Fifth Grade Math: Today we reviewed area homework, and in class students worked on area of nine rectangles where the perimeter remained the same (36 feet) but by the time the rectangle became a square the area increased from 17 square feet to 81 square feet.  This should be helpful when students are designing a pen for Mr. Trottle's terriers with the 90 feet of fencing and the sides of the two buildings.

Today I passed back the students' quote response books. There was some good writing exhibited, yet no one fully related their experience to one of the quotes. This next one that is due October 11th is about technology. I am hoping that students will have a nice discussion with parents about technology and how it can be a double edged sword. Much technology is very positive and has altered human existence in many wonderful ways. I, for example, would not wish to live without electricity and all of the conveniences that it brings to our lives.  At the same time, the generating of electricity often produces greenhouse gasses which are detrimental to our planet.  Television and computers provide us instantaneous information about important events across the world, yet too much "watching" is harmful to our health. I am asking students to write in a new way, by first thinking and talking about a complex topic, and finally putting their thoughts into writing.

Geography: Many students have tested out of several of the geography tests, yet 41% of the class has not taken even one of them. Please ask your child where they are in regards to the geography assessments.

History: We have begun to learn about Ancient Egypt. We have had some introductory discussions which involved some new vocabulary including civilization, monotheism, and polytheism. Students brainstormed in partners to fill out a Venn Diagram that compared Ancient Egypt to Modern Egypt.

Fifth Grade Math: Students did a very nice job on the, "Apple Anyone?" word problem. I saw much improvement in organization, labeling, and execution of the problem. We are now working on perimeter and area of rectangles. I gave students a challenging problem that requires them to design a pen for two hyper Jack Russell Terriers. After tomorrow's lesson, students will probably  give it another try to increase their design's area.

We completed discussion of The Cay. Students rated this book either 9 or 10 out of 10. Wow! It is gratifying when students respond so well to a book that I also rate really highly. Students are reading independently for the next 2.5 weeks. I have given three choices to show their understanding of this new book. 1. Oral book presentation  2. Book cover project  or 3. Written book review.  Students were given a rubric or a check off for each choice. I would like them to commit to their choice tomorrow. The project will be completed for 10/11/16.      

Students received their hike information today at the end of school.

Students may begin testing out of the different geography requirements starting tomorrow. I believe many are ready to take the latitude / longitude test, the hemispheres test, the continents and oceans test. A few have already studied the European and Middle Eastern countries. If you have internet available at home I highly recommend that your child use the site called Lizardpoint.com.  It is a wonderful interactive site that students may use to practice memorizing any of the requirements on our list. The students used the site today during class.

Tomorrow, we will have our final discussion of The Cay. It is imperative that your child complete reading and responding to the guiding questions tonight if it was not completed in school. We will begin  concentrating on writing for the next few weeks.  In my fifth grade math class students were given three versions of a new word problem called, "Apple Anyone"? There are mild, medium, and nice and spicy versions. Students should choose the one they feel is "right" for them. Students may choose to do more than one. It is due next Monday. There are multiplication problems tonight that are to be done by the partial products method. They will be reviewed in class tomorrow. Today in geography class I taught the "why" and the location of the Tropics of Cancer and the Tropics of Capricorn.  I quizzed the students on naming coordinates with latitude and longitude. Most did quite well. The requirements for the geography unit were given to the students last week. They must complete all of the testing by Monday, October 24th. The focus is to memorize the countries that formed the Ancient Middle East and Europe. I feel it is important for students to have an idea where these places are located since so many of them are in the news daily. Students may ask to take one portion at a time. Every student should be able to take the hemispheres and longitude and latitude assessments this week. Then that part will be out of the way. Next, they may choose to test out of the continents and oceans.  Etc. As with any large task, breaking it down  makes it much more manageable. This is a part of your child's learning that you could help with by quizzing him or her on a blank map that will be in your child's possession. Thanks much.

We had another busy day today. Students are going to be writing tomorrow. It is time for the pre narrative baseline writing piece. Therefore the chapters 15 and 16 will not be discussed until Monday. In math we continued with multiplication. There is a very nice site called Multiplication.com that I find quite good for students to practice multiplication skills.

We had a very busy day today. Our Cay discussion was quite good. Students are noticing that Phillip's attitude about Timothy is changing. He no longer feels Timothy is less of a person than he because he is black. This is one of the obvious themes of the book. In fifth grade math we reviewed the "All That Glitters" word problem. Students rated their efforts on this very first problem of the year by checking off columns on the rubric. There were many good efforts. I noticed some students did not label well enough. Students were given a new problem called, "The Crawler," which is based on factual information. The Crawler is the giant machine that moves the spacecraft from the hanger to the launch pad. It gets 34 feet per gallon. Students must calculate how many gallons of fuel are used on the 3 1/2 mile trip from the hanger to the launch pad. It is due next Monday. In geography students practiced finding latitude and longitude using a couple of games on line.

This has been a short but full week. Students continue to read The Cay and respond to guiding questions which form the basis of our discussions. The dialect, which was challenging for students at first, is now fun for most of them. Chapters 8 -9 are due Monday. We have also been working on geography. We took a "field trip" to the giant map near the bathrooms on our wing. Students made observations including the fact that the land mass is greater in the Northern Hemisphere. A student pointed out that that must mean that the population is greater there than in the Southern Hemisphere. We spent a half hour working on longitude and latitude. There are good practice sites on the internet that you may wish to have your child visit to become more comfortable with locations skills. In fifth grade math we are working on different strategies of multiplication. The word problem, All That Glitters, is due Monday. Have a great weekend.

Friday, September 2, 2016

Dear Parents,

We are off to a great start in our 5/6 classroom.  Like all of the other teachers at EMES, I wonder how I got so lucky to have the best group of students.

Academically, we have gotten into some purposeful learning. 

Literacy: In literacy we have been working on inference, which will be part of our discussions all year long. We are also reading our first class book, The Cay by Theodore Taylor. Our discussions have been quite rich. Chapter 3 will be discussed on Tuesday. It is important that your child complete the guiding question responses in order to be ready to participate.

The quote response about beginnings is due Tuesday, September 6, 2016.

Geography: We had a quick assessment on the  states. Many students had forgotten them since last year. Students will have the opportunity to retake it next week. Today students learned about geographical terms such as equator, latitude, longitude, etc. EMES will take part in the Geo Bee. If your child is interested in geography he or she might want to take part in it. We will have an initial meeting soon.

Math: 5th Grade: Students had timed tests in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For many students there is much work to be done as having instant recall of the facts is crucial for performing well in fifth grade math.  Students also played some math games and worked on a challenge activity that helped them understand that 292 million is a huge number and that when thought of as a line of one inch segments would stretch from New York City to....... Well, ask your fifth grader. The word problem, “All That Glitters” is due Monday, September 12th.  Students may choose between the mild or medium versions. They are expected to choose for their ability, not for ease of completion. Students have received directions for solving a word problem, a sample word problem, and a rubric. It is expected that these resources will be employed when solving word problems throughout the year. Students have received a challenge problem, The Railroad Problem. You may work on it with your child. It is expected that he or she work on it for at least 30 minutes. The steps should be written down, as it is very easy to forget what was done to solve it.

6th Grade: In 6th grade math, students worked on multiplication and division timed tests, as well as a math skills review assessment. 6th graders have a Problem of the Week, called the Railroad Problem. This assignment requires students to write step by step directions to show how they solved the problem. Ask your student if they solved the problem.

Here are some important dates to remember:

Picture day is Tuesday, September 6th.

Parent Information Night is Tuesday, September 6th from 6PM to 7:30 PM. There will be two information sessions in our classroom. The first will be from 6:00 - 6:25 and the second from 6:30 to 6:50. I will be speaking about the 5th and 6th grade academic program and expectations for students. This evening is not the usual open house. It is directed towards parents to inform you of what is going on in your child’s classroom.

The 5/6 team building  trip to the Wrightsville Dam is on Friday, September 9th. Please return the permission form by Tuesday, September 6th.

The all school hike form is also enclosed. Please sign it and return it by Friday, September 9th.

Boy, that is a lot of information. I hope that you have a great weekend, and I look forward to seeing you Tuesday evening.

Sincerely,

Mr. Quackenbush