5th Grade News

October

5th Grade Teachers

Mrs. Fadness-Phy.Ed/Health

Mr. Long-Science/Social Studies

Mrs. Peterson-Language Arts

Mr. Midtaune-Math

Mrs. Pollock-Language Arts

Mrs. Weedman-Science/Social Studies

Mrs. Miller-Math

Ms. Klimek-Reading/5th grade Advisor

Mr. Trevino-Music

Mr. Witherow-Band

Mr. Myers-Orchestra

Mrs. Link-Media Arts

CONFERENCES

Please be on the lookout for information about fall conferences. When you sign up, be sure to cross-reference with your child's schedule to ensure you're meeting with his/her teachers. If you'd like to meet all at once with all teachers instead of visiting one by one, we can work that out as well. Talk with your child's advisor if you have any questions after this information is sent.

What We Are Learning in 5th Grade!

SOCIAL STUDIES

Students in social studies class are learning about various Native American tribes, where they lived, how they used their resources to survive, and other cultural traditions that made each tribe unique. They will be working on a Native American project soon so please ask your child about this.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Students in language arts classes have been busy! We started our year off taking the NWEA fall reading test. We will take this again in the winter and spring. Check the website for more details and dates on the testing calendar. We've also started our unit study on text structure. We will be reading and focusing on compare/contrast, cause/effect, description, sequence of events, and problem/solution. Please talk to your kids about Study Island as they will be getting assignments very soon!

MATH

We finished up our place value unit and took our first math test. We are moving into our addition and subtraction unit followed by our multiplication unit to start off October. We also took our fall NWEA math test! Please ask your child if they are getting done with their assignments and remind them to keep working on their warm up every week!

HEALTH/PHY.ED

In PE, students completed their pretest in 5 areas of physical fitness. We complete curl ups to test our abdominal strength; shuttle run to test our speed and agility; sit and reach to test our lower back and hamstring flexibility; pull ups to test our upper body strength; lastly, a one mile run to test our cardiovascular endurance. We will complete a mid-semester test to check our progress as well as a posttest at the end, in hopes of improving in 3-4 areas. We also completed our first unit of line soccer, which the kids enjoyed a lot! We will begin playing ultimate frisbee in the upcoming days. As a group, we have been so thankful to get outside almost every day!

We will begin Health in Quarter 2, but I have shared with ALL 5th graders about the importance of taking care of their personal hygiene. We learned how brushing our teeth, hair, and wearing clean clothes and deodorant daily can result in us feeling better about ourselves each day. 5th graders should shower every day or every other day at the minimum to take care of their personal hygiene the best they can.

MUSIC/BAND/ORCHESTRA

In Orchestra, students are working on new routines for the year now that orchestra is a regular, daily class. They are also reviewing notes and starting music for the upcoming concert in late November.

The band is off to a great start, learning how to play those first few notes and work together as a full band class. We look forward to showing you how far we have come in November at our concert!

Click on the attachment below to see what 5th graders are up to in music!

MEDIA ARTS

Last week, the 5th graders wrapped up a unit on photography. We explored still life photography, self-portraits, and photo editing techniques using Canva. This week, we are starting a new unit on advertisements! Students will design their own products and create advertisements for them. We are about halfway through our time together, and I look forward to seeing what the upcoming weeks will bring!

Here are some still life photos that students took on the iPads. We practiced creating interesting compositions, changing the exposure, and using interesting perspectives.

Reading E & I

Please see the attached document to see what your 5th grader has been up to in Reading E & I.

REMINDERS

TABLETS: PLEASE have your child plug in their tablet every single night. We use them every day and need them to be fully charged. Thanks for helping with this!

WEATHER: We've reached the time of year in southwest Minnesota where we have glimpses of multiple seasons throughout the day. It starts chilly (fall), gets a little warmer (spring), and by afternoon we might be hot and sweaty again (summer)! Thankfully we haven't seen much glimpse of the W word yet, but it's bound to show its face soon. Because of the variations, we've seen lots of little ones very cold in the mornings in t-shirts and shorts. Please remind your child to dress in layers during the season. We do go outside during the morning/early afternoon and we'd rather have them warm and cozy and able to shed some layers, rather than cold and miserable.

SPEAKING OF LAYERS: During conferences in October, please be sure to check your child's locker. We're guessing you might find some missing sweatshirts :).

Environmental Fair

5th graders were able to attend the Enironmental Fair held at the Lyon County Fairgrounds. Along with other area visiting schools, they learned about so many things from how much water is used on a day to day basis, to raptors, to microbes in the soil, and SO much more! Ask your child what exhibits they attended and what they found interesting!