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Blog Post Week of 11/27/17-12/1/17

Driscoll- Humanities

This week was jam-packed! Students learned about authors’ claim and reasons, and how to create their own. They learned about the structure of a 5-paragraph opinion essay, how to create an outline for their own essay about whether chocolate milk should be served in schools, how to write introductory and body paragraphs. Students got the chance to explore an example student essay and highlight the various aspects we learned about. We also reviewed the difference between topic and main idea, as well as identifying examples of each with an interactive game using the app Kahoot. Students worked on centers: social studies interactive notebook about ancient Greece, work on writing (chocolate milk opinion essay), independent work (google classroom assignments reinforcing main idea/supporting details), work on project (researching elements to help inform their project decision) and literature circles. Students continued to practice their editing skills using our Daily Edit warm-ups.

 

Tem- STEM

This week we began exploring elements and atoms. We looked more closely at the subatomic particles and how to find these using the periodic table. Students have also begun researching elements for their quarter project. In math we finished looking at statistics, specifically exploring mean, median, mode, and range. Next week will begin geometry, starting with angles and triangles. The quarter is off to a great start!

 

Casalengo- Humanities

This week we continued with our Literature Circle reading groups, focusing on the main idea and sequencing events. Ask your child what is happening in the story they are reading. In writing we had fun with the homophones they’re, their, there, it’s, its, you’re and your. Ask your child what a homophone is and see if you can come up with some others. We are finishing up our unit on the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Kush, and Canaan. A study guide will be coming home next week for the end of unit assessment. Have a wonderful weekend!

Walker- STEM

Hello Parents! I am the 2nd quarter S.T.E.M. (Science and Math) teacher for Mrs. Gallion’s and Mrs. Sanguino’s Homeroom students. Mrs. Casalengo is my team partner for Humanities (Reading, Writing, and Social Studies). In Science, students have been engaged in activities relates to the layers of the Earth. Students are finishing up their flipchart and diagrams of the Earth’s layers. Students are now writing their scripts for their layers of the Earth video segment. Next, we will began learning about Plate Tectonics. Students will conduct an experiment or create a movie trailer to explain their understanding. These videos will be included in our final project which is due January 26, 2018. Students will be creating a fun and engaging science video (like Bill Nye the Science Guy) as their final project. The projects will be available for parents see at the end of the quarter. Look out for an invitation to our Presentation of Learning Exhibit. In Math, students are rapping up equivalent fractions, decimals, and mixed numbers with and without models. Next week, we will began comparing and ordering fractions, decimals, and mixed numbers. Students decided to complete a survey and use the data to complete several tasks related to fraction and decimals or create an equivalent fractions game. Student assignments and grades are listed under google classroom. Please email me at adrion.walker@apsva.us if you would like to set up a meeting or have a question. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sanguino- Humanities

This week in humanities, students continued to read nonfiction articles and practiced identifying the main idea and supporting details. They also practiced writing summaries. Students read an article that answered the question “What is a biome?” and they also read a short book about the parts of an ecosystem and how they interact with one another. This reading was done in preparation for their project research which will begin next week!

 

Gallion- STEM

This week, 5th graders focused on their understanding of place value to create number lines that explain how rounding decimals to the nearest whole, tenth or hundredth works. We’ve worked hard to identify what two appropriate values the decimal falls between—for example: when rounding 6.124 to the nearest tenth, what two tenths is the decimal between to begin with? (6.1 and 6.2). Next week we will get into adding and subtracting decimals and using the inverse operation to check our answers. In Science, students began studying classification of living things. We were looking into the five kingdoms (moneran, protist, fungi, plant and animal) and understanding how scientists classify living things. Students completed research on 3 plants and 3 animals of the Rainforest and will be assigned their living thing next week! Have a great weekend!

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