One common theme that came up in many conferences was concern about hand writing. I did some searching around the web and found a few Occupational Therapist blogs that I found imformative, so I thought I'd share:
http://www.missjaimeot.com/middle-school-and-handwriting-how-to-help-your-child-improve-their-legibility-after-elementary-school/
http://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/improve-handwriting-older-kids.html
5th Grade Math -
This week we practiced using clock models to help us think about common fractions like 1/3, 1/6, & 1/12 (also 1/4 and 1/2 which can be modeled either as money or as clocks). There is a Home Connection - More Adding Fractions - due Monday
Alder East Reading -
We continued our in-class Novel Study - Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman. Each chapter tells the story from the point of view of a different character. The story is about how a diverse group of strangers come together to build a community garden in what was an abandoned lot in a rough part of Cleveland.
Here is an email that Mrs. Hood and I sent out last week about one of the upcoming chapters:
We are reading a book called “Seedfolks” about a neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. The chapters are each focused on a specific character and their interactions with a community garden that develops in an empty lot. The characters come from different backgrounds, nationalities, and life experiences. One chapter coming up brings up the issue of teenage pregnancy. We wanted to make sure you are informed and if you have any questions, feel free to talk with us at conferences.
Thank you,
Mr. Towe and Mrs. Hood
At Home: Students should still be doing independent reading at home - a chapter book, graphic novel, biography, or non-fiction that isn't too focused on pictures and graphic information. This year, students will track all the books they read and use that info to evaluate their reading, and set reading goals.
A new Reading Log went home last Friday, and is due Monday 11/14 (since we don't have school next Thursday/Friday).
Alder East Writing -
This week we plan to continue some work we started on editing paragraphs for capitalization, punctuation and spelling errors.
Our next big writing project will be an informative character comparison based on some of the characters from our novel study, Seedfolks.
Alder East Humanities -
This week, we continue our Presidential Elections unit. We have six groups that will represent a different political party. This week they will create a candidate, study their party platform, choose issues they want to campaign on, write press releases, make bumper stickers, political ads, and prepare to hold a debate on the issues. Should be lots of fun!