Fifth Grade Program

It is time for the fifth grade program.  Students have been working very hard in class to prepare for this special performance.  The program is on Tuesday, February 5^th with a school assembly at 2:30 PM and an evening performance at 7 PM.  Students need to arrive at May Watts and be in their classrooms no later, yet no earlier, than 6:45 PM.   The program will last approximately 30 minutes.  Following the program students will report back to their classrooms to be picked up. 

Students may wear clothing that makes them feel comfortable and special for both performances. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at Danielle_Donaldson@ipsd.org.

Thank you,

Danielle Donaldson

Music Teacher

Wonder field trip

All fifth grade students are going on a field trip to meet the author of a new novel for young people entitled Wonder.  It has been accepted by the city of Naperville as this year's "Naperville Reads" book. The field trip will be to Metea on Wednesday, Feb. 6th at 10:00.

Wonder Resources

Naperville Reads http://www.napervillereads.com/index.html

Author's website  http://rjpalacio.com/index.html

Educator's Guide http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Wonder_EG_WEB.pdf

Choose Kind  http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/choose-kind/pdf/trudy-ludwig-guide-wonder.pdf

 

 

Students interested in getting their photos on TV: The mayoral proclamation will be at the Naperville City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 15th at 7:00pm.

Science Fair

Follow this simple formula for a successful Science Fair project:

1. Think of something you are curious about.
2. Do some research and learn about your topic.
3. Come up with a testable question about your topic. 
4. Come up with a way to test the question. 
5. Run your test, and see if the results make sense to you.
6. Improve your test by being more careful, precise or specific. 
7. Make a display to tell us about what happened.
8. Bring your display to the Science Fair. 

Information Session: January 15th at 7 PM in the LMC
Science Fair: Thursday, February 7th, 6:30-8:00 PM 

January 15-18

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. Remember, no school next Monday 1/21 to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Report cards come home in back pack mail this Friday. 

Spelling: Unit 15 test will be this Friday.  Words will be uploaded after school tomorrow. 

5H Math:  Well, we are still working on finishing up our unit 5 test. I hope everyone will finish on Tuesday or be very close to finishing.   Once we are finished with our test, we will try some more challenging fraction addition and subtraction problems that include borrowing in order to subtract. We will also review some skills from previous units including reading and writing decimals, and adding, subtracting, and dividing decimals. 

Reading/Writing: Last week kids wrote a prediction about their independent reading books. This week they will tell whether their prediction was correct or not and explain what did happen if they were incorrect. We will talk about why constantly making and confirming or rejecting predictions helps us as readers. Students will also have their daily independent reading time and I will be conferencing with students. 

This week students will get back several writing pieces. They will read any feedback I had for them, and I will ask them to determine what they most need to work on and what they are doing well. Students will bring these pieces and their thoughts home to share with you! 

Students will complete another expository writing piece this week, practicing organizing our thoughts in the 4-square.  Students have started another writer's workshop writing piece of their choice...ask them what they chose to write about! 

Grammar:  This week we will learn about personal pronouns and why pronouns are useful in our writing. 
Science: This week our exploration of magnets will help us to determine what magnets attract, if magnetism can pass through objects, and we will have fun with magnetic "tug of war". 

January 7-11

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I'm looking forward to seeing all the kids tomorrow.  

This Tuesday students will take the winter CBMs. This Thursday students will take the individual reading CBM that tests students reading fluency. 

Spelling: Unit 14 test will be this Friday.  Words will be uploaded after school on Monday. 

5H Math:  Before winter break, students were working on doubling cookie recipes to practice adding fractions in a real life problem. On Monday, students will take a look at their work and revise as necessary. On Tuesday and Wednesday we will practice comparing and ordering fractions as well as continuing to add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers. Students will begin the unit 5 test on Thursday.  

There is an optional study session after school Wednesday until 4:10 as well as during lunch and/or recess on Wednesday. As always, I encourage kids to come to one or both for as long as needed.  They should have in mind what they would like to work on.   

Reading/Writing: In reading we will be thinking about making predictions and confirming  or rejecting their validity. We will also be differentiating between major and minor details in reading texts. We will be reading from our science texts, and this strategy will help students determine what to focus on from the reading. 

Students will also read a story from their Harcourt books this week and take the comprehension test on Thursday. 

In writing, we have been focusing on using the 4-square to organize our writing. I will model writing a conclusion and students will finish a prompt from before break. 

Grammar:  Nouns will start out our week again. We need to think about the rules of plural and possessive nouns and how to correctly show plural and possessive words in our writing.  Then we will move on to pronouns. 

 

Science: In the beginning of the week we will practice making different atoms with clay.  Then we will begin learning about magnets by studying the properties of magnets: what makes a magnet, what is attracted to magnets, and more.