Fifth Grade Newsletter Week of: 9/45/2016

Contact Information:
Kara Gritzmacher kara.gritzmacher@wfbschools.com
Elise Mateucci elise.matteucci@wfbschools.com
Susan McCormick susan.mccormick@wfbschools.com
Krista Thompson krista.thompson@wfbschools.com
Shannon Izquierdo Shannon.Izquierdo@wfbschools.com
Language Studies,
Reading, and Writing
Students have been working in Language
Upcoming Dates: Studies, Writing and Reading Workshop on our
Better Together Unit. Here as a summary of
Date: Event: the unit:

9/15 FALL FESTIVAL! In this unit of study, you will help build our
classroom community. Together, we will
develop routines and behaviors that are
9/21 No School! necessary for advanced learning in all of our
subject areas. We will explore five good
citizenship ideas---honesty, compassion,
9/27 Whole Class Pictures respect, responsibility, and courageand how
these impact a community.

9/28 Open House 6-7:15PM Essential Questions:

What routines, procedures and expectations
are needed for a community to run efficiently?
Is it better to be independent or
interdependent?
Math How will someones words, choices, actions
This week we focused on how to approach affect their values?
Is conflict always bad?
and solve word problems using the below What responsibilities do we have to our
four step process. To solve we worked on a community?
How do the five citizenship ideas affect a
variety of different strategies including community?
using an equation, making a chart or table,
guess and check, and drawing a picture or In Language Studies:
We read aloud A Days Work and Mercedes
diagram. We also talked about what good and the Chocolate Pilot, and talked about
math talk looks and sounds like. central ideas, and learned powerful
vocabulary.
Step 1: Understand the problem In Reading Workshop:
Questions to ask: We learned about retelling stories and what is
What is the unkown? important to include.
What problem must I solve? In Writing Workshop:
Step 2: Devise a plan
We learned about strategies for generating
Guess and check
Use an equation
ideas and began to write about different
Draw a picture or diagram stories.
Make a chart or table
Step 3: Carry out the plan
Organize all data collected
Solve any equations
Make a list of all steps to try and give reasons for each
step
Step 4: Reflect
Check your answer
Try to estimate the answer
Science
We will be teaching Social Studies first.

Social Studies
We will begin the year learning about the first
Americans. Our interactive study guides help the
students move through the lessons with a deeper Looking forward to
understanding of the different concepts. We will
study the theory of people crossing the land another great week!
bridge, and move to learning about the Tlingit
people of the Northwest Coast, the Hopi of the
Ms. Gritzmacher
Southwest, the Comanche of the Great Plains, and
the Haudenosaunee of the Eastern Woodlands.
Ms. Matteucci
Ms. McCormick
Ms. Thompson
Ms. Izquierdo