Government, The Constitution and Bill of Rights. Fifth graders are definetely keyed into civil rights and issues relating to individual rights. I am enjoying their enthusiasm. We are starting Westward Expansion, including from the Native American perspective and will be watching some PBS videos on Tecumseh and The Trail of Tears. Basically, we are covering expansion and how technological inventions started changing the culture and way of life up until the Civil War.
Reading-
We will be starting reading clubs next week and students are choosing novels this week. I will update you more later in the week.
IB Unit of Inquiry-
I Have a Dream
Central Idea:
People use effective words to persuade others
An Inquiry Into:
• Influences impacting a speaker’s words
• The intended and/or perceived meaning of a speech
• Effective presentation skills
As part of our newest planner, we will celebrate with a living museum on February 8. Every student will come to school “in character” dressed as an important figure in U.S. history. As you select your choice, please keep in mind that this planner is a study of effective words, so it is critical that your person has a famous speech or quotations from which you can work.
By next Monday, January 23, please select your person. They need to be a historically significant American who is no longer living (please see suggestions on the reverse side of this paper). Please bring in a brief history of the era in which your person lived, a copy of their speech, and a picture of this person. We will NOT be doing detailed biography studies of this person; instead, we are trying to learn about what was happening in the world in which they lived and how their speech fit into this era and their objectives. For example, for MLK, we would need information related to the civil rights era, and his role in the issues of that time.
Remember, this information is needed by next Monday, January 23.
