Happy New Year everyone. I hope everyone has had time to regenerate and unwind. We are now in the last semester of the grade 5 year and there is a lot still going on. I believe you will find that this part of the school year goes by even faster than the last one - and that one was fast.
Our reading unit will continue to look at more complex non-fiction reading. This means that information books no longer just provide facts but will also include commentary regarding the subject. Students therefore need to learn how to navigate through a book like this to get the most out of it. We will use specific examples in the learning to assist students in their understanding of the text.
Our written unit goes into part two of Information Articles. The first on the the students did was not too bad and I was impressed with the information they had to populate their articles. Now it is time to do it again, but this time with a specific topic - Biomimicry. By the end of this unit, each student will complete an article on this subject. All writing from now on must be completed in paragraph form with all the proper punctuation and identified parts of a paragraph. We have been learning this for the last 3-4 months and will continue with more learning as this unit continues.
Math continues with fractions but now introduces multiplication and division. This will also include whole numbers with fractions or improper/mixed numbers as quotients. It is one of out longest units of the math year and continues almost to Spring Break.
Next week is class pics. At this time I am not sure when this is as the assignments have not yet come out but the elementary school has been assigned Tuesday and Thursday so it will be one of these two days. Please have your student dress well for these pictures. Nothing formal but I would like to remember them and have them remembered for the wonderful students they are.
I will be away with the High School Model United Nations group (MUN) from Thursday afternoon until Monday returning on Tuesday to class. We will be in Shanghai at a local conference. The students have worked hard for this and are prepared for the debates and resolutions they will be involved with.
We had two days this week where we did some engineering activities and I was impressed with the creativity and innovation the students showed. We have an engineering unit later in the year and these activities lead into it. There are about 4 more in the coming weeks.
Report cards go out next week. Please let me know if you have troubles getting them or want to discuss them. I will gladly set a time up for us to meet. It most likely will have to be after I get back with my MUN group.
If anyone is going to leave early for the Chinese New Year holiday in three weeks please let me know. It is for planning reasons that I like to know. There is no problem with this.
As always, let me know if you have any questions.
