5B Activities for the Week of February 9th, 2015

Hello Parents and Students,

Here are the reminders for this week:

1.  Our field trip to Robert Crown is this Tuesday, February 10th.  Please send your child to school with a sack lunch and drink.  We will eat lunch after we return to school, however, it will be after hot lunch hours.  Therefore, hot lunch will not be available.

2.  Our Valentine's Day party is this Friday, February 13th.  Our party planners have organized some fun games for us.  Also, most students in 5th grade still pass out Valentine cards.  However, this is optional.  If your child decides to pass out cards, please make sure they include all students.  Thank you.  I emailed a class list to all parents.

3.  Two permission forms were sent home yesterday.  One is for the 5th Grade Farewell activity and the other is for a science experiment in class.  Please sign and return these forms at your earliest convenience.  Thank you!

Here's what's going on in the curricular areas this week: 

Word Study:  Due to the shortened week last week, I decided to focus on homophones only.  This week, we will have the Vowel Team words.  They are posted on the blog.  The test will be on Friday and will include spelling, diagramming and definitions.

Math Acceleration:  We have begun Unit 5 which focuses on Equations and Inequalities.  The standards were sent home via backpack mail last week.  We have studied solving equations, solutions of inequalities and substitutions.  We have also learned how to graph inequalities on a number line using closed and open circles.  This week, we will be learning how to use algebraic expressions to solve problems and writing algebraic equations.

ELA:  We have a LOT going on in ELA currently.  Our study of Red Kayak continues.  We have been introduced to and discussed vocabulary for chapters 1-9.  We will have a quiz on these words mid-week.  We have also been answering some text-dependent questions pertaining to the book and we will be creating oxymoron charts as well.  (We didn't get to that last week.)  We will also be participating in PARCC tutorials this week during our computer lab time in preparation for the upcoming PARCC testing.  (Early March)  Most students finished their Writer's Workshop projects and several presented them yesterday in class.  They were awesome!  We are learning so much about many things!  This week we will finish the presentations and students will be introduced to our 3rd Quarter Performance Task late in the week.

Science:  Our study of the Digestive System continues.  In fact, we have learned all of the organs that are involved in the digestive system and are beginning to learn their functions.  We participated in a science experiment last week which showed how our teeth help aid in digestion.  This week we will be participating in another science experiment in which we will be eating Saltine crackers.  Please return the permission form ASAP.  We will be doing this experiment on Thursday.

That's it for this week!  Enjoy the week!

~Mrs. Bennick :-)