Monthly Updates for you!
2025 It's June and the end of the school year!
Our year is coming to a close.... can you believe it? It seems like only yesterday we were anxious and excited about beginning our 5th grade journey together! Your child has grown so much this year, and we are happy to be able to help them grow to be Middle School Students! Thank you for entrusting us with your child/children!
There is still much to learn! In Social Studies, we have learned the causes of the American Civil War, and now we will learn about some of the major battles, the amendments passed to ensure freedom for ALL people, and American life at the time of the war. Students will have the opportunity to use Civil War "slang" in class as they pen letters home from a battle site.
Students will create and share Speeches of Demonstration. These assignments and lessons allow your child to write, share, record and present a skill or craft they know well. Public speaking is so important, as it sequencing with detail, and our students will do a great job! Students will also finish reading their class novel, A Long Way From Chicago!
Now is the time to celebrate our learning and feel ready for Middle School. Celebrate your child with us!
Have a safe and enjoyable summer. Please stay in touch, and thank you for a beautiful school year!
Marvelous May is here! May we keep learning and growing, May we look forward to Middle School,
May we keep having fun!
After completing the NJSLA Assessments, learning continues throughout the month of May. Our classes have completed their study of poetry through creation and analysis, and we are publishing good copies and will move forward! After we share our poetry books, we will launch into a new unit of study: Memoir! We will read together a brilliant work of historical fiction that reads like a memoir, called A Long Way from Chicago. Ask your child about it! This will occur after we conclude our fantasy novels. In writing, students will learn to craft a memoir of their own! Together, our Social Studies classes will explore the causes of the American Civil War. May is also a month that celebrates the achievements of Asian Americans so we will certainly learn about some notable figures!
Please continue to look in our Google Classroom to note your child's work and progress this trimester as we try to master longer days of learning! Your help and support is VALUED.
Happy April! Spring Break, Spring Weather, Springing into a longer school day, Springing into Poetry and so much more!
April's reading and writing work is EXCITING! The students will spend time in school learning about and creating POETRY! This will be a great way to tap their individual creativity and allow self-expression with some writing freedom! Look for more information to follow! Poetry begins right before our Spring Break, as do our book club groups! We will be making poetry books and having fun!
In Social Studies, we will continue our covered wagon project and end with a group sharing and then learn how our nation grew and spread with new ideas and inventions. This growth led to struggle as Americans began to speak out against the evils of slavery, which was the nation’s worst evil. It would take a war to destroy this evil institution, and we will learn about those who struggled, fought, and triumphed. We learn from the past so that we do not take our freedoms for granted.
We will be working with greater rigor and accountability as we work this third trimester! Hooray! We look forward to the hard work in school as we continue to prepare ourselves for Middle School.
We Welcome March
with Read Across America, Women's History Month and Westward Expansion!
This month, our students will be using their talents to explore the west in reading and in writing, and as they learn about the diverse people and landmarks of the western United States. Students will create their own nonfiction book! Look for them in Google Classroom! This helped them "experience" the west as never before!
March is also Women's History Month, so look for your child to be learning about great women in history!
Be sure to ask your child about our "Bill of Rights Rap!"
Thanks again for all you continue to do to prepare your child for school each day! Together, our commitment to learning will benefit our children. We will see you at conferences soon!
Will the Groundhog see its shadow? How much longer will the winter chill be with us?
Happy February to all!
We are having fun and growing as learners!
Students will begin reading and analyzing non-fiction as we move into new Reading and Writing Units of Study! As students become familiar with text features and structure, our focus will then be on Westward Expansion as we tie American History/Social Studies into our research! As the marking period continues and even as the third marking period begins, students will be authoring non-fiction books based on research and using skills learned in class!
Each day in February, we look forward honoring a hero/heroine as we celebrate African American History Month! Ask your child to share with you!
Soon students will memorize the Preamble to the US Constitution, and the students will study the Bill of Rights in rap form! Ask your child about it!
The children look forward to Valentines Day (celebrated the 13th), and Read Across America too! We thank you for your continued support of your child's learning!
January, 2025:
We welcome 2025 and look forward to the excitement and new learning that is to come!
Reader's Workshop:
We will continue with our historical fiction reading unit this month. Students love reading historical fiction and learned many skills that we applied to our own independent reading. Mid way through the month, we will begin our non-fiction unit of study.
Writer's Workshop:
In writing, the class will continue their persuasive essays and argument research from December. Students will present these in class. This will be fun so look for the finished product! We will then begin our non-fiction unit of study.
Social Studies:
Social Studies lessons on the American Revolution will conclude and the class will begin learning about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights at the end of the month! At mid-month, students will rediscover key moments of the Civil Rights Era by reading and writing about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and creating their own essays titled "My Dream for America and for the World"
We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead! Thank you for all you do to promote literacy and industry in your children! Here's hoping for a safe and healthy new year!
Can it be December Already?
Thank you to all who made the time to visit with us at conference time! November ended so well, with an opportunity to meet with you and share your child's progress!
Report Cards come home to you this month. Look for them to come home with your child! The first trimester marking period ends the first week of December.
Reader's Workshop: Historical fiction will be the genre we explore beginning this month and the classes are reading historical fiction along with their independent novels. This genre combines the best of Social Studies and Reading and allows students to develop their thoughts and responses using historical content as the backdrop! I invite and encourage them and ask your help to encourage them to read each day!
Writer's Workshop: Students are researching chosen topics and will be crafting their persuasive/argument essay. They have come a long way in writing with precision and detail. I am so proud of their efforts! There is a December calendar and several winter holiday rooms for daily "quick writes" - we will have fun writing across a variety of topics, learn some information about holidays, and make time to appreciate each other!
Social Studies: We will begin investigating battles that made up the Revolutionary War. We will also create a comic Superhero from Revolutionary times in our own graphic novel! As we explore places and learn about people, student teams will create video clips - "newscasts" to share what they learned about a particular battle or hero! These will occur in late December and early January.
Winter Break begins December 20 - our last day of classes this calendar year is December 20. We will return on January 2nd and welcome in a New Year - One that is healthy and happy and safe for all of us.
November came so quickly! We celebrate all of our hard work and dedication, and are grateful for all of the support given us!
November is a month of gratitude, and we are grateful for many people and things!
We celebrate our Veterans and will honor them this month!
We are grateful for our parents and families who will videoconference or meet in person with the teachers later this month! Sign up Genius Went out on Friday, October 25!
Reader's Workshop: We are continuing character development in historical fiction as well as beginning to read critically as we analyze persuasive texts. Students will be looking for claims, reasons to support the claims and elaboration (evidence to support the reason). This will tie into our persuasive writing unit!
***Look for our "character celebration" as the 5th grade Language Arts classes "become" a fiction character from a novel read this year.
Writer's Workshop: Our current writing unit is Persuasive... get ready to witness our students researching, planning and trying to convince their readers.
Persuasive essays are the theme of the month! We are currently researching the value of chocolate milk in our cafeterias and deciding to keep or eliminate it! After we conclude our essays, students will be choosing a topic about which to write, after some practice with the topic chosen in class! Wait to see just how persuasive your child can be!
Social Studies: Chapters 12 and 13 have us analyzing the sections of the Declaration of Independence and the motivation of colonists to be free! We will have officially "declared" independence and will begin to prepare for the American Revolution! Look for lots of great work to follow!
October 2024 (already?)
October is here! We welcome the fall with open arms and open minds!
Reader's Workshop: During the first week of October, students will move into book partnerships/book clubs. We will first practice with a class novel before choosing our own. Book themes center on social issues and lessons will be geared around considering how characters develop and evolve in realistic fiction, and how an author's craft contributes to an enriching reading experience. Responses will be centered on both character and social concerns. Ask your child about his or her book!
Writer's Workshop: We are completing our personal narratives this month and will move into realistic fiction stories. This is a great time to use the skills we have developed and honed as we wrote about ourselves and apply them to a work of fiction! Look for these to follow personal narratives.
Social Studies: After looking at taxation without representation, students will learn about three Patriots and three Loyalists of the 18th century, students will plan and deliver a lively debate taking on the personas of the six people studied. Look for pictures on this site soon!
Thank you for all you do to support your child's learning. PLEASE encourage him/her to read. The best writers are those who read the most!
NB: We will be writing essays of tribute to our United States Veterans! Please let your child know of a family member, friend or neighbor whom he/she might interview for this project. Essays are expected completed by November 4.
September 2024
Welcome to 5th Grade!
We are so excited to begin a new school year!
Together, with Mrs. Shipman, Ms. McGurren Mrs. Fyczok and the entire MIS team, your 5th grade experience will be everything you want it to be - and SO MUCH MORE!
Here is a breakdown of the things we will learn this year.
I look forward to beginning this new academic year, and look forward to meeting our students and parents. It is an honor to work with and for you this year!
Our Back to School presentation will be held in person on September 12. We look forward to seeing you there!
Curricular Overview:
Language Arts:
Writer's Workshop : Personal Narratives, Research, Book Reflections, Interviews, Descriptive Essays, Persuasive Essays, Responding to fiction, Story Writing, Responding to Prompts, Poetry...
Reader's Workshop: Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Non-fiction, Biography, Memoir, Fantasy, Poetry and Short Stories.
Skills: Literature Skills (main idea, sequencing, context clues, figurative language, etc.), Writing Skills (types of writing, purposes of writing, paragraph and essay formation), Grammar and Usage Skills, Spelling and Vocabulary (Word Study) Skills, Handwriting and Keyboarding skills.
Social Studies:
American History: from the period preceding the American Revolution (colonization), to post Civil War Reconstruction, with additional focus on the U.S. Constitution, Cultural Diversity and Current Events.
Geography: Map Skills development, learning the U.S. states and capitals, reading and interpreting maps and data.
This month's skills and work includes:
We will begin by establishing various routines ( in the Classroom, in the Google Classrooms and our independent routines) and will jump into Workshop (Writer's and Reader's) by focusing on narratives!
We will also investigate the founding of the thirteen original British colonies.
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