5th Grade Fall Fun

 October was a busy month in 5th grade, and I can't believe it is already November! Check it out!

Monster Open House

Thanks to everyone who came to our Monster Open House. The kids worked hard on their narrative writing, and really got creative with their recycled monster characters.

Fort Day- Class Celebration

The kids earned their 20th compliment, and they chose to have a Fort Day in celebration. They had a few minutes to move desks and chairs, design, and build, then they enjoyed some ice cream and some games on their iPad in their forts. They had a lot of fun! They even did a great job cleaning up and getting our classroom back to normal after the celebration.

Missouri Credit Union and Nutrition Classes

Volunteers from the Missouri Credit Union visit our class about once per month to teach Junior Achievement Lessons. These lessons help kids learn how to be responsible with money and what it means to be an entrepreneur and an employee. These lessons will help us prepare for our field trip to Biztown later this year. Also, Ms. Zapata has continued to teach us about My Plate so we can make healthy choices with our food. Many kids tried beets for the first time and liked them!

Making Inferences as we Read

In reading, we've been learning about theme and what it means to make an inference. We've practiced this skill by making inferences from interesting pictures and by pausing to ask ourselves questions as we read text.

1st Grade Buddies and Science

The 5th graders were really excited to finally meet their 1st grade buddies this week. We did a nature scavenger hunt outside through the prairie and the outdoor classroom. The 5th graders were awesome and set a great example for what it means to be a learner outside during science. I think some of them gained a new appreciation for 1st grade teachers!

Fall Party

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who helped organize, serve food, or supply games and snacks for our party. It was a beautiful day, the kids had a lot of fun and enjoyed some great treats.

That's it for now! Check back next month for our next update and picture overload!

5th Grade Fun

 I can't believe our first month of school is behind us! I want to tell you a little about what we've been up to in 5th grade so far.

Teamwork

We've done several activities and challenges that involved a lot of teamwork. We've talked about what it should look like and sound like when kids are on task, being respectful, and helping their team achieve a task. Check out some pictures of our teamwork activity called Number Trouble.

Math

In math, we just finished up Unit 1. In unit 1 we learned how to find area of a rectangle with fractional sides using the formula l x w, and how to find the volume of a rectangular prism using the formula l x w x h. We also learned about the order of operations to help know which part of an equation we need to solve first. Check out some pictures of our exploring volume lesson.

Reading

In reading we've been focusing on story elements, plot, and summarizing. We practice these skills in class and we apply them to some of the stories we've read so far together this year. We are participating in the #Bookaday challenge as we try to read one picture book every day of the school year. So far we've read 22 books together.

Nutrition/Health Science

In our nutrition lessons, Mrs. Zapata comes to help us learn how to make healthy choices with our diet. She usually brings some new healthy foods for us to try too.

Science

In science we are working through our first unit, Matter and Energy in Ecosystems. We're taking an in depth look at food chains and learning what would happen in an ecosystem if one part of the food chain dies. Earlier this week as part of our study of decomposers, we set up a mold lab. We are trying to see what might encourage or inhibit mold growth. Check out a couple of our mold bags.

Class Dojo Rewards

Students work hard everyday to earn Dojo Points. They can earn points throughout the day by being safe, respectful, learners. They can use their points to buy classroom reward passes such as Sit in the Teachers Chair, Show and Tell, or Eat Lunch with the Teacher, etc. Check out one of our students who earned a show and tell pass to show us a Copperhead Snake skin. 

I try to update the blog about once a month, but I'll always make sure to email when I've added something. Thanks for checking it out!