Week 16 - December 18 - 22

Winter Weather - It has finally arrived! I was out of the building for a meeting last week during the early release day. According to my sub and my student teacher the students did well with leaving early. Hopefully that won't be something that we have to do again. Just in case, please make sure your child (and the office) knows where they are to go should we have another early release due to weather issues.

Please continue to send your child in with appropriate winter weather clothing. We will be going outside unless the temperature is so low that it is not allowed. The students are also allowed to sled on the hill during class recess. Snow pants are encouraged to eliminate soaking wet pants! Please let me or someone in the school know if your child is in need of some winter gear.

Winter Survival - We will be going on Winter Survival on Friday, January 12, 2018. That is the Friday that we get back from vacation! This week the students will be getting into groups and planning their meals. Each student will be responsible for bringing in food or other items for the entire group. I check in with the groups to make sure that they are trying to bring in equal amounts of items. You will see the list before break so that you have an opportunity to get whatever is needed. If you are unable to get what your child volunteers for, please let your child know so that their group can plan accordingly. There will be a field trip form coming soon as well. We encourage the students to be creative with the foods that they bring. Here are a couple of examples from last year!

Science fair - This has been a required assignment for fifth graders for many years. We spent a lot of time earlier in the year discussing the difference between a model/report vs. an experiment. Fifth graders should be conducting an experiment and presenting that. The students in my class are allowed to work with someone else in the class (groups should be no more than 3) or work with someone in Mr. Hatt's class. The packet went
home the week before last and there is one page that should be filled out and returned. We will not be discussing this until Wednesday so the students have an extension on the Dec. 20th due date if they need it.



Math - We are wrapping up Unit 3 - fractions! We will take a review test on Tuesday to make sure that all the students feel secure with the different parts. We will go over this and then take the final test on Thursday. If there is any area of this that your child feels that they need more practice, Khan Academy is always an option. There are many online practice options that you can find.
Many students are also finishing up their Xtramath. This was a PLP for many students. If your child has not finished multiplication, Xtramath should be practiced at least 5 times per week. Most students are expected to know the multiplication facts through 10 by this point of fifth grade. Here is another site that students can practice their multiplication facts: Ascend math

Reading - We are wrapping up the text structure study. Students should be able to explain the differences between all of the structures and how they help a reader understand the text. Please encourage your child to continue to read throughout the 2 week vacation. You can ask questions such as

• Who are the main characters?
• Why did the characters do what they did?
• What would you have done if you were in the same position?
• Did you make any predictions? Were they accurate?

We encourage the students to talk about what the story is about but also what they thought about the book.

Class celebration - We are making decisions on a class party for this Friday. It will most likely be snacks and a video. If you would like to contribute something that would be greatly appreciated!