January/February 2015:
So as third quarter gets into full swing here are a few things we are working on:
5th Grade Social Studies: We are knee deep into American History!!
Having just finished a chapter on Colonial Times, we now take on how the Colonists became unhappy with King George and the series of events that lead to America's independence.
We enjoyed pretending to be in Colonial Williamsburg and experience some of the activities that would have gone on there. Some of the letters and sketches reflecting on that activity are in the hallway.
These next chapters will dive deep into American history and the characters involved. We will even have a debate between Patriots and Loyalists complete with characters and costumes!
5th Grade Literature: We began this unit by reading 2 selections from our Treaures book. We really enjoyed them both and a highlight was creating our own imaginary land. Those creations are hanging up in the hallway.
We are in the midst of reading and discussing a series of 6 Chris Van Allsburg books. He is probably best known for The Polar Express and Jumanji. We will conclude with picking one of the 6 books to investigate and create a class presentation about. We will use those presentations for notetaking and the information will be on a final test.
All this leads into our Fantasy unit. We will begin reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis within the next 2 weeks. We will read it together as a class and work on vocabulary, journals, discussions and comprehension as part of this unit. If your student reads ahead, they will have to go back and read the parts we are on in class.
Don't forget the third quarter book report is due February 23rd. Directions were sent home, shared on Google, posted on Mykoob under the due date and on the blog. Since we start reading a new novel in the next week or so, it would be a great idea to have your student complete reading their book report book before that time.
6th Grade Literature:
We are working Historical Fiction/Biography/Autobiography. We have read several great selections from our 6th grade anthology. We are reading "Dog of Pompeii" this week and discussing that historical event. There will be a unit test on Historical fiction and the stories we have read next week.
We will begin reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry next week or the following. It is a great historical fiction. We will do some basic research about that time in history as well.
Don't forget the third quarter book report is due February 25/26th. It would be a great idea to have y our student complete reading their book report book before we begin reading Number the Stars. Directions for the book report were sent home, shared on Google, posted on Mykoob under the due date and on the blog.
