Hi Parents!
The start of this week we struggled to be our normal selves. Transitions were slow and arduous, excitement for learning was waning, and there was just an overarching feeling of melancholy in the room. The work being completed was definitely not up to our usual standard. Some lessons that I thought would be engaging were met with sullen looks and there was even an occasional audible groan. This struck me. I drove home on Monday and Tuesday a bit confused, sideways (mentally not literally… I assure you I was staying in my proper lane), and worried that we were succumbing to end of the year fatigue already. We sat down on Wednesday morning and talked as a class. We shared thoughts. We were honest and supportive. Instead of pushing harder to seek out that learning moment that had so eluded me all week… I decided that what we needed more than anything was a reminder that school is fun. Class is fun. Learning, being together, and our year is a joyous adventure. So we altered our planned science lesson and spent the next fifteen minutes playing a game on our iPads and discussing. It was amazing. Smiles were numerous. And it paid off. The remainder of the week was met with energy, enthusiasm, and a newfound fervor for learning. We ended up having a really successful week. Shout out to the students for pushing through and rising to the occasion!
Reminder that the 5th grade picnic is scheduled for May 29th! Mark your calendars! More information will follow.
Writing this week was spent practicing figurative language. Each day students were given a title to their writing.
In reading we capped off our adventure story reading for the year by reading The Most Dangerous Game as a class. This is a complex text, but has some undeniable similarities with Storm Runners/Scar Island. Students were required to follow along each day while the story was read and look for particular moments in the text. They were seeking out foreshadowing, word choice decisions by the author, tension building moments and more. After each reading students would team up and answer questions involving some of the topics below:
Math this week focused on conversions. All this week we worked on metric conversions and next week will be on customary. By mid-week we were doing problems that looked something like this: 2.35 km + 58 dm + 129 cm = __________ m. Are you kidding? Students had to convert three units to meters and then add the decimal. Pretty impressive. Please note… this is not a standard that I require all students to master. It is listed as a “supporting standard” in our scope and sequence. Nevertheless, a large portion of the class has mastered this standard after a few short class periods. We will not be returning to this topic again this year. Instead we will continue to spend the last few weeks addressing any other “supporting/additional” standards and spiraling back to major skills that students need to succeed beyond 5th grade.
Science was spent investigating the five types of symbiotic relationships in nature. We looked at predation, commensalism, mutualism, parasitism, and ammensalism. Each day I gave examples of them and students recorded their learning. Friday we had a short quiz over the topic and students were able to show all they learned over the course of the week.
Lastly, in SMORE we grouped up and tried to complete assigned tasks. In a schoology discussion board I would post a job offer, with a due date for the task to be completed, and a monetary value for the job. Students would either accept or decline the role. If they accepted the job they would have to have it ready by the deadline and the chosen end product would get the money. For example… Due Monday we have a thirteen line poem that is powerful and thought provoking on the topic of bullying in schools. The winning poem will earn the group a fictional $345,000. Ask your child which roles they have completed for their team!
Have a wonderful weekend!
The start of this week we struggled to be our normal selves. Transitions were slow and arduous, excitement for learning was waning, and there was just an overarching feeling of melancholy in the room. The work being completed was definitely not up to our usual standard. Some lessons that I thought would be engaging were met with sullen looks and there was even an occasional audible groan. This struck me. I drove home on Monday and Tuesday a bit confused, sideways (mentally not literally… I assure you I was staying in my proper lane), and worried that we were succumbing to end of the year fatigue already. We sat down on Wednesday morning and talked as a class. We shared thoughts. We were honest and supportive. Instead of pushing harder to seek out that learning moment that had so eluded me all week… I decided that what we needed more than anything was a reminder that school is fun. Class is fun. Learning, being together, and our year is a joyous adventure. So we altered our planned science lesson and spent the next fifteen minutes playing a game on our iPads and discussing. It was amazing. Smiles were numerous. And it paid off. The remainder of the week was met with energy, enthusiasm, and a newfound fervor for learning. We ended up having a really successful week. Shout out to the students for pushing through and rising to the occasion!
Reminder that the 5th grade picnic is scheduled for May 29th! Mark your calendars! More information will follow.
Writing this week was spent practicing figurative language. Each day students were given a title to their writing.
- Monday it was “Whatever it is — It wasn’t me.”
- Tuesday was “Cannonball”
- Wednesday was “Rage Quit”
- Thursday was “Karate Chop”
- Friday was “How did I do?”
In reading we capped off our adventure story reading for the year by reading The Most Dangerous Game as a class. This is a complex text, but has some undeniable similarities with Storm Runners/Scar Island. Students were required to follow along each day while the story was read and look for particular moments in the text. They were seeking out foreshadowing, word choice decisions by the author, tension building moments and more. After each reading students would team up and answer questions involving some of the topics below:
- Why the author included dialogue in the opening part of the story
- Compare characters and their traits
- Identify and explain areas that foreshadowed something that was upcoming
- Support all arguments with evidence from the text
- Discuss conflicts that characters were going through (whether it was internal or external)
- Analyze how the setting may have been selected by the author
- Identify specific words the author used to get a particular point across.
Math this week focused on conversions. All this week we worked on metric conversions and next week will be on customary. By mid-week we were doing problems that looked something like this: 2.35 km + 58 dm + 129 cm = __________ m. Are you kidding? Students had to convert three units to meters and then add the decimal. Pretty impressive. Please note… this is not a standard that I require all students to master. It is listed as a “supporting standard” in our scope and sequence. Nevertheless, a large portion of the class has mastered this standard after a few short class periods. We will not be returning to this topic again this year. Instead we will continue to spend the last few weeks addressing any other “supporting/additional” standards and spiraling back to major skills that students need to succeed beyond 5th grade.
Science was spent investigating the five types of symbiotic relationships in nature. We looked at predation, commensalism, mutualism, parasitism, and ammensalism. Each day I gave examples of them and students recorded their learning. Friday we had a short quiz over the topic and students were able to show all they learned over the course of the week.
Lastly, in SMORE we grouped up and tried to complete assigned tasks. In a schoology discussion board I would post a job offer, with a due date for the task to be completed, and a monetary value for the job. Students would either accept or decline the role. If they accepted the job they would have to have it ready by the deadline and the chosen end product would get the money. For example… Due Monday we have a thirteen line poem that is powerful and thought provoking on the topic of bullying in schools. The winning poem will earn the group a fictional $345,000. Ask your child which roles they have completed for their team!
Have a wonderful weekend!