Fifth Grade Fall Fun

Happy Autumn, families! 

We have been hard at work in fifth grade, as I hope you've heard about, and I wanted to share some of it with you! 

Firstly, I am shipping off our Pringle Challenge discovery projects today. 

For this project, students were challenged to package one Pringle chip so that it would safely reach a partner fifth grade class at Glenridge.  Students learned about what happens to packages during shipping and how to package items safely.  They were given some limitations for materials and size.  They researched designs and devised prototypes for their packages and then tested them.  Once our packages arrive at Glenridge and their packages arrive at our school, our classes will Skype and watch as we unbox our projects to see who succeeded.  I can't wait to see what happens!  

Our next discovery project was introduced by Dr. Martin to all of the fifth graders this week.

We want to empower students to make a difference in our community.  They are all going to be considering different problems or issues that concern them, and then research ways to make a positive change.  Then students will create plans and carry them out.  Students who are a part of XL will also be exploring this through their work, as well.  We know that our fifth graders are leaders and can't wait to see what they pursue with this project!

Speaking of leaders, we got to meet with our 2nd grade reading buddies recently.  It was lovely to see these partnerships share stories together!

One of the areas of focus for our class in mathematics has been working on our growth mindset as mathematicians.  We reflect on Jo Boaler's "Math Mindsets" at the beginning of each class period and keep those as a focus through our work.  There are 8 in total: everyone can learn math to the highest levels, mistakes are valuable, questions are really important, math is about connections and communication, math is about creativity and making sense, math is about learning and not performing, and depth is more important than speed.  Many times students write these on their desks as reminders.

We've also started using a new technology in our math class: Pear Deck.  This is an interactive interface for presentations so students can respond to our math problems on their own iPads and I can view their thinking on my computer screen.  It's an incredible tool for fostering conversation around our thinking!

Finally, I must thank you for ordering books through Scholastic this month.  I was able to order 18 books at no cost to add to our classroom library!!!  I selected a mix of non-fiction and fiction, a couple of graphic novels, and chose books that would hopefully appeal to your children and support our learning in fifth grade.  Thank you so much!

Mathematical Practices

Mathematicians in 5th grade are learning both math content and math practices.  There are 8 main mathematical practices that we make an effort to nurture and grow:

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics.
5. Use appropriate tools strategically.  
6. Attend to precision.
7. Look for and make use of structure.
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.  

As we are nearing the end of the second chapter, we have been working on solving real-world problems using multiplication and division and bar models for the past four days in class.  This way of processing thinking offers us a great opportunity to work on our mathematical practices.  Knowing that we are not going to focus on all eight at once, I've asked the students to prioritize three for now:

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them - solve problems and explain thinking using multiple methods and proving the solution is correct.
• Model with mathematics - use a variety of models and symbols to demonstrate a solution to a problem and prove it is correct.
• Attend to precision - use math vocabulary, symbols, and labels to effectively communicate the solution and exchange ideas with other mathematicians.

When we use these in class, it can look like this on paper:

It might be beneficial for your child to practice these types of problems at home to increase their comfort level with making models and explaining their thinking.  Ways they can practice include:

• practice problem packets sent home today
• reviewing the textbook (lesson 2.7) either in paper or online
• viewing videos through Khan Academy or ones similar to this:

We will be reviewing in class on Monday and I will offer some time outside of class to help the students, as well.  These same skills will be used again in our upcoming chapters on fractions and algebra, so students will have an opportunity to continue to grow their math practices as the year continues.    

It's Okay to be Different

Mrs. Taylor, our school counselor, has been working with the fifth graders on learning and really deeply understanding our school touchstone.  One of the parts of the touchstone is, "We value each others' differences."  To really show how Captain students value each others' differences, Mrs. Taylor asked the class to reflect on differences we value in our school and to show it like a page out of Todd Parr's book, It's Okay to be Different.  I loved the results and I thought you would, too!

A Very Special Visitor

Today we embarked on our journalism writing unit, and who better to get the students excited about being journalists than an actual journalist?

That's right, we had a very special visitor today: News Channel 5 Journalist, Kay Quinn!

She taught us about what she does in her role at KSDK as an anchorwoman and reporter.  She even showed a video of what her set is like on a commercial break.  Then she taught us about the "Making a Difference" segment.  This is a good news segment, and fits perfectly with our theme of "Choose Kind."  The example story she shared even featured one of our Captain teachers, Sarah Gottemoeller!  In addition to showing a story that actually aired, she took the time to interview Mike Bush on our behalf and recorded him answering her questions.  In the interview, Kay and Mike talked about tips for our budding journalists.  She wrapped up by taking some very thoughtful questions from the students.

Here are some things our class reported learning from Kay Quinn:

• A journalist needs to find a lot of stories.
• They spend their time finding out the truth to make sure it's a real story, investigating thoroughly to make sure it's not made up.
• Journalists can have non-traditional schedules when it comes to work hours.
• A journalist works with deadlines.
• Journalists ask for permission to use someone's name or set up an interview or take a picture.
• Journalists have to be nice and be able to work with a lot of different people.
• Journalists must be mindful of other people's space and their feelings.  It's important for them to understand how others are feeling in different situations, and their own emotions might be impacted as well, and that's okay.
• Journalists need to stay positive and flexible because things might not always go as planned.
• Collaboration and patience is important in journalism.
• Follow your dreams.

What a great way to start the day and kick off our unit!  I can't wait to hear the stories the students find as they work to uncover kindness all around them!  

New Year, New Moon

What a memorable day we had at school today!  I am so grateful that the weather cooperated for us to view the the total solar eclipse!  For those of you that were viewing it from elsewhere, we missed you and hope you had an equally spectacular experience.

The students shared some beautiful observations about the eclipse:

• The cicadas started droning when it became dark.
• During full totality, you could see a white glimpse of something at the top.
• I liked it when it went totally dark because it relaxed you, like a breath out.
• It went back to normal quicker than when it started to get dark, which made it feel like a dream.
• It felt like a neighborhood when it gets quiet at night.
• The sky looked kind of purple.
• It was kind of like sunset.

Here are some pictures I snapped of the event: