5th Grade

Jeffers Journal

Week of October 7th – October 11th

Welcome to the sixth issue of Jeffers’ Journal! Are you ready to board the learning train for another week of excitement and adventure? Please come to school each day with an open mind, positive “I can” attitude, a friendly smile, and eager to be a member of our team! 

Important Dates to Remember:

October 7^th: Mass with Father Ennis at 8:50AM

October 11^th: Penny War Fundraiser

October 14^th: Columbus Day (No School or CASE)

October 18^th: Family Movie Night at 6:30PM

October 21^st: Mass with Father Ennis at 8:50AM

October 28^th: St. Jude’s Feast Day-Mass with Father Pat at 8:50AM

October 31^st: Halloween Parade at 12:15 & Halloween Party

November 1^st: Mass with Father Ennis at 8:50AM 

Here’s a breakdown of our learning:

1. Math: Its important children learn math facts for addition/subtraction and multiplication/division with the goal of automatic recall. For the upcoming week, we will begin Topic 2: Use Models and Strategies to Add and Subtract Decimals. Some key vocabulary words are: addend, sum, subtrahend, minuend, difference, tenths, hundredths, estimate, and mental math. In the first lesson, students will be asked to solve problems using mental math.  The next lesson focuses on estimating sums and differences.  The third lesson focuses on using models to add and subtract decimals.  The fourth lesson focuses on learning strategies to add decimals. To end the week, students will learn the strategies to use when subtracting decimals.  We will be playing a lot of partner and group games to review these skills.  Students will continue working on their independent lessons in I-Ready Math.
2. English Language Arts:
   1. Grammar: Students will learn how to proofread their writing for subject-verb agreement, capital letters, and punctuation using the proofreading symbols. Do you remember what an imperative sentence is?  What is the subject in an imperative sentence? Are simple subjects and compound subjects similar? How are they different?  Students will complete a quiz on Friday, October 11^th, to review simple subjects, simple predicates, simple subjects in imperative sentences, and also compound subjects.
   2. Vocabulary: Each week students have 12 new vocabulary words and complete different activities each day (sentence completion, synonym/antonym, matching, word meaning, and context clues).
   3. Reading: An important skill we will be practicing is reading articles or passages and answering comprehension questions.
   4. Spelling: Each day the students will learn two or three commonly misspelled words and a mnemonic device to help them remember correct spelling.  They will write a sentence for each word to demonstrate an understanding of its meaning and of conventional spelling.
3. Writing: Writing Stamina and Paragraph Writing were the focus of our lessons last week and will continue this week. We are also going to begin our first writing unit which is Personal Narrative. A personal narrative is everyone’s favorite because it is about something that only you can tell. On Tuesday, we will learn about the elements of a personal narrative by identifying them in a mentor text. On Wednesday, we will also brainstorm topic ideas for our personal narrative.  On Thursday, we will begin to develop a story that has a beginning, middle, and also an end. Students will illustrate the parts and write the most important events. To end the week, we will work on using descriptive words to develop the events in the narrative by creating a sketch of the setting.
4. Science: Last week, we continued exploring our Starship Earth Unit by learning about who set the first clock. Do you know how the Egyptians divided the day into parts? We also learned about how the Sun can you tell the season. Which season are the shadows the longest? This week we are going to learn about why the stars change with the seasons. How come there are certain constellations that can be seen certain times of the year? Next, we will learn about the moon-Why does the Moon change shape? The Starship Earth Unit test will be on Thursday, October 10^th.
5. Religion: The theme of Chapter 2 is The Seven Sacraments. Last week, we learned about the Paschal Mystery and also how we receive sanctifying grace.  This week we will explore that Jesus Christ and the grace of the sacraments he gave us help us to avoid sinning.  We will also learn about Blessed Miguel Pro and the challenges he overcame to bring the sacraments to the people of Mexico.  Students will work on the Chapter 2 test on Friday, October 11^th.
6. Google Classroom: Students continue using my Google Classroom to complete assignments and quizzes in English/Language Arts, Math, Religion, Science, and Social Studies. Please check with your son/daughter to show you what they have been doing.  If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to send me an email.
7. Fourth Mass of the School Year: Our Fourth Mass with Father Ennis will be held on Monday, October 7^th at 8:50. Students will have the opportunity to volunteer to be an altar server and/or a lector for future Masses. If your child signs up to be a lector, he/she will receive their reading in advance to have time to practice both in school and at home.
8. Penny War Fundraiser: We will have a jar to drop pennies or bills in for positive points! The class with the most positive points wins a prize! The next day to bring in pennies and/or bills is October 11^th!!! Start collecting your change and help our class win a prize!