Monday PE | Tuesday O&A to Jennings McCall | Wednesday ART 5th grade science test | Thursday 5th grade science test | Friday No School, grading day |
Important Dates April 11 - State testing begins for 5th graders. Contact Karen Torry with questions or to opt out. April 13 - No school, grading day April 19 - No school, student led conferences. April 20 - No school, grading day | Note about conferences Next Thursday, our conferences will be a chance for students to share successes they have made around goals this year, and areas they still hope to improve. I hope to see you there! Please sign up by calling Vickie in the office! (503) 359 4600 |
Goals: As a family, log on to your child's Google Classroom and ask them to share their latest goal reflection. Sign up for conferences!
Writing: Spelling activity 1/ day. Test on Thursday this week. Persuasive/Argument Essay due on Thursday
Reading: The usual - read the newsletter as a family on Monday. Other nights, read your book of choice! Lit Circle packet due on Thursday
Math: Daily math homework - check your child's agenda or contact teacher
A highlight of the week was seeing the kids in action at Fernhill. Thank so much to the volunteers who could help us. All the kids were focused and seemed to enjoy nature. And, there was a lot of nature to see! Beaver signs, birds galore and buds bursting. I am impressed at how kids step up to the challenge of playing citizen scientist in these situations. We also wrapped up the week with a quiz on our colonial unit. A few kids need to finish and then we'll review answers.
Ask, what did you notice that was different at Fernhill from the spring to the Fall?
Talk about how the health of an ecosystem can connect to our personal health.
Extend the learning by going back to Fernhill to explore the site with your family.
Literacy
We finished Chains last week and what a great book it was! I enjoyed being able to connect the book to our project work and look at this often forgotten perspective during an important time in our history. We also make great progress on our food debate argument paper, which will be due this Thursday. There is just the conclusion left and editing/revising. As you saw on the calendar we are headed to Jennings McCall on Tuesday. This will start a unique elder buddy partnership as kick of our last writing block of the year, memoir!
Ask what do you expect your visit to be like at Jennings McCall?
Listen to your child talk about how the book Chains ended.
Extend by the learning by getting the 2 other books in the Chains series.
6th Grade Math
I have really enjoyed students being able to work at their own pace this year and getting more 1:1 and small group work time with kiddos. My thought is in the next 1-2 weeks transition back to whole group math for us to teach some concepts to wrap up the year before math testing starts. The big concepts are statistics and solving expressions and equations. For now, encourage your kiddo to stay focus and delve deep into the units they are working on before we return back to whole group math.
Ask what concept has been the hardest for you this year?
Talk about what tests or missing pieces your kiddo still needs to turn in.
Extend the learning by finding real world geometry projects, talking probability or rates with your child.
5th Grade Math
We travelled on the x- and y-axes this week, exploring the coordinate grid through interactive games. It seems like 5th graders love this new topic! We also had a special class with challenge group leader extraordinaire Markus Roberts, who helped us see problems from more than one angle. Real-world math is way more than just the numbers!
Ask what is your trick for remember whether the x or y coordinate comes first?
Extend the learning by playing some of the coordinate games together at home.
Talk about different ways you think about budgeting (next time you are grocery shopping or at a restaurant together).