Week of 13th-17th

Thank you for taking the time to stop by our blog and read about what's going on in 5th Grade. Please be sure to check the Google Calendar that is linked at the top of the blog for important updates.

What we are learning...

This week in reading, learners explored the structural elements of poetry. Learners were exposed to rhyming and free verse poems to apply what they learned to writing their own poems. 

This week in writing, we talked about prepositions using our mentor sentence. Learners also wrote their own poems to express their thoughts and/or entertain their readers. In light of the season, learners reflected on the various things they were thankful for. 

In Socials Studies, we finished our Colonial Billboard.  Please check your learner's Seesaw to see their advertisement encouraging colonists to settle in their colony.  We also began our unit on the American Revolution focusing on the causes that lead up to it.

In Science, learners explored the different forms of energy through an energy scavenger hunt and ports. Ask your learner to show them some of the activities they have been creating in ports. Pictures are below!

This week in math, the learners completed financial literacy by showing mastery of their vocabulary words for this unit. We also began practicing and review fractions through Gizmos activities to prepare for our upcoming fractions unit after the break.

Announcements

Practice Over the Breaks
Please make sure to remind your learners to be reading, playing Reflex math, and Moby Max over the holiday break. 

5th Grade Program
Our 5th grade program will be on Monday, December 11th. We do not have the time yet, but there will be more information to come soon. There will be a morning performance and an evening performance that day. 

STAAR Practice Dates
We will be taking a practice STAAR exam for reading and math the Tuesday and Wednesday after the holiday break. This is not anything your learners will be graded on or need to study for. We want to use this assessment to determine our next steps for each learners individual instruction in small groups. 

Spelling Bee
The learners will participate in a class spelling bee on November 30th. We will take the top 8 performers from each class where they will participate in the school spelling bee on December 12th from 1:00-3:00. Learners have been given lists to study, and they will need to do this on their own time. They should be practicing spelling orally as this is not something that they are used to. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Schaaf or Ms. Lim!
*Please note that lunch will be at noon on this day.

Razz Kids
Parents, we are working on getting our Razz Kids subscription renewed for this year.  At this time there will be a delay in accessing it online.  Our hope is to have it up and running for K-5 by the first week of December. We will send an email when it is ready to go. Thank you so much.

Movie Outing
The movie Wonder is coming out, and most of the kids have read the book. We would love to have a movie outing where we could watch this movie with our kids. If you would like your child to attend, we recommend buying movie tickets in advance! We will let you know a time and movie theater as soon as possible!

Canned Food Drive
Second grade is holding their annual canned food drive this week! Please send in canned goods like green beans, dried beans, canned corn, packaged stuffing, instant potatoes, and more to help out families in need!

Science Ports!

Week of 6-10th

Thank you for taking the time to stop by our blog and read about what's going on in 5th Grade. Please be sure to check the Google Calendar that is linked at the top of the blog for important updates.

What we are learning...

This week in reading, we continued to explore the elements and different types of poetry. Learners reviewed and learned about the various examples of figurative language in poetry. 

This week in writing, we wrote an acrostic poem as a class. Our mentor sentence this week focused on relative adverbs. Learners imitated the mentor sentence while also applying what they knew about relative adverbs. We also learned and practiced final syllable sounds.

In Socials Studies, learners began exploring the causes of the American Revolution. We learned about taxation without representation and the Stamp Act.

In Science, learners explored the different forms of energy through an energy scavenger hunt and ports.

This week in math, the learners continued to work on their financial literacy unit. We got into teams and decided how to spend our monthly income with enough money left to be able to have some money in our savings for the "unexpected moments" that life could bring our way. Learners have been looking at the differences between a gross and net income as well as the different types of taxes. We also began the discussion on the best method of payment to use when making purchases. 

Announcements

Spelling Bee
The learners will participate in a class spelling bee on November 30th. We will take the top 8 performers from each class where they will participate in the school spelling bee on December 12th from 1:00-3:00. Learners have been given lists to study, and they will need to do this on their own time. They should be practicing spelling orally as this is not something that they are used to. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Schaaf or Ms. Lim!
*Please note that lunch will be at noon on this day.

Movie Outing
The movie Wonder is coming out, and most of the kids have read the book. We would love to have a movie outing where we could watch this movie with our kids. If you would like your child to attend, we recommend buying movie tickets in advance! We will let you know a time and movie theater as soon as possible!

Canned Food Drive
Second grade is holding their annual canned food drive this week! Please send in canned goods like green beans, dried beans, canned corn, packaged stuffing, instant potatoes, and more to help out families in need!

Spring Creek BBQ Spirit Night is Monday, November 13th!

Week of October 23rd-27th

It's been a great week in 5th grade reflecting upon making healthy choices and celebrating Red Ribbon Week! Please read the blog for important updates!

Classroom Updates:

In reading, we read a Junior Great Book, took part in a shared inquiry discussion, and continued on the stations.

In writing, we worked on finishing up our imaginative stories and published them.

In social studies, learners went back into Colonial times and participated in stations that taught them about education, religion, recreational time, craftsmanship, slave life, and the government back then.

This week in math we finished up our multiplication and division of decimals unit. The learners practiced strategies for dividing decimals. They also worked on their pre-test corrections and used digital tools to become the teacher and teach others how to divide decimals. 

In Science this week, we conclude our unit on mixtures and solutions.  The next unit we will focus on is energy.  We will explore the uses of energy, including mechanical, light, thermal, electrical, and sound energy.

5th Grade Announcements:

Spelling Homework
We will resume our spelling homework on October 30th. You will notice that the spelling lists that learners will be receiving are shorter than normal. We will continue with these shorter lists the rest of the year. Our main goal for our learners is for them to understand and learn the spelling pattern. We feel that having less words will really put an emphasis on learning the pattern instead of just memorizing words. Please contact Meredith Schaaf or Rachel Lim if you have any questions.

Mentor Sentences
We will not have a mentor sentence or grammar homework the week of October 30th-November 3rd. We will resume with mentor sentences and homework on November 6th. We will be integrating the American Revolution into our mentor sentences for the next five weeks!

Health Expo
We are very excited to have our very first Health Expo organized by Nurse Kane on Friday, November 3rd. We are so excited for this opportunity! Please look for the light purple handout that your child is bringing home for more information! Also, please only sign and return the form if you do not want your child to attend the growth and development program.

Sky Ranch Money
Please make sure that you have submitted your second payment for Sky Ranch!

Colonial Williamsburg Stations

5th Grade is putting a cap on drugs!!

Week of October 16th-20th

Classroom Updates

In Reading, we started to read our first Junior Great Book. Learners made predictions, asked questions, and made connections throughout our story. Learners were also engaged in stations reinforcing vocabulary and writing skills.

In Writing, learners focused on dialogue in both their mentor sentence and their imaginative writing piece. Learners are revising scenes from their story and making their characters more relatable.

In Social Studies, learners went on a 13 colonies webquest where they discovered more about the origins of the 13 colonies. Learners began to discuss the causes of the American Revolution.

In Math, we began learning strategies for multiplying decimals. Learners were able to recognize why multiplying a decimal by a decimal can give you a smaller product. We also practiced multiplying a decimal by a whole number. You can check out the Decimal Operations Presentation on our Google Sites to see the different strategies we are practicing in class.

In Science, we have been continuing our explorations on mixtures and solutions. This week the learners designed their own experiments to separate salt from water. Please see some of the pictures below!

TCE Updates

Report Cards

Report cards are being sent home today. Please check over your child's report card, sign it, and send it back in the envelope as soon as possible! 

Red Ribbon Week

Red Ribbon Week will be October 23rd-27th! Please click the link to check out how we are celebrating Red Ribbon Week!

Reflex Math Homework
Please remember that your learner needs to be playing Reflex Math each week. The week begins on Friday and your learners teacher will be checking the next Thursday to make sure they are playing at least 4 times a week until they have reached their green light.

Health Expo
We are very excited to have our very first Health Expo organized by Nurse Kane on Friday, November 3rd. We are so excited for this opportunity! Please look for the light purple handout that your child is bringing home for more information! Also, please only sign and return the form if you do not want your child to attend the growth and development program.

Week of October 9th-13th

Thank you for taking the time to stop by our blog and read about what's going on in 5th Grade. Please be sure to check the Google Calendar that is linked at the top of the blog for important updates.

In science this week, we have been delving into mixtures and solutions by doing different explorations. We have tested separating mixtures through screens and funnels. Check Twitter for some fun pictures of the explorations!

This week in math we began multiplying and dividing decimals. We also looked at the average rainfalls in Coppell and other cities. Then, we took that data and put it into graphs.

In reading, we explored multiple meaning words. Learners identified words that can be tricky. Then, they used their schema and the context clues to make meaning of the words. If you would like to see how learners have grown this month, please log onto iStation using the parent portal.

In writing, we focused on possessive pronouns. Learners are still working on their imaginative writing pieces and going through to edit and revise their papers using the skills we covered in class.

In social studies, learners continued to work on comparing the thirteen colonies. We began creating a billboard to persuade colonists to come to their colony.

Announcements: 

Story Book Pumpkin Design Challenge

Please click the link below for more details. 

https://www.smore.com/u6hxg

The next Sky Ranch payment of $50 will be due the end of the month. 

Reflex Math is now up and running. Learners need to be playing until they reach the green light. 

Week of October 2nd-October 6th

Please don't forget that there is no school Friday or Monday for the kids! We hope that they enjoy their break, and we thank everyone who made time to come see us for Parent/Teacher conferences!

What's Happening in the Classroom?

In Reading, we have been continuing to work on how to summarize the stories that we have read through the character's problem and resolution.

In Social Studies, we focused on the Southern Colonies, and we started comparing and contrasting the differences between the three colonial regions.

In Math, we have been completing decimal activities to practice place value to the thousandths. Ask your learner to show you their Google site to see more of their completed work and activities!

In Science, we have been discussing similarities and differences between conductors and insulators. We have also begun our unit on solubility.

In Language Arts, our mentor sentence focused on simple, compound, and complex sentences. The learners are also continuing to write and revise their imaginative stories using rich adjectives and adverbs.

5B was SO thrilled to start reading the sequel, The War I Finally Won.

Airianna and Hannah presenting a passion project to the class!

What's Happening at TCE?

No School:

Just another reminder that there will be no school Monday, October 9th.

Sky Ranch payments:

REMINDER: The second payment for our Sky Ranch trip in April will be due Friday, October 27th. You can send the full payment of $200 at this time, or you can send your second payment of $50. Please make checks payable to Town Center Elementary. If your son/daughter has a different last name than the name on the check, please include your son/daughter's name in the subject line. Thank you to all who have already paid. If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact your learner's homeroom teacher.

Writing Competitions:

CGA Writing Competition: The fourth graders have an opportunity to participate in this annual event. Here is a little information about the competition. 

- FREE for CISD students to enter.

- Open for any student in grades 4-12.

- Deadline of December 8, 2017.
- Categories: STORY and POETRY
- Rules are available at coppellgifted.org.

Week of September 25th-29th

Thank you for taking the time to stop by our blog and read about what's going on in 5th Grade. Please be sure to check the Google Calendar that is linked at the top of the blog for important updates.

What we are learning...

In Reading, we explored and discussed what makes a solid summary. Learners practiced writing summaries using their Books Club books. We will continue exploring the elements of fictional texts.

In Writing, our mentor sentence focused primarily on similes. We were able to practice the various parts of speech while also revising and imitating our mentor sentence to add more 'meat' to our writing. Learners also continued writing and revising their imaginative pieces. Please refer to the Google slide for extra help on Mentor Sentence HW.

In Math, we have been exploring decimal place value. Learners drew on their desks with chalk markers in order to compare and order decimals. They also participated in many other decimal explorations and activities.

 

In Science, learners explored density, mass, and volume to see how they are related and different. Learners have been completing explorations with water and salt to see how to manipulate the density of water.

In Social Studies, we continued to learn about the 13 colonies. We focused on the Middle colonies and learning about the different industries, resources, and geography in this colonial region.

Announcements

There is no school October 9th. 

REMINDER: The second payment for our Sky Ranch trip in April will be due Friday, October 27th. You can send the full payment of $200 at this time, or you can send your second payment of $50. Please make checks payable to Town Center Elementary. If your son/daughter has a different last name than the name on the check, please include your son/daughter's name in the subject line. Thank you to all who have already paid. If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact your learner's homeroom teacher. 

Fall Parent Conferences: If you have not done so already, please make sure to sign up for conferences using the links below. 

5A and 5B Parent Conference Link

5C, 5D, and 5E Parent Conference Link

Finally, thank you again for taking the time to read our blog. We know how important it is for our TCE families to know what is happening at school! If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask.