December 10, 2010

Hi everyone,
The children will not be able to blog this week, as they are rehearsing for our Poetry in Motion presentation in honor of the Winter's Solstice. Therefore, I decided to give you a subject by subject update of what the they are learning.
Reading:  This week, we have been learning about advertising techniques and different types of ads.  This is part of a two week unit on Media Literacy.  Next week, the students will be writing and producing anti-bullying Public Service Announcements. They have really enjoyed learning about target audiences and the techniques that advertisers use.
Writing:  The students have been working on Personal Essays.  After brainstorming different opinions that they had about a variety of topics, they arrived at a thesis statement and three supporting ideas.  They are now in the process of gathering information to support those ideas.  They are really enjoying this unit.
Social Studies:  We are finishing up our study of the settlement of North America.  Next, we'll begin working with groups to learn about the 13 colonies.
Science:  We are completing our Energy unit by studying how energy transforms from one form to another.  The students will be preparing for a unit test that is is on December 22.
Math:  Depending on their teacher, the students have been learning how to compare fractions or how to multiply large numbers.  Fractions are often challenging for 5th graders, and I am so proud of how the persevered and asked for help when they needed it.

Stay Warm!

Mr. Weinstein

December 3, 2010

Poetry in Motion

This month we are doing Poetry in Motion.We are doing this to celebrate the shortest day and the longest night of winter (the Winter's Solstice). For this assignment we got to pick a friend or two to do it with.With your partner(s) you and will pick out a poem and memorize it.And you will perform it in front of the whole grade and guests.You also have to dress up, make simple props, and do a short skit with your group After the performances we will in enjoy a lovely breakfast.

Reading

This week in Reading, we wrote another letter to our epals in Moscow, Russia. We also received a video from them and we saw what they looked like and we saw what the lobby in their school looked like. It looked like a mall!! It was so cool! Also, we learned about commas. We learned where to put them when we are writing. For example, we learned to put a comma to set off words of the speaker : Sally said, "I am going to take the dog for a walk!" We also learned to put them in a sentence to separate a long phrase that comes before the main part of a sentence: When Paige talks on the phone, she talk for a long time.Finally, we learned to put a comma when we separate an interjection from the rest of the sentence : Wow, look at that! That is what we learned about this week in Reading.

Health

This week in Health we started a new unit. We are learning about drugs.We are also learning about marijuana and alcohol. Our last Health was Tuesday we talked about good drugs and bad drugs. Next week we are going to learn about different types of drugs. 

Written by Paige, Sally, and Jordan