Halfway Through Quarter One!

Hello 5B Families!

Can you believe we are halfway through quarter one?! The students have been extremely flexible and resilient through these difficult times...I am very impressed with them! Please continue to stress the importance of staying 6 feet apart, keeping masks on and fingers out of mouths, and washing their hands thoroughly.

Here is what is happening in 5B over the next few weeks:

• Our curriculum night is quickly approaching on September 30th. This year will be a bit different. Informational slides will be sent out to families by September 28th. More information about this event will follow.

• We will be participating in a virtual field trip within the coming weeks! We are currently in communication with The Shedd Aquarium to schedule a personal Zoom call where we can ask questions and hear about how they care for animals at the Shedd. This fits in with our first science unit. More information will be sent out soon!

• Many papers have been sent home and graded. Please make sure you are checking your child's home folder every night!

• Please make sure your child has dry erase markers at school along with headphones! These headphones should stay at school and not come home every day.

Math

• A majority of the students are working on unit one: decimals and powers of 10. We are very close to the end of the unit and I am aiming to take our first test early next week. Be on the lookout for study guides to be sent out.

• Want to work with your child at home? Take a look at this website that lists all the components for each unit along with how-to videos.

• PLEASE make sure your child is practicing math facts at home! I will be sending home math fact progress Wednesday- be on the lookout for it!

• Unit two deals with adding and subtracting decimals.

Writing

• Hopefully by now you have seen your child's first writing assignment- rewriting the song Help by the Beatles. They did an amazing job and they turned out adorable!

• We are currently working on creative writing this quarter! Students will begin by writing a personal narrative (something that happened to them). We will then move on to writing a multitude of different fictional stories!

ELA

• This week we have officially begun our novel study groups! Each week the students have a specific amount of pages they must read before meeting with their group. They can find these pages in Google classroom.

• Within our groups, we are focusing on plot structure, conflict, and character development.

• Tomorrow the students will have a test on Plot and Conflict. They will be bringing home a graded study guide today. Please make sure they study!

Vocabulary (Words On The Vine)

• Last week the students received their new vocabulary words. If they ever can not locate their words they can find them on Quizlet.com.

• Our next test is Friday, September 25th. The first test was sent home last week.

• They also have their contract due Friday. It must be signed by an adult!

Science

• As mentioned above, our first science unit involves animals. We have been busy talking about classifying animals, food chains, and biomes.

• We had the privilege to have a guest (Mr. Moss) on Zoom present on Monarch Butterflies! He then donated caterpillars to our classroom. One of them emerged out of their chrysalis Monday!! We took a walk outside and set him free. Watch this video of him (the student's called him Ivan Bob) flying away to freedom!

The students will have a Zoo project that we will be starting this Friday! Ask your child about it!

• We will eventually be taking a test on this content. A study guide will be sent home- be on the lookout for it!

For those of you who read this all the way to the end....thank you! I know that was a lot of information. More will be shared on curriculum night. If you have any questions prior to then, please feel free to contact me!

Have a great rest of your day!

Miss Bleidorn