October 29 - November 2

Welcome back to another week of learning and fun in Grade 5! We have a LOT going on this week!

Notes for the week...

** This Friday, November 2, we will hold our Internal Language Arts Competitions including Speech and Spelling in both English and Spanish.  Students are working on and practicing their speeches in class and will be competing to move on to the ABSH competition held in Tegucigalpa in February.  A list for the Spelling Bee has been shared with students via Google Classroom, if they choose to prepare.

** This year the Environmental Student Council will be holding elections again for Environmental Ambassadors on Tuesday, October 30th. We welcome any students who would like to be Environmental Ambassadors to prepare a short speech which will be presented at lunch Monday, October 29th. Students should be responsible, friendly individuals with a passion for helping the environment. If you are interested please contact Mr. Andrew.

** In keeping with Discovery School tradition, children in the Early Childhood and Elementary are invited to dress up as their favorite book character on Wednesday, October 31. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will set up a live interactive museum that day, which will last from 8:50-9:40 a.m. This will allow the younger students to come and learn about new book characters. Parents are welcome to come and meet all the exciting characters and learn about some new books.

** FUNDACION ABRIGO is a shelter that provides lodging for families from outside Tegucigalpa who bring patients to Hospital Escuela. Discovery School has been a partner in solidarity with Fundacion Abrigo for the past years. In keeping with our support to this noble cause, we are asking for a donation of 1 gallon of disinfectant per family. Please send us your donation per family by Wednesday, October 31.  For a quick look at what Fundación Abrigo does, see the video below:

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will continue to analyze different types of text structures in fiction and nonfiction text, including the "Cause/Effect" and "Problem/Solution" structures. Then we will begin our next Guided Reading novel, The Egypt Game.

We are putting the final touches on our speeches inspired by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. We will be watching several examples of good oratory skills in selected TED Talks, which will help us identify and practice these skills in delivering our speeches.

We will also continue to practice irregular verb forms in the past and past perfect tenses.  There will be a Language Quiz on Friday.

Here are our TedTalks from Monday. Feel free to watch them again to get more ideas for how to improve your speech.

Math

This week in class we will be learning about Barn Swallows which migrate from North America to South America during this months and those to follow. We will be reading and watching a few short videos together to learn more. We will solve several word problems related to Barn Swallows and will be creating birdhouses using our measurement skills, hoping to entice them to stay at our school!

Barn Swallows Materials

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL Z.1

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL Z.2
Thursday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Social Studies

This week in Social Studies class the students will complete their drawings of scenes and objects from the everyday life of ancient Egyptians. We will read several articles, view several videos, and  have several class discussions about how and why ancient Egyptians prepared for the afterlife.

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

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

October 22 - 26

Welcome back to another week of learning and fun in Grade 5! We enjoyed meeting with families last Friday and look forward to seeing everyone else this week!

Notes for the week...

** This Friday, October 26, is our annual U.N. Day with games and activities from around the world.  Students will be dismissed early at 11:45.

** Next Friday, November 2, we will hold our Internal Language Arts Competitions including Speech and Spelling in both English and Spanish.  Students are working on and practicing their speeches in class and will be competing to move on to the ABSH competition held in Tegucigalpa in February.  There is no official list for the Spelling Bee competition, but we will be sharing some resources with students this week to help them prepare if they choose.

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will continue to analyze different types of text structures in fiction and nonfiction text. In addition, we will continue to draft, revise, and edit our speeches inspired by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

We will also be practicing irregular verb forms in the past and past perfect tenses.  There will be a Language Quiz on Thursday, due to the UN Day activities on Friday.

Math

This week in Math class we will be learning about equations and applying our understanding of the basic operations; addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students, please be sure to watch the second video as your homework for class and watch the first video up to the 5:00 min mark if you need to review what an equation is.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, watch the MathAntics video above

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL C.13
Thursday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Social Studies

This week in Social Studies class we will be starting a new unit on Ancient Egypt! This week we will watch some videos and read several texts to learn about how ancient Egyptians harnessed the power of the Nile River and also what life was like for both wealthy and normal Egyptians. The students will create their own maps and draw scenes and objects from the everyday life of ancient Egyptians. We will have several class discussions as well.

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

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

Week of October 15-19

Welcome back to another week of learning and fun in Grade 5! 

Notes for the week...

** This week on Wednesday, we will be taking a field trip to the Central Bank of Honduras in the morning. If you have not signed the permission slip and sent the 50 lps, please do so as soon as possible!

** On Friday we will hold our Student-Led Conferences. Monday we will be sending out forms with the scheduled time for your conference. We will not have classes, however, both students and parents need to attend this conference. The students will be presenting some of the work they have done this quarter and the teachers will be explaining the report cards and MAP scores. We have tried to be as accommodating as possible with everyone's schedule, but we know that your assigned time may not work for you. If you cannot make your conference, please email or Whatsapp your child's homeroom teacher as soon as possible to schedule a new conference time.

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will analyze different types of text structures in fiction and nonfiction text. We will be identifying the characteristics of fiction structure using a plot diagram, along with characteristics of such nonfiction structures as "Sequence/Chronological" and "Cause/Effect."

We will be moving on to the drafting stage of our speeches inspired by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.  Students will be using the research they have gathered and the ideas they have organized in order to complete the first draft of their presentation.

Math

This week in Math class we will finish reviewing multi-digit multiplication strategies. We will study the Lattice Method of multiplication and then review each of the strategies we have learned. Thursday we will have a short quiz over each of these strategies.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL C.11

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL W.1
Thursday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Science
We will be finishing up our matter unit by using physical properties of matter to separate mixtures of substances. Then on Thursday, we will review the concepts we have learned and will take a test over the unit.

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

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

October 8-12

Welcome back to another week of learning and fun in Grade 5! We hope you were able to stay dry and have a great Semana Morazanica vacation!

Notes for the week...

** MAP testing is finishing up this week.  This means that we will have very little access to the computer lab, and students will be depending on their devices for several activities.  Please allow your child to bring a device (preferably tablet or laptop, but a smart phone can work in a pinch).  Students will be using the apps Google Drive, Google Slides, and Google Docs, as well as their internet browser, so please make sure that these apps are downloaded on the device. It is preferable that each student have their own device, but if your child is unable to bring one, we will make arrangements here at school for them to complete the work.  Thank you so much for your collaboration!

** 5th grade has finished their MAP testing for the first semester.  Students who were absent on MAP testing days without making prior arrangements will be making up the test this week.

This week in class...

Language Arts

This week we will continue to investigate the features of nonfiction text as well as how
they can help us understand the text more thoroughly. In addition, we'll be practicing how to evaluate headlines we see on the internet as well as learning about how information we post online can create a "digital footprint."

In Language, we will continue to study words with the y --> i spelling change in plural nouns and certain verb conjugations, since we were unable to have the quiz before the October break.  The quiz will be this Friday.

We will also continue to work on gathering research to support our speech topics inspired by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and we will begin drafting our speeches.

Math

We will continue studying multiplication this week in Math class. We will be solving multi-digit problems using the Mr. Andrew Crazy Way (actually the Distributive Method! Don't tell anyone!) and the Standard Algorithm. We will put our multiplication skills to use for solving several word problems as well this week.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL C.2

Wednesday: One Xtramath.org lesson
Thursday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL C.13

Science

We will continue to investigate properties of matter, and will use what we know about properties to identify substances using multiple tests.

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

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew