Last+Quarter

March 5, 2010

We have had a wildly busy two weeks filled with many special events and activities! This Monday we were treated to a wonderful performance by our visiting poetry group, Poetry Alive! Our class also joined 5MJ for a small group session with the performers on Friday. Another exciitng event in our class this week was the arrival of another new student; Mattew Park is a Korean boy joining us from Vienna, Austria, where he has lived for the last few years. The biggest event of the week was, of course, the Temple Fair. In spite of the cool weather, the children had a great time visiting all of the games, demonstrations, food vendors and performances. The children did a terrific job in their Chinese dance performances as well!



In reading workshop we have spent some time reading aloud and the class participated in several lessons on how to analyze characters. The children have also continued their independent reading and each child completed a conference with me in which we discussed and updated their self-assessment on the reading continuum. With this information in hand, they have selected three reading goals to work on for the remainder of the year. They also continued to work on literature responses and everyone has completed two letters in the last two weeks.

Our writing workshop time has been dedicated to completing and typing up the literary essay drafts. The children who have completed that step have moved on to revise their own papers and will soon exchange their pieces with a partner to get feedback before conferencing with me or Mrs. Ellis. We have also spent a good deal of time in the last two weeks on poetry. The children have participated in several lessons designed to help them build their oral presentation skills in preparation for our poetry presentation next Friday. Each child has been assigned to a group and they have started practicing for their presentations. During the poetry alive workshoip they had the opportunity to learn how to bring their poems to life and next week each group will develop the characters they will use to "tell" thier poems! The children have been having a lot of fun preparing their poems and they are nervous, but excited to share them with you next week!

In math the children have been splitting up and heading off in different directions, but all classes are covering the same basic skills. Over the last two week we have reviewed standard notation, scientific notation and exponential notation. The children have learned two new games- exponent ball and Krypto. They have also looked at the uses of positive and negative integers. Finally, we reviewed the characteristics of bar, line and circle graphs, and the children completed a Venn diagram to look more carefully at their similarities and differences. We have now completed the unit on integers and all three classes will be reviewing on Monday for the unit test on Tuesday.



In social studies the children completed their preliminary research questions and printed out their work. The second part of the project was introduced on Wednesday and when we started to develop a planning calendar that would allow them to complete the projects by the end of the quarter, it became obvious that we needed to rethink! As a result, I revised the assignment options and the children selected their assignments and got started on Thursday. One group had a special lesson with Mr. Stadhan on how to use the timeliner program. another worked with me on how to develop ideas for travel journals and others went to work on drating maps or researching further. You might ask your child to show you their calendar in the next few days as it will be very important that they not fall behind!

With the many special events going on we did not have a lot of time for science, but we did kick off our Human Body unit last week with a visit to the lab where the kids competed mind maps of what they already know using Inspiration. They will add to and revise these mind maps several times through the course of the unit. This week we squeezed in one day of science and the children got to investigate the question of what affects a person’s lung capacity. The children hypothesized that height would be related to lung capacity and to test this idea, they measured their own height and lung capacity. Next, we collated the data on a graph and it was easy to see a velar relationship. We discovered that the taller a person is, the greater their lung capacity will be. We also noted that there is quite a wide range of “normal” for each height and the children generated a few more questions about why this might be, for example, does being active in certain sports increase you lung capacity? Does being overweight reduce it? We will be focusing heavily on science next week as we work on our puberty unit. Don’t forget to talk to your child about what they are learning in class!

I would like to remind everyone that the children will be presenting “Poetry Under the Stars” in the Black Box Theater next Friday from 2:30-3:15pm. In this event the children will work in groups to share some great poems and to sho off their presentation skills. All parents are invited to attend and I hope to see you there!

February 12, 2010

Happy Chinese New Year! In the run-up to the holiday we have had two weeks filled with special activities and events! Last week was all about the Stand for Haiti campaign and the kids were very excited and engaged in collecting as much cash as they could to donate to the cause. As a grade level, 5th grade raised a whopping RMB52,922 and our class contributed a very generous RMB6,584 of that total! Thanks to all of you for your generous support! We also got to watch our Jedi Jugglers in action and they impressed us all woth theri poise and skill! Congratulations to Jason Yan, Ethan, Jason Yook and Warren for their hard work in qualify, rehearsing and performing in this amazing show!! This week the spotlight was on the upcoming Lunar New Year and earlier in the week we made paper cuts of tigers and paper lanterns. We then used calligraphy brushes and ink to paint banners with best wished for the New Year. On Thursday the entire 5th grade spent the day in workshops with a Peking Opera troupe learning about Chinese opera. First, the whole grade level attended an introductory session in which the children learned a little bit about the history of the Peking Opera, some of its more famous stories and characters and how people are trained to become opera performers. Next, we split into groups and our class participated in a music and movement workshop in which they learned some of the basics about the rhythms and movements. Many of the children had a chance to try playing in the orchestra and all of them had plenty of practice with some basic movements. Next, we split once again and moved to the Big Dragon Theater, where we learned more about the characters and their make-up. After they learned the significance of the various colors used in opera masks and the meaning of some of the more commonly used symbols in masks, the children got a chance to design and color a mask to show their own character! The day ended with a performance by the workshop presenters of one of the tales of the Monkey King. Needless to say, this day was a huge hit with the whole class. Today we wrapped up our pre-holiday celebrations with a parade around the campus, then topped it off perfectly by sharing cake in honor of Lily’s birthday!



In math we have just completed unit 6 and our first journal! Students took the pretest for unit 7 and were issued the new math journal and we will start the new unit after the break. In problem solving we continued to look at the strategy of guess and check, and the children are really starting to improve in their ability to write about their mathematical ideas. If you have not looked at your child’s problem solving and computation notebook recently, ask them to show it to you next week!

In reading we wrapped up our unit on making inferences with groups presenting the inferences they could make about the message and theme of a song they had selected. The children had time in class to read independently and to work on their literature response letters. In the later half of the week I conference with each child about their current reading level and we looked at the skills they are demonstrating consistently on their own. This preliminary work will set the scene for some more specific goal setting in reading after the break. We also continued our read aloud of __Hate That Cat__ by Sharon Creech and we are all really enjoying the poetry around which the story is centered. As we continued to progress through the book, the class was introduced to the literary devices of onomatopoeia and alliteration through the poems “The Bells” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Eagle” Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Our writing time for the last two weeks was loaded with lessons on identifying themes, drafting thesis statements and three new strategies for supporting a thesis in a literary essay. After an introductory lesson on universal themes, the class discussed the themes of several mentor texts we have shared together. Next, we practiced drafting thesis statements about the theme of a story using our class mentor text of __Spaghetti__ by Cynthia Rylant. After we had selected what we felt was the strongest thesis statement, the children worked on drafting thesis statements about their selected stories. Next, the children learned three strategies for supporting a thesis; collecting stories from within the text, listing examples and analyzing author’s craft. After each lesson the children had time to work on applying each strategy to proving the thesis statements they had drafted.



In social studies we finished our guided reading and research lessons and the children took part in a lesson on how to use ISB’s on-line databases for research. We then started on the next part of this unit, in which each child has a set of 22 questions about their assigned explorer. The questions are listed in order of difficulty and the children have been asked to apply the research skills they have learned as they answer each question. They will be recording their responses on a word-processing document and they will get additional practice in citing their sources as they are required to cite the source(s) they use for each question. The big idea of this assignment is for them to learn how to use a variety of resources intelligently to find specific information.



January 29, 2010

Another two weeks have come and gone and we are deep into our routine again. Last week we welcomed a new student, Carl Narup, and the children have been helping him to learn his way around and to feel welcome. Students who have been involved in Jedi Jugglers have been busy practicing for the upcoming show and our student council and class representatives have been working with their sponsors to plan ways in which we can raise funds for Haitian Earthquake relief. On Friday, the 5th grade had an assembly to kick off our fundraiser and the children made bracelets to show that we stand together to help Haiti. Perhaps the biggest excitement of the week came with the arrival of Mr. Dry Bones….our new class skeleton! Mr. Bones was assembled by Amy, Emil and Veronica, and everyone took part in a contest to decide his name. He will come in very handy when we start our human body unit and by the end of that unit, he will house the model organs that the children build! Finally, the ISA results arrived this week and your child should have brought home their results on Friday afternoon.

In reading we have continued our work on making inferences. Last week the children worked in pairs to make inferences from captioned illustrations in Chris Van Allsburg’s beautiful book __Harris Burdick__. Lter on they each brought in a bag filled with items that represent who they are and, after a secret exchange, each child had to write a description of the owner of the bag they had based on its contents. They then had to predict who owned the bag based on what they know about their classmates! This week the children practiced making inferences as we shared a read aloud book, __Love That Dog__, by Sharon Creech. They also completed a literature response letter in which they were required to write about three inferences they could draw from their independent reading. This is the first time they have been asked to complete these response letters as homework and you can expect to see them working on these more frequently this semester.

Our writing work continued to focus on literary essays and the students participated in several lessons last week designed to help them read closely from a text, putting themselves into the story to better understand the events, characters, relationships and motivations. The children have all been given a set of several short stories written by excellent authors and they have read all of these mentor texts to provide us all with a common set of good literature to discuss as they learn how to develop literary essays. This week they participated in lessons designed to help them understand how to think about and discuss the author’s message or theme of a piece of writing. We also reviewed what makes a good thesis statement and practiced making possible thesis statements about some shared texts we read this week. In word study the children learned about free and bound bases- those parts of a word that carry its meaning. They learned how to identify the base of a word and write the word sum with the prefixes, base and suffixes.

Math for the last two weeks has been a combination of statistics and fraction computation. In our study of surveys, the children learned about sampling and we took samples of candy from a large jar to look at how sample size can affect the accuracy of a prediction. We also looked at maps that show statistical data, such as annual precipitation or length of growing season and the children learned how to interpret these maps in mathematical terms. The class also learned how to find least common denominators and to add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers. While some children have already shown they are quite proficient in these skills, others are just learning it and will get more help and practice next week as we continue the unit. The class took another timed fact test on Friday and even though we have now added the eleven and twelve times tables to the test, most children continue to show an increase in their speed and accuracy. Keep them practicing at home!



Our social studies work last week was focused at looking at a few famous explorers from Asia: Zheng He and Ibn Battuta. We also did a simulation of how the Silk Route worked and the children had a great time playing their roles as traders, sailors, merchants and bandits travelling between Dunghuang, Kashgar, Byzantium and Constantinople! This week has week brought us back to Marco Polo. After watching a movie about him, we continued our reading about his travels, using the book as a vehicle for learning strategies for reading non-fiction texts and taking notes to help gather information and deepen comprehension. The children practiced a strategy called test annotation in two lessons. We spent two more learning to identify areas of confusion and unfamiliar terms, then use outside resources, such as dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias or the internet to help us understand. Our librarian, Mrs. Krembs, came to do a lesson with the children on ISB's research model, called The Learning Highway, in preparation for the research work they will soon begin; each child has now been assigned to a group that will begin more targeted research on Zheng He, Ibn Battuta or Marco Polo soon.

January 15, 2010

Happy 2010 and welcome back to all of us! It has been wonderful to be back with the class and I am so proud of the great work they did while I was away. Mrs. Young left a very complimentary note remarking on how cooperative and hard-working the children were. This week we have been busy getting reacquainted and starting several new units. We also celebrated three birthdays; Amy and Emily had birthdays over the break and it was Jonathon’s birthday on Monday. Thanks to Jonathon’s parents for the delicious chocolate cupcakes! On Friday we attended the UES assembly welcoming new students and after lunch we attended our grade level assembly, where we celebrated the theme of respect. Also, next week we will have class pictures on Tuesday, so remind your child to dress nicely!

In Math the students got the results of their chapter 5 test on Monday, which were incredible, and we kicked off our next unit __Using Data: Addition and Subtraction of Fractions__. We reviewed the definitions for the landmark numbers; minimum, maximum, mean, median and mode. We collected data on the number of States children and adults had visited and learned how to organize that data in a line plot and then find the landmarks for the data. The children also learned a little about the history of the standard and metric systems of measure as we gathered data on personal measurements and used that data to practice further with landmarks and line plots. The children also learned a game called Finish First. This game involves no skill, but is inteded to help the children gather enough data quickly to determine wether or not the game is fair. Next week we will collate the data as a class and determine the odds of winning or losing! Finally, I introduced the 11 and 12 times tables and explained to the class that these facts will now be included in their fact tests starting next week. On Friday we had a fact speed test and the children are now aware of the new expectations for fact speed; this quarter they must be able to solve at least 40 facts per minute in order to score a 4 on their report card!

On Monday we started a reading unit entitled Making Inferences: Reading between the Lines. The children have learned that they make inferences all of the time when they interpret facial expressions or figure out what an unknown gadget is likely to be by comparing it to one that is familiar. They worked in groups to draw inferences about characters, plot and setting based on one sentence clues and were amazed at how much information they could draw from so little!

In writing we spent the first few days of the week revisiting some of our poetry drafts and the children were introduced to a checklist of strategies they can use for revising and editing poetry. The children had the choice of publishing their final drafts as word processed documents or by hand, and they were very excited by the wide ange of papers on which they could publish their work. On Friday, we introduced our new unit, which will build on our study of the essay genre. In this unit the children will once again use the structure of an essay, write a thesis and support, but the emphasis will be on how to develop a strong literary essay. We also reviewed the jobs of the apostrophe in written English and practiced the proper use of apostrophes to show possessives.

During our social studies block this quarter we will be studying explorers. The children will learn a lot about the history of exploration and we will take a look at why people explore and what impact exploration has on individuals and cultures. In this unit the class will be applying some of the research skills they learned in the Global Impact unit and they will be introduced to some new skills and resources for research. Work on this unit will alternate with our science unit on Human Body systems, which will start in about two weeks!

Please note that the news from Quarter 2 has now been archived to a new page. You can revisit it by clicking on the link in the navigation bar to the left.