Week of 3/22/2021

Welcome to Week 27!

Spring Conferences: Virtual parent-teacher conferences will continue this week through Thursday, March 25th.  Students will be on a modified distance learning schedule which means 2 hours of live teacher instruction and 2 hours of independent work. 

Spring Break:  A reminder that this year’s spring break is one week long. Our break begins on March 29th through April 2nd. Students return on Monday, April 5th.

Check out what’s happening in fifth grade before we finish off quarter 3:

Writing: We are currently working on the process of informative writing.  But before students can write proficient fifth grade writing pieces, students need to have a clear understanding of proficiency.  Here’s the success criteria we will be using which will guide students as they write their informative pieces.

Respond to ALL parts of the prompt

Introduce a topic clearly and provide a general observation and focus.

Group related information logically.

Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.

Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.

Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and/or clauses

Use precise language and academic vocabulary

Use paragraphs to organize writing

Organize writing that attends to task, purpose, and audience

Use appropriate voice

Use correct punctuation, capitalization, and grammar

Write legibly with correct spacing and margins

Math: This week, we are learning how to multiply fractions. Check out another activity below to continue reinforcing fraction skills!

Science: This week, we will finish our matter unit. Students investigated the properties of matter and learned how to think like scientists.  We also began to build our knowledge using our interactive science notebooks.  By recording their thinking and observations, we hope to cultivate students to think and inquire like actual scientists! To continue the conversation at home, ask your child:

• What is matter? How can you describe matter?
• What are the 3 states of matter? How can you represent each state of matter?
• Have your child share his or her science notes and explain the different examples.

Have a wonderful week!

Fifth Grade Team

Week of 3/8/2021

Welcome to Week 25, Fifth Grade Parents!

Biztown:  We are preparing our students for our upcoming virtual field trip! The goal is to continue to help students see how classroom learning relates to real-world events. We encourage you to further strengthen our classroom lessons by having a conversation with your child about the prompts listed below.

• Students learned how people are members of a community in which they live, work, trade, and share. They took a pledge to become citizens of JA BizTown, and that oath required an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
• JA BizTown citizens tackled the “circular flow of economic activity” as they examined the movements of goods, services, resources (human, natural, and capital), and money between people and businesses. This concept will be
• revisited several times over the next few days.
• Further, when students/citizens participate in out virtual field trip at JA BizTown, they will become an integral part of that cycle as they operate their businesses and become consumers who purchase products in the simulated community.
• Through a series of classroom exercises, students recognized that resources are scarce and that people cannot have everything they want. Decisions must be made about what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.

Math: This week, we are learning how to add and subtract mixed numbers. Check out another activity below to continue reinforcing fraction skills!

Science: Welcome to our next unit of study in science! This week, we will introduce the following:

• Determine the difference between solids, liquids, and gases.
• Define what matter is and where you can find it.
• Give examples of solids, liquids, and gases.
• Describe the characteristics of the three states of matter.

Writing: We are starting a new text type!   Your child will be working on writing informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.  How will they do that?

1. Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general
2. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, or other information and examples related to the topic.
3. Link ideas within and across categories of information using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., in contrast, especially).
4. Use precise language and domain-specic vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
5. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.

Any questions, please let us know!

Fifth Grade Team

Yearbook Photos

The yearbook committee is putting out a request for photos to be included in the yearbook.
If your student did not have their photo taken during fall picture day, now is your chance to have their photo included in their class page.  Please use this link to upload a CURRENT photo of your child (must have been taken this school year, please).  The deadline for your child’s photo is Friday, March 12.  https://forms.gle/g2u1f6dvFMTyQzsp8
Last call to contribute to the activities pages!  Please see the yearbook section of our school blog:  https://camarenarobogriffins.blog/yearbook-2021/The deadline for the activity photos is Friday, March 5thHave a great week!The Yearbook Committee

Week of 3/1/2021

Happy Monday, Fifth Grade Parents! Welcome to week 24!

Biztown: Last week, students learned how to endorse and deposit a paycheck, manage a checking or transaction account register, and identify different checking account items in preparation for our JA BizTown virtual visit. This week, we will continue practicing check writing and discover the benefits of using interest-earning savings accounts to save money.
Questions to ask your child:

• Why should we save money?
• How do we write and sign checks.
• How do we make and record electronic payments.
• What are the benefits of an interest-earning savings account.
• How does money grow in a savings account.

Math: This week, we are learning how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. Check out the activity below to continue reinforcing fraction skills!

Writing:  This week we are revising and editing our narrative #2 and students are submitting their final draft. We are also taking some time to work on a short research project. Students will research a famous legend and present their final project on Flipgrid. Students will research and complete Google slides with information, pictures, and interesting facts about a famous legend.

Any questions, please let us know! Have a wonderful week!

-Fifth Grade Team