Important Dates & Reminders

Dates to Remember

• November 27-29: Thanksgiving Break – No School
• December 2-6: Book Fair
• December 2-6: Last week of clubs
• December 4: Literacy Night, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
• December 13: School-wide Field Trip to the Natural History Museum
• December 23, 2024 - January 5, 2025: Winter Break – No School

Reminders

• Students should wear or bring athletic shoes on PE days.
• Make sure to return any required permission slips for the field trip by the due date.
• Encourage your child to explore the Book Fair to find great books for winter reading!

What are we learning?

Language Arts

Language Arts Update
This month in Language Arts, students are diving into the world of realistic fiction! They are reading a single novel together and discovering how authors use their craft to create relatable characters and plots that reflect real life. Through this unit, students will analyze characters, explore key themes, and connect the lessons learned in the story to their own lives.

What We’re Learning:

• Realistic fiction features characters and events that could exist in the real world, including imperfections and challenges.
• Authors reveal characters’ traits through their actions, dialogue, and relationships.
• Certain traits, like bravery and curiosity, are valued across many stories and cultures.
• Stories can teach important life skills, such as solving problems and building strong relationships.

How You Can Support at Home:

• Ask your child to describe the main character and their traits.
• Discuss how the character’s traits are shown in the story and whether your child values those traits.
• Talk about a time your child has faced a challenge similar to the character’s.
• Encourage them to think about how lessons from the story could apply to their own life.

Math

Math Corner

This month, our 5th graders are sharpening their problem-solving skills! Students are:

• Estimating, representing, solving, and justifying their answers to single-step and multistep real-world problems.
• Using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with whole numbers.
• Building their fact fluency and deepening their understanding of how inverse operations (e.g., addition and subtraction or multiplication and division) work together.

Ways to Support at Home:

• Practice basic multiplication and division facts with flashcards or apps.
• Solve everyday math problems together, like estimating the total cost at the grocery store or dividing snacks equally.
• Discuss how addition undoes subtraction and multiplication undoes division to reinforce inverse operations.
• Encourage your child to explain their thought process when solving problems to strengthen their reasoning skills.

Science

Science Spotlight
This month in science, we’re diving into Earth’s fascinating structure! Students are exploring the four main layers of Earth—crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core—and learning about the unique characteristics of each layer. They are also developing models to explain these concepts and understand how Earth's structure connects to the world around us.

What We’re Learning:

• Earth is made up of four layers, each with its own materials and properties.
• The crust is the thinnest layer, where we live, while the inner core is solid and extremely hot!
• Scientific models help us understand big ideas, like how Earth's layers work together.

How You Can Help at Home:

• Watch videos or read books about Earth’s structure and discuss what your child is learning.
• Create a model of Earth’s layers together using items like clay, playdough, or even food (e.g., a layered cake!).
• Encourage your child to ask questions and make connections to real-world examples, such as volcanoes or earthquakes.

Questions to ask your child at home.

Math:

• Can you show me how you solved a math problem today?
• What strategies did you use to check your answer?
• How do addition and subtraction (or multiplication and division) work together?
• What’s one way we use math in everyday life?

Science:

• What are the four layers of Earth, and what makes each one unique?
• Can you explain the model you created about Earth's structure?
• How do scientists use models to study things we can’t see?
• What did you find most interesting about Earth's layers?

Social Studies:

• What is the purpose of the U.S. Constitution?
• Can you explain how laws can be changed or updated?
• Why is it important for people to stand up for causes they believe in?
• What does determination mean to you, and how does it connect to what you’re learning?

Language Arts:

• Who is the main character in the story you’re reading, and what are they like?
• What challenges is the character facing, and how are they handling them?
• Can you give an example of how the author shows the character’s traits?
• What do you think the author wants readers to learn from the character’s experiences?
• Are there any traits the character has that you admire or relate to?
• How is this story similar to or different from your own life?
• What makes realistic fiction different from other types of stories you’ve read?

General Questions:

• What was your favorite part of the day?
• Was there anything challenging in school today? How did you handle it?
• What’s one new thing you learned that you didn’t know before?
• How do you feel about the progress you’re making in your classes?