Giving is Good

The school has been having a canned food drive to support the Trinity food pantry in Topsfield this past week.  It ended today, and I am proud to report that our class contributed 111 items to the pantry.  Fantastic!!

I asked during the food drive for the students to not just go home and ask for cans.  I hope they took it to heart to contribute some of their own money or to do a chore around the house to earn the can.  I think the lessons that can be learned from doing this are invaluable.

And so the following little story.  We had a friendly competition going on among the 5th grade classes to see which class could bring in the most items; our class came in second.  Despite not being the "winning" class, your kids were incredibly gracious about coming in second.  They said, "We won even though we didn't because now there's more food for the poor."  That kind of spirit will take them far in life and should be celebrated.

 

25% There

It's hard to believe that we've completed more than 25% of the school year.  Our Calendar Math, however, shows that it's true.

We've been busy this past week starting in on fractions:  adding and subtracting, making equivalencies, and generally reviewing all that we know about fractions.  This coming week brings looking at division equations as fractions.  We are also working with mixed numbers.

In science, we are continuing with our study of light and color.  Experiments last week had us considering refraction and the various properties of objects in terms of light (i.e. translucent, transparent, opaque).  This week, we will work in CLIC to further explore light.  Please send your student in with a shoe box for this project (any extras are also appreciated).

I am looking forward to reading student blogs about Native Americans, their environments, and their cultures.  Knowledge of how Native Americans lived translates into deeper understanding of the colonization of the Americas.  Having students use technology in the classroom and in their learning supports the Common Core standards. 

In reading, we continue with group book studies.  Please encourage reading every day by your student.  The Scholastic Book Fair now in the school library offers a great selection of books for students along with the autonomy of making their own selections.  Ask students about their book choices, whether from the book fair, from the library, or from their own shelves.  This is a great way to get conversations going about what they're reading as well as about what you might be reading.

 

DASH - Disability Awareness Starts Here

A big thank you to the parents who came in last week to work with the class for DASH.  The program cannot run without this parent commitment.

Every year, the DASH program introduces a different disability to students in grades 2 through 5 in the Tri-town schools.  In 5th grade, students learn about physical disabilities, both gross and fine motor.  Through simulated activities, students become aware of differing abilities and also of strategies to overcome a disability.  Essentially, DASH strives to make students understand that even through our differences, we all have similarities. 

Below are a few photos of our classroom working through the DASH activities last week, including simulations of various fine motor disabilities.  This week we will work in the gym to experience gross motor disabilities and adaptations.