Dear 5th grade community,
This week in the 5th grade has been one of celebration, togetherness, and contemplation. I watched in awe as your children walked the Solstice Spiral on Wednesday, bringing their light into a dark space. I have been thinking about the interesting interplay here between the individual and the collective. Each child walked with their own light into the spiral, but we illuminated the room collectively, and shared the experience with one another. Before walking the Spiral, I told them the Lakota story of the Great Eagle, who saved humankind after a terrible flood by befriending and helping the flood’s lone survivor. While it begins as a bleak tale of loneliness, it transforms into a heartwarming story of compassion, friendship, and hope. I have enjoyed telling the Lakota stories to show how others have overcome great obstacles through compassion and perseverance. I hope the children are taking these lessons to heart as well.
It was great to watch the class Secret Gift Exchange today! It was such a great expression of our classroom community to see the personal, thoughtful gifts that the students made by hand for one another.
Language Arts Block
This week we concluded our first Language Arts block, where the focus was on the writing process. Here are the writing skills that they worked on in this block:
- Creating a story map to plan out and organize writing
- Writing a first draft
- Editing with the help of a peer
- Utilizing “writer’s tools” such as the dictionary and thesaurus
- Creating a final copy
We also worked on some grammar skills:
- Conjunctions
- Prepositions
- Proofreading
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Homophones to/too/two
The 5th graders did a lot of writing in this block, setting the stage for us to move into a routine of weekly written compositions and dictations in the upcoming blocks. I am very proud of the work they have done!
In terms of story content, I have told more Lakota stories, as well as read The Lorax to them today. We talked about how a lot of the stories told this year are epic tales, and made the case that the Lakota Stories and the Lorax are epic-like as well, since they recount heroic deeds and struggles with large-scale implications.
Skills Classes
In Math, the children practiced identifying the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) and Least Common Multiple (LCM). The completed a weekly speed sheet and worked on decimal addition and subtraction in their math groups.
In Language Arts, the class started reading a book in small groups! The titles this round are How to Train Your Dragon, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Maniac Magee, and A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning. The children previewed their books in groups and set reading goals to complete over the break. Please make sure your child has their book with them during the break, especially if you are travelling!
In lieu of Botany Skills class this week, played a Geography game together as a class (my gift to the class was a Geography board game).
Upcoming Math Block
When the children return from Winter Break, they will start a three-week math block, led by Ms. Kiefer. I will be student teaching in the 7th grade room during Morning Lesson time. Ms. Kiefer will work with me on the weekly updates for that block.
Locker Clean-out
The class cleaned out their lockers today and will be bringing everything home. Please make sure they return with clean outerwear and water bottles in the new year! A note about water bottles: We do a lot of active movement in the mornings, and the children do get thirsty. Since many of them are not bringing water bottles to school regularly, it becomes a big disruption in Morning Lesson when I have to let everyone out to get a drink. Water bottles would minimize the disruption, while also allowing the children to stay hydrated.
Reminder: Winter Break begins tomorrow: Friday, December 21. We will return to school in the New Year on January 7.
Special Thanks to Alejandra Sanchez-Garcia for coming in and teaching a Colombian dance to the class this week!
Have a restful and joyful Winter Break!