Cecil Floyd, 5th Grade, August 29- September 16

9/18/2011

We have been hard at work in our classroom! Here is a rundown of some of the things we have worked on learning over the past three weeks.

Social Studies-

State Reports: Students studied states from the southeast region. They developed a poster and presented to their classmates information about their state.
America Before Christopher Columbus: Students discussed what they definitely knew, thought they knew, and wanted to know about America Before Christopher Columbus. We then began exploring some of the indigenous tribes of North America. The first tribe we discussed were the Inuits. Students learned that Inuits lived in Igluviaks. Students wrote from the perspective of an Inuit.

State Reports

Math-
We have been working on Topic 1 in enVision Math. This topic covers place value in whole numbers and decimals. It also teaches moving between decimals and fractions. We will be testing this coming week over Topic 1.

Science-

Scientific Method- Students learned about the steps in the scientific method and performed their first experiment for the year, Growing Gummy Bears. Students asked the question, "What would happen if a gummy bear was left in water over night?". They stated their hypothesis, conducted the experiment, gathered data, and drew conclusions. FYI The gummy bear grew in the water through a process called osmosis.
Jobs in Science- Students have begun research careers in the various fields of science. They will be creating paper scientists that tell about the jobs available.

Growing Gummy Bears

Reading & Writing

Students who qualify for the Read 180 program have begun their instruction with Mrs. Lampo.
Students who stay in the classroom for reading & writing instruction have been continuing the adventure of the Daily 5. We have been continuing to read to ourselves to become better readers. We have also started working on writing. Students right now, are working on a narrative piece.

Read to Self

School-wide activities that we have participated in during the past few weeks include the Birds of Prey show and Grandparents' Day. We have enjoyed learning about birds and sharing books with our grandparents.