Important Dates & Reminders

• October 3, 2024: No School (Holiday)
• October 4, 2024: No School for Students (Teacher Work Day)

What are we learning?

Language Arts

• This month in ELA, we’ve been practicing reading techniques to help students develop strong reading habits and deepen their understanding of texts. We explored several stories connected to the theme “Books Are Treasures” while practicing key reading skills like asking questions, making connections, making predictions, and visualizing.
• In writing, we’ve been working on persuasive, narrative, and informative writing to help students understand the differences between each genre.
• Currently, we are reading and writing about corn! 

Math

This month in Math, our 5th graders are working on:

• Order of Operations (GEMDAS): We are practicing how to solve math problems using GEMDAS (Grouping symbols, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtraction). Students are learning to simplify expressions with up to five numbers, using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
• Prime and Composite Numbers: Students are identifying and comparing prime and composite numbers up to 100. They are learning how to create models to determine whether a number is prime or composite and finding the prime factorization of numbers up to 100.
• Patterns with Numbers, Fractions, and Decimals: We are exploring increasing and decreasing patterns using whole numbers, fractions, and decimals. Students are identifying patterns in tables, number lines, and other representations, and learning to extend them using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
• Using Variables: Students are being introduced to variables as symbols representing unknown quantities. They are learning to write equations using variables and create word problems that match those equations.

These skills will help students deepen their understanding of math concepts as they work through problems and apply what they’ve learned!

Science

This month in Science, our 5th graders are exploring energy and motion through a variety of exciting investigations and activities:

• Forms of Energy and Energy Transfer: Students are learning to recognize how energy causes change and does work. They will compare different forms of energy (like sound, light, heat, and electric currents) and observe how energy can be transferred from place to place. They’ll also describe how energy changes forms in everyday situations and identify the energy transformations that occur in devices at home or school.
• Energy Conservation: Students will explore the concept that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. They’ll design and test devices that convert energy from one form to another, deepening their understanding of how energy works in our daily lives.
• Kinetic Energy and Motion: We are defining kinetic energy and describing the motion of objects using speed and direction. Students will conduct experiments to collect data on moving objects and interpret it through tables and line graphs to determine changes in speed.
• Forces and Motion: Students will investigate how forces affect the movement of objects, including the impact of collisions, mass, and friction. They’ll ask questions, make predictions, and analyze data from experiments and graphs to understand these relationships better.
• Energy Sources: We will explore different energy sources, including their benefits and limitations. Students will identify the types of energy used at home or school, research their origins, and classify them as renewable or nonrenewable resources.

These lessons are designed to help students build a strong foundation in understanding how energy and motion impact our world!

Questions to ask your child at home.

• "Can you explain how you use GEMDAS to solve math problems? What comes first when you see a problem with multiple steps?"
• "Can you tell me about an experiment you did in class to explore how force is applied to objects? What did you discover?"
• “Can you name the parts of a corn plant or share the many uses of corn?”

5th Grade Classroom Economy System

We’re thrilled to announce that we are starting our 5th grade classroom economy system! Students will get to apply for jobs, manage their own online bank accounts, and learn to balance their checkbooks as they earn SmithBuck cash throughout the day.

This hands-on experience will teach valuable life skills like financial literacy, responsibility, and the importance of hard work. We can’t wait to see our students thrive in this real-world simulation!

Get ready for some fun financial adventures! 🎉