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Dates to Remember

 

Friday, September 17

Field Trip to Platte River Park for Gold Panning

 

5th grade 

Memorizing the Math Facts is a focus for 5th grade this year.  We have taken the 100 Addition Facts Test and have been working on addition facts in Mad Minute. 

 

Our first unit in Math is Place Value, Addition and Subtraction.  We have worked on place value to the billions period, writing numbers in standard and in expanded form.  We have also worked on decimal places to the thousandths place.  In this chapter we look at comparing numbers (greater than, less than, and equal), ordering numbers from greatest to least and least to greatest, and rounding numbers.  Next we will work on addition and subtraction, estimating sums and differences, and working with zeros in subtraction.  In all our chapters, there are new problem solving strategies and applications of those strategies. 

 

While working on this chapter, we will continue to work on basic addition and subtraction facts.  Students should be spending time at home working on these facts.  Just 10 minutes a day makes a big difference in their mastery of basic facts.

 

When we complete this chapter, we will move to multiplication.

Math

 

 

 

 

4th grade

Memorizing the Math Facts is a focus for 4th grade this year.  We have taken the 100 Addition Facts Test and have been working on addition facts in Mad Minute. 

 

Our first unit in Math is Place Value.  We have worked on place value to the millions period.  We practiced naming the various periods (ones period, thousands period, millions period) and the place within the period (ones, tens, hundreds).   In this chapter, we looked at comparing numbers (greater than, less than, and equal), ordering numbers from greatest to least and least to greatest, and estimating.  We will work on finding the mid point of a number line, making change and working word problems using about money.  We will learn a new problem solving technique (make a list or table) and apply it to word problems. 

 

Students should be spending time at home working on the basic math facts.  Just 10 minutes a day makes a big difference in their mastery of basic facts.

 

Our next chapter will be on addition and subtraction, including work on math facts, estimating sums and differences, and problem solving techniques.

 

5th grade

 

We are working on an introduction to Ancient Cultures and how we learned about them.  We will then begin a study of some of the early civilizations beginning with people who lived in the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia.  As we study cultures, we will look at the religion, government, the ways of writing, and rise and fall of each of the cultures. 

 

In addition, we are working on answering questions in a complete sentence, using the question in the answer.  This process will be used in Social Studies and in Science.

 

Social Studies

4th grade

 

We are working on an introduction to 4th grade Social Studies by looking at the questions “What is Geography?” and “Why do we study Geography?” 

 

We will look at the way the United States is divided into regions, and then study each region starting with the East.  When we study each region, we look at the land and climate, resources and economy, and how the people of the region live. 

While we are studying a particular region, the students are expected to learn the location of each state in the region, its capital city, and the postal abbreviation.  They will be tested on this information at the end of each unit.
5th grade

 

Our current unit is on plants, their parts and the things they need to survive.  We will continue studying plants by discussing photosynthesis, respiration, the web of life, the oxygen cycle, transpiration and plant reproduction. 

We have started the unit by observing some plants, taking them out of the soil to see their roots, naming and drawing their parts, then replanting them. 

 

We will continue our unit by planting seeds, looking at plant cells under a microscope, and trying to start new plants from old (starting with a potato, carrot, onion, leaf of a plant, etc) 

 

Science

4th grade

 

We have started the year with a study of animals.  We will discuss various animals, what they need to live, and how we divide them into groups according to their traits. 

 

Students have started their study by taking a library book about a particular animal and writing information about the animal.  Each child then drew 4 pictures showing traits of their animal and its habitat.  Next the students will tell their classmates what they have learned about the animal they studied.  They will then do a second animal. 

 

Later we will look at animals that are classified as invertebrates and vertebrates.  Then we will look at more specific groups such as insects, arachnids, mollusks, fish, amphibian, reptiles, birds and mammals.