Good afternoon and happy Friday!  I cannot believe that I have only 2 more weeks left with these awesome 5th graders!  

Social Studies: This week we have been learning about the Southern and Middle colonies.  We researched about different colonial jobs and presented our learned information in a gallery walk around the room.  We are looking forward to learning about the American Revolution next week.

Writing:  During writing this week we finished up our D.A.R.E. essays.  We focused on using precise language to get our point across to our reader.  The kiddos should be very proud of their hard work!

Reading:  In reading this week we continued our author study by comparing and contrasting the setting and characters from books by the same author.  We learned how this can help us to know our author better.  We also met with our book clubs twice this week and have been practicing asking questions that require higher level thinking.

Math: In math we were able to spend time playing the stations that we created last week.  We also reflected on our progress this year and have been working on clarifying concepts that are still challenging for us.  We also had our PIE PARTY today!! Congratulations to all of the kiddos who finished their fifth grade pie on ALEKS!  For those that finish their pie before the end of the year I will have a prize for them as well….so keep working hard!

I wanted to also say thank you to everyone who sent gifts and cards in for me for Teacher Appreciation Week.  I feel very lucky to work at a school that has such a supportive community.  I have the best job in the world!! I am going to miss these kiddos so much when they go to middle school!  Thank you, again, for all you do.  I hope all of the moms enjoy your special day on Sunday!  You deserve it!

Sincerely,

Miss DiFranco

Good afternoon!  It has been a busy week in 5th grade.  We are getting very close to the end of the year...3 more weeks!  We have a lot of fun things happening during the next couple of weeks and also lots of important learning!

Social Studies:  This week we have been learning about the 13 colonies.  We spent most of our time this week discussing the New England colonies.  We wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth pretending that we had just arrived in the New England colonies and also researched some of the games played during this time.  Some students even wrote songs to express some of the strong emotions of various groups.

Writing:  In writing we are working on our DARE essays.  Each student will write an essay and a few will be picked to be shared at our DARE graduation during the last week of school.  The kids have used their DARE books and their experiences from DARE class to create a strong argument about why people should not do drugs.

Math:  This week in math the kids have been paired up to work on creating a math station.  They were each given a topic that we covered this year and then began creating a fun activity to go along with the topic.  We have so many creative thinkers in our classroom!

Reading:  We have started a unit on becoming a fan of an author.  We have spent time getting to know one of my favorite authors, Patricia Polacco.  The kids have learned about how they can find out more about their favorite authors by looking more closely at characters from the books they read.

Upcoming Events:
5/7: Fly Up Day @ Truman and Sperreng 1-3 PM
5/8 : DARE essays due

Have a wonderful weekend.  Thanks!

--Miss DiFranco--