Grade Five Update August 17th, 2018

Happy Friday Everyone!

Here’s the weekly update on our Grade Five experience at Lincoln School:

In math, we hit the ground running in our first unit. We tackled area using a brand new method to us called “tiling.” It wasn’t everyone’s favorite, that’s why we also reinforced the use of the formula Area = Length x Width (Even if one of the sides has a fraction!). We racked up a ton of Scootpad coins this week. Be sure to ask your son or daughter about our first auction for prizes. The use of Scootpad is highly encouraged at home and is geared towards the current unit or customized to fill in gaps in a student’s knowledge.

In science, we have begun our unit on matter. Our first investigation had the students explore particle sizes and how mixtures can be separated. We learned that large particles could be separated using a screen while smaller particles need a tighter filter like a coffee filter. We capped the week off working with a salt and water solution to investigate how we can separate the solute out of a water-based solution. Stay tuned!

Writing personal narratives has been a great way to start the year. We are still working on building our writing stamina and will be working to elevate the level of our writing by introducing new techniques in our lessons. We are also trying to become better writers about our reading with reflections this weekend.

Reading has really begun to take flight in the Grade Five classroom. We have about 20-40 minutes of independent reading a day alongside group work and read alouds. We are trying to stay “Writerly Awake” in our reading, which means that we pick up a book thinking that we are going to stop and jot down ideas at some point. We’ve discussed how readers that write about their reading notice more.

What a great first week! Be sure to check out all our posts on the website to stay up-to-date on the happenings here in grade five!

Mr. Curtis