The past few weeks have been filled with some exciting learning opportunities. Please see below for a small sampling of all the cool stuff we've been doing.
Students doing a gallery walk to notice connections in the fraction strategy posters they created. This week we ended Unit 2 with an assessment, and began Unit 3 which focuses on the connection between fractions and decimals and how multiplication and division are tied to place value patterns.
A few of our Rock Type Super Heroes and Super Villains. We created these to represent what we know about the three different rock types, and then had a battle of good vs. evil for control of the Earth. Evil prevailed this year :)
Our students using an online plate tectonics simulator during science.
In Language Arts class, students have been working hard on enhancing their close reading strategies. We have been learning the Notice and Note signpost. Here is a picture of all the signpost below. Ask your reader to tell you about the signposts!
During Social Studies, students have been learning about the patriots and the loyalist and the important role they played in our nations history. Students read and learned about the specific roles and arguments of 3 patriots (Mercy Otis Warren, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams) and 3 loyalist (Thomas Hutchinson, Jonathan Boucher, Lord Dunmore) . Students then worked in groups to develop arguments for their character to debate whether or not colonist should declare independence from Great Britain.
Have you read the Declaration of Independence? We spent time reading 5 excerpts of the text very closely. We learned about the formal vocabulary and paraphrased the excerpts into 5th grade friendly language. Then, each group turned their excerpt into a short skit to teach the class what their excerpt means. Here are some action shots form the skits below. (Sorry some of them are sideways!) :)
5th graders spent time with Kindergarten buddies before break! 5th graders chose their favorite picture books to read to their Kindergarten buddies.
Then, we spent time making connections with our buddies! We will continue working with our Kinder buddies throughout the school year. :)
