A Special Thank You!

Thank you all for the wonderful gifts you sent in this week! I appreciate all that you do for me and our 5th grade class!  I hope each of you have a safe and happy winter break!

Curriculum Connections January 2015

When we return from winter break we will hit the ground running!  It will be very important for students to be focused, to study daily, and actively participate in class.  Here is what we will be studying when students return from the break:

Reading:  We will begin reading the novel Lyddie by Katherine Paterson.  This is a story of an orphan girl, separated from her siblings, and her struggle to earn money to reunite them, along with her struggle for better working conditions in the Lowell, Massachusetts mills.  This story ties in with our Industrial Revolution unit of study in Social Studies.
  

Math: We will continue to work on division with an emphasis on dividing with decimals.

Science:  We are moving right along with our landforms unit of study.  Students will learn all about oceanic landforms and how they compare to continental landforms.

Social Studies: Students will begin to study the Progressive Era.

Writing: Expository writing- Stepping into a New Year- 5 paragraphs

Please be sure to check the side for all tests and quizzes!

Immigration Day

Immigration Day was a huge success!  Students were able to rotate through various stations to experience what immigrants had to go through as they entered Ellis Island.  A special thank you to Madi for being our class photographer and taking pictures of the class as they participated in each station!

Health Inspection

Health Inspection

Let's Build Something

Taking the Citizenship Test

Unpacking Goods

Unpacking Goods

Students have also been working hard this week to complete their Immigration VoiceThread project before the winter break!  Check out some of our projects!

Immigrant from Mexico - Terry

Immigrant from India - Simran



Immigrant from Scotland - Michaela

The Creation of the Grand Canyon

We have been busy studying all about weather, erosion, and deposition and how they all work together.  To help the students understand WED we went back in time millions of year ago to what the Grand Canyon looked liked before it became a canyon.  We discussed how the Colorado River has helped form the Grand Canyon.  The students built a replica of a plateau and then rain a river through it to get a better understanding of how the Grand Canyon was formed.  Students were able to see weathering, erosion, and deposition taking place!  What a great learning experience for the students!

Building our plateau.

Building our plateau.

Watching the Grand Canyon form.

Having meaningful discussions!

Before

After

This activity really helped students to understand how weathering, erosion, and deposition work together to wear away Earth's surface.  They were also able to see how deposition builds new landforms!  Be sure to ask you child which new land from they see in the after picture!

Joining the Twitter Scene

Our 5th grade class has joined the Twitter scene!  If you are on Twitter and would like to follow us you may do so @ScrivensGators.  We are up to 34 followers!