August 27-31

Welcome back to a brand new week! Thanks for checking back in with us!

Notes for the week...

** This Friday we will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Discovery School with a morning of activities and entertainment!  Classes will dismiss early on Friday at 11:45.

** This week we will be transitioning to a new structure in our classes.  Ms. Amy will be teaching Writing and Language for both 5A and 5B, while Mr. Andrew will be teaching Math for both sections. Each class will do Reading in their own homerooms, and we will do Science and Social Studies all together.

** While we understand that sometimes travel schedules may conflict with school due to circumstances beyond your control, we ask that families take our school calendar in consideration when making travel plans.  Because so much of our learning at Discovery School is experiential, hands-on, and project-centered, it is often difficult for students to make up what they have missed when they are away from class.  In addition, because we do a lot of work in collaborative partners, groups, and teams, any student who misses school may be affecting other students that depend on his/her collaboration.  If you are not able to avoid your child missing class, we ask that you notify Mr. Andrew or Ms. Amy as far in advance as possible so that we may do our best to make any necessary arrangements.  Thank you for your consideration!

** If students are unable to complete homework due to internet connectivity problems or technical issues, we ask parents to please send the homeroom teacher a text, email, or note to verify this.  Thank you!

This week in class...

Language Arts

This week in Guided Reading, we will continue reading the novel Bridge to Terabithia while exploring themes, figurative language, and characterizations. We will continue to practice our summarizing skills along with how to have productive class discussions using our Accountable Talk sentence stems.  Students will continue reading and conferring about books they have chosen for themselves as well in Self-Selected Reading.

In Writing, we will be finishing up our descriptive writing pieces, and then reviewing the how commas are used to help our writing make sense. We will also practice our new Word Wall Words for the week:  meat, knight, whole, probably, usually, especially. A few times a week we revisit these words to practice not only spelling and using the words themselves, but also extending patterns to help with other words as well.

Please note that due to the 25th Anniversary celebration activities on Friday, our Language Arts / Spelling Quiz will be on Thursday this week.

Math

This week students will receive a printed report of their progress during the first week of using Xtramath.org.  Students who use Xtramath consistently and with their best effort make great progress with their math fact fluency, and we are already seeing results! Each lesson only takes 5-10 minutes, but this has proven to be very helpful for students in the past, as long as they practice regularly. It is particularly important to strengthen these skills this year before we advance into more complicated multiplication and division concepts.

This week in Math class we will review addition and subtraction using decimals. We will watch a short video together and then have guided practice in class. Students will also be assigned short tutorials in MobyMax which will help them solidify their understanding of this theme and help them practice virtual learning. Students can review how to add and subtract decimals in the first portion of the video below.

Social Studies

This week in Social Studies class we will review landforms and biomes. We will watch several videos and read from a variety of electronic sources. On Thursday the kids will create a Google Slides presentation to demonstrate their understanding.

Biomes Articles

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson, MobyMax-Addition w/Decimals Part 1
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, MobyMax-Addition w/Decimals Part 2

Wednesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, MobyMax-Subtraction w/Decimals
Thursday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

August 20-24

Welcome back to the second full week of the new school year! Thanks for checking back in with us!

Notes for the week...

** While we understand that sometimes travel schedules may conflict with school due to circumstances beyond your control, we ask that families take our school calendar in consideration when making travel plans.  Because so much of our learning at Discovery School is experiential, hands-on, and project-centered, it is often difficult for students to make up what they have missed when they are away from class.  In addition, because we do a lot of work in collaborative partners, groups, and teams, any student who misses school may be affecting other students that depend on his/her collaboration.  If you are not able to avoid your child missing class, we ask that you notify Mr. Andrew or Ms. Amy as far in advance as possible so that we may do our best to make any necessary arrangements.  Thank you for your consideration!

** Want to know what the Wolves Café has to offer? Check out their blog at  https://wolvescafeteria.wordpress.com/ to see the menu for each day!

** If students are unable to complete homework due to internet connectivity problems or technical issues, we ask parents to please send the homeroom teacher a text, email, or note to verify this.  Thank you!

** In order to help you keep updated with special classes, we have posted the links to the blogs for Spanish, Spanish Social Studies, Music, French, and PE in the right-hand sidebar under "My Blog List."  These blogs are updated every week, just like our class blog, so be sure to check in regularly to stay up-to-date on these classes!

This week in class...

Language Arts

This week in Guided Reading, we will continue reading the novel Bridge to Terabithia while exploring themes, figurative language, and characterizations. We will practice our summarizing skills along with how to have productive class discussions using our Accountable Talk sentence stems.  Students will continue reading and conferring about books they have chosen for themselves as well in Self-Selected Reading.

In Writing, we will be working on our descriptive writing pieces, to practice "exploding" our writing with details as well as using the writing process to revise and edit our writing. We will also practice our new Word Wall Words for the week:  right, brake, ate, however, while, believe. A few times a week we revisit these words to practice not only spelling and using the words themselves, but also extending patterns to help with other words as well.

Math

This week we will continue working with place value in whole numbers and decimals.  Students will be writing, modeling, and explaining the concepts we are practicing.  We will also be comparing whole numbers and decimals based on place value.  There will be a quiz on Friday.

This week students will begin to use Xtramath.org at home every afternoon to build speed and accuracy with basic multiplication and division facts.  Each lesson only takes 5-10 minutes, but this has proven to be very helpful for students in the past, as long as they practice regularly. It is particularly important to strengthen these skills this year before we advance into more complicated multiplication and division concepts.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL G.3
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL G.4

Wednesday: One Xtramath.org lesson
Thursday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL A.3

Social Studies

In Social Studies, we'll be finishing up our review of the concept of government with activities exploring the 3 branches of the U.S. government and the concepts of "checks and balances, along with comparisons between the U.S. and Honduran governments. We'll have a quiz on Thursday over the concepts we've covered in the last couple weeks.

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

August 13-17

Hello students and parents!

We had a great first week of classes! It was great seeing so many familiar faces and a few new ones! In particular, we would like to say welcome to Summer and her family! We have been unpacking all of our materials and talking about expectations for the new school year. Between lockers, Engrade, Google Classroom, and many other new things, there is a lot to learn! But the kids are doing a great job. If you haven’t yet, please fill out the parent questionnaire below to help us better understand your child and their needs.

Parent Questionnaire

Notes for the week...

** Because we integrate so much technology in our classroom, we encourage students to bring their electronic devices (ipads, tablets, laptops) on a daily basis with the apps for Google Classroom, Google Docs, and Google Slides uploaded.  These devices will not be used for recreational purposes (except on occasional special occasions), but for academic work.

** On Friday, the kids took home the Student Photo Release form. This form gives us permission to use photos which may include your child in our school publications such as brochures, the school website, and the school Facebook page.  Please indicate your preference and return the signed form to school as soon as possible!  Thank you!

** In order to help you keep updated with special classes, we have posted the links to the blogs for Spanish, Spanish Social Studies, Music, French, and PE in the right-hand sidebar under "My Blog List."  These blogs are updated every week, just like our class blog, so be sure to check in regularly to stay up-to-date on these classes!

This week in class...

Here are our plans for the week!

Language Arts

This week in Guided Reading, we will be reviewing genres of literature and practicing Accountable Talk, an important tool to help students interact in class discussions.  The essential questions we will be focusing on in our literature this quarter are "What role does imagination play in our lives?" and "How do our relationships change us?"

We will begin reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, our first class novel of the year.  In the meantime, we will also be reading aloud The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and comparing the themes and essential questions with Bridge to Terabithia.

In Writing, we will be reviewing the traits of good writing as well as "exploding the moment" with interesting details.  We will also begin our Word Wall Words for the year with the words  thought, enough, could, again, always, and because.

Math

This week in Math, we will be reviewing place value including values beyond the decimal point. This will include tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. We will also practice using place value to compare two numbers. Feel free to watch the videos below to review each of these concepts.

MathAntics-Place Value

MathAntics-Decimals Place Value

Social Studies

In Social Studies, we will be learning about government and, in particular, democracy. We will watch and discuss two short BrainPop videos in class as well as discuss the founding of the United States and the three levels of government.

Homework

This week’s homework will help the students review the concepts of place value.

Monday: Math IXL A.1

Tuesday: Math IXL A.4

Wednesday: Math IXL A.5

Thursday: Math IXL A.2

Friday: Relax!

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

August 8 - 10

This year, Mr. Andrew and Ms. Amy will be your fifth-grade teachers, and we are very excited to get to know a new community of learners!

There are lots of new things to look forward to... lockers, Engrade, graded notebooks, and many other things which students will be introduced to this week.  Be sure to check in with your child regularly, and keep in touch with the blog at least a couple times a week, to stay up-to-date.

In order to help us prepare for the school year, please take a few moments to fill out the following Google Form questionnaire.

Parent Questionnaire

Don't forget to read the important documents posted on the pages on the right sidebar about policies, expectations, and other important information.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to email us at asuhr@discoveryschool.edu.hn or aduryea@discoveryschool.edu.hn!


Sincerely,
Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew