New Things Are Happening

Happy December!
New things are happening in Fifth Grade!
While we will continue with our weekly stories/skills from our Reading series, we will also be starting a novel study - Maniac Magee. I am thrilled that we are finally moving forward with this. I have broken the students into 5 groups of 4. Each group will meet with me for approximately fifteen minutes, three days a week to read, discuss and work on skills in a small group setting. During this time, the other groups will be working at centers which will be incorporating the Daily Five: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Word Work, and Work on Math. For now, the Math center will be online using our smart board and (hopefully) the I pads.
The students will not be required to read any portion of the novel at home - we will do this all in class. The only time I may send some reading home is if your child is absent and needs to do a little catching up. Additionally, center work should not be coming home. It is meant to be short, skill building activities that the students complete during our Literacy block.
In Science, I have two culminating activities planned in the next week or so. One being a Photosynthesis Comic Strip, which will be coming home on Monday Dec. 2. This is a graded assignment and should be completed and turned in to me by Wednesday, Dec 4. The next project is an in-class assignment. We will be wrapping up our Plant Processes Chapter by making germination bags. The students and I will put these together in class and they will hang in our window so we can track/observe  their progress each day. When their seeds have sprouted, we will plant them in a cup and I will send them home.

As always, thank you for all your support this year!

Happy Reading,
Mrs. Rosenberg