Being a Writer

We are now deep into our first unit of the program, Being a Writer.  During this unit we will work on the following four goals:

Building a caring community and getting to know each other as writers and readers:

As we share our writing ideas, we are learning to listen carefully to one another and to support each other in our writing.  As we move forward, we will be editing each other's work and giving constructive feedback.  Learning to be caring and compassionate in our interactions throughout the writing process is critical to helping our class grow as a writing community.

Getting ideas for writing from read-alouds:
Reading books by and about authors Jon Scieszka and Patricia Polacco has helped us generate ideas for writing.  Mr. Scieszka's works had us brainstorming how we could retell fairy tales from another perspective and Ms. Polacco's stories of her childhood helped us think about how ordinary (and not so ordinary) events in our own lives could result in stories.  Reading about Ms. Polacco and her family also reinforced the text-to-self comprehension lessons we are learning in Making Meaning.

Establishing procedures for silent writing time:
Professional authors know that writing takes time and dedication.  Many have a quiet place where they go to work uninterrupted on their writing.  We are building our writing "muscles" by extending the time we spend focused on our writing.  In this way, we can get our thoughts down on paper without disruption.  This can be a challenge for naturally chatty fifth-graders!

Writing freely:
During the first unit of Being a Writer, the focus is on building up a collection of rough drafts.  Many of these are incomplete pieces spurred by one of our brainstormed ideas.  We will return to these and our brainstormed lists of writing ideas over the course of the year, selecting those we want to expand and turn into published works.  We are also trying out new prewriting techniques such as starting with a given sentence, writing from a favorite quote/sentence, or making lists.

I am very excited about this year in writing.  We are already writing more often than in the past and drawing our inspiration from the work done by professional authors.  Being a Writer is a great addition to our writing program in Room 209!

Geography of the United States

Our first Social Studies topic explores what geography can teach us about the United States.  As part of the unit, students identify elements of maps and globes.  The picture below shows students experiencing the difference between relative and absolute locations as an introduction to latitude and longitude.

Can we figure out where we are on the map?

We have moved on to labeling features on maps and diagrams, defining geographic terms, and applying them to the geography of the US.  

Our learning has allowed us to use many skills.  The text focuses us on reading comprehension and attending to text points (bold, italic, and underlined text indicates something to take note of), games motivate us to use what we know, and role playing and kinesthetic activities get us up and learning with our bodies.

Social Studies vocabulary for this chapter: geography, climate, globe, latitude, longitude, geographic term, physical feature, compass, landform, isthmus.

While I Was Out

I was out of school on Thursday and Friday to celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShanah, with my extended family.  The start of the new year is a time of quiet reflection on the year just completed and the possibilities for the year ahead.  It is difficult each year to take time away from my class just as we are getting "into the swing" of things, but also allows me some time to reflect on how we can make the year the best it can be.  I heard wonderful reports from the other Grade 5 teachers about my classes and how they worked in my absence.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I am so very proud.

One Pine Glen tradition that occurred during my time away was the Heroes' Assembly.  Thanks to Mr. Callahan, I was able to watch video of the ceremony and see our Grade 5 students standing proudly and singing out.  Bravo!

Place Value, Adding, and Subtracting

Dear 5th Grade Families,

We are beginning the year in math with the study of place value. Your child will be learning about very large numbers up to the trillions and for decimals with digits to the thousandths place. Together, we will read, compare, order and round numbers.

Place value is a vital concept when adding or subtracting mentally and when determining if an answer is reasonable.

You can help your child with place value; encourage him/her to read decimal numbers on labels or to identify the value of digits in larger numbers.

This week, your child will bring home number cards and directions for the "Place the Digit" activity. Please set time aside to do this activity together.

Thank you,
Ms. Marcus