Mrs. Hickson's Class

Please click on the link below to read the Guidelines for Reflections and print a copy of the entry form.

Reflections Entry Form and Guidelines

We are planning a Halloween Celebration on Oct. 31st.  Please click on the link for details!

The annual fifth grade pumpkin carving event will be tomorrow at 9

:00.  Fifth graders traditionally carve pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns to decorate for Haunted School which is tomorrow night.  You may send in a pumpkin carving kit with you student if you wish. Please do not send in any knives.

Please keep in mind when your student gets dressed in the morning that there is the potential for pumpkin “guts” to get on your student’s clothes

We will be doing a voluntary science activity tomorrow.  If your child wishes to participate they need to bring in a small (20 oz. or less) empty, plastic pop or water bottle.  Bottles with wide mouths will possibly not work for this activity.

Here is a copy of the book project sheet your child was given today.  Each student has a hard copy.  I have also included this as a link under Reading.

Stretch-A-Face

Due 10/30/18

Materials:

Metal clothes hanger

Old nylons/tights

Yarn, felt, construction paper, etc.

    Scissors & glue

Crayons/markers/paint/colored pencils

Two 5 x 7 cards. (Provided.)

Directions:

1. Choose and read an historical fiction book.
2. Pick one of the characters be the subject of your project.
3. Take the wire hanger and bend it by pulling down on the bottom.
4. Cut the leg off the nylons/tights.
5. Take the nylon/tight leg and stretch it over the bent part of the hanger. Secure the nylon at the “top” (the hook part.)
6. Decorate the hanger so that it looks like the character you chose.
7. On the index card you will write the title and author of your book.  A short summary of the book, and the setting which makes the book an historical fiction book.  
8. Attach the final copy of your card to the back of the hanger.  Be sure to write it as a final copy in pen with correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
9. Hand in before or on the due date.
10. ***Late projects will lose 5 points per day!!***

Grading:

Index card:

Title & Author- 5 pts.

Summary- 5 pts.

Historical fiction characteristics- 5 pts.

Spelling- 5 pts.

Capitalization- 5 pts.

Face:

Accurately depicts the character- 30 pts.

Effort:

Project is well thought out and is a  

polished  piece of work.   – 30 pts.

Remember that on any given day your fifth grader should be able to tell you what we did in school. The planner is a good reminder for them to help with this narrative. Sharing what they have learned each day is an excellent way to help students review.
The planner should be signed by a parent or guardian every day.

Homework might not always be a worksheet!!!!!
**Students should be working on multiplication facts every night.
**They should be working on Spelling City 10-15 minutes per night Monday – Thursday.
**Students should be reading 30 minutes each night. Their comprehension can be checked using the question sheet given to parents at conferences.
**Moby Max or Khan Academy- at least 20 minutes should be done each night.
**Students can use Ducksters, History.com, and Ben’s Guide to the Government to review social studies and/or science topics covered in class.
**Students will have assignments which need to be completed on Readworks.
**Content binders should come home every night so students can study and review that day’s lessons.
Math, social studies and science material in the binder should be studied each night to prepare for upcoming tests.

Math

In Module 1, students’ understandings of the patterns in the base ten system are extended from Grade 4’s work with place value to include decimals to the thousandths place.  In Grade 5, students deepen their knowledge through a more generalized understanding of the relationships between and among adjacent places on the place value chart, e.g., 1 tenth times any digit on the place value chart moves the digit one place value to the right. Toward the module’s end, students apply these new understandings as they reason about and perform decimal operations through the hundredths place.

Social Studies-

Tentative test date- Nov. 2.

In this unit students study early American History with a focus on the period prior to 1585. Starting with the art of historical thinking, students review the questions historians ask in examining the past. After they reconsider the tools historians use (primary and secondary sources, artifacts), they explore their textbook as a type of secondary source. In doing so, students examine text structures, text features, and the role of informational text in learning about the past. This unit takes a separate examination of life in America, Africa, and Europe in order to set the stage for the convergence of these three worlds in America. This approach prepares students to understand the exchanges and conflicts that resulted from the convergence of three distinct peoples in America. Accordingly, students begin their study with America, using a geographic lens to identify major American Indian cultural groups and compare how people living in different geographic regions adapted to and modified their environments prior to the arrival of Europeans. Students take an in-depth examination into the life and culture of Eastern Woodland American Indians. Students then shift their focus to the continent of Africa. In learning about how people lived in western Africa before the 16th century, students create a foundation for examining how the meeting of the three worlds affected people from this continent. Next, students turn to Europe as global exploration began. They analyze the goals, motivations, and developments that made sea exploration possible through case studies of various explorers. Students explore the convergence of Europeans, American Indians, and Africans in North America after 1492. In considering the Columbian Exchange, students describe the widespread movement of plants, animals, foods, communicable diseases, ideas, human populations, and goods, and how human societies were affected. Finally, students analyze the consequences of the encounters and exchanges among these three worlds and how people from each continent viewed the convergence.

We are currently working on Lesson 4: Eastern Woodlands American Indians.

Science-

In this unit on matter, students will be involved in activities that hone the following skills:

Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.

Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.

Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.

Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.

Writing–

The Common Core State Standards require Fifth grade students to write narratives in which they orient their reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator or characters with the event sequence unfolding naturally. Additionally, students are expected to use details including dialogue, descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words and phrases to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. The goal of this unit is for students to write personal narrative stories that elaborate the tension or problem and focus upon an important message or heart of the story. Students will immerse themselves in age-appropriate personal narrative mentors to discern how these texts tend to go and to gather possible story ideas from turning points within their life experiences. They will draw on everything they’ve learned from writing small moment stories from Kindergarten- second grade, as well as personal narrative writing in third grade and fourth grades. Additionally, students revisit qualities of good writing and craft to write personal narratives. They will select their best work to revise, edit, and publish.

Reading-

We continue the implementation and organization of our Daily 5 routine.

Lessons will emphasize students’ ability to identify key ideas and themes in a text, whether in print, graphic, quantitative or mixed media formats.

The focus is on reading to understand, during which students focus on what the text says.  The premise is that students cannot delve into the deeper meaning of any text if they cannot first grasp the surface meaning.  Beyond merely identifying ideas, students also see how ideas and events connect and evolve over the course of a text.

Students are working on various reading responses for their literacy binders.  Students have assignments reading and responding to their group level books.

Students have assignments on Readworks.  These assignments can be worked on in school and at home.

Students will work on Vocabulary word ladders 3 – 5 days a week.

Language– We will review the parts of speech.  This week we are working on adjectives. We will be answering questions from Common Core Language and Grammar cards for bellwork 3 – 5 days each week.

Spelling – Please see Spelling City for the current spelling list and activities.  Click on the Spelling City in the links list on this page.  We are on Week 7.

Students were sent home with their graded Mid-Module 1 Math Tests and a letter that needs to be signed by a parent/guardian by tomorrow.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email hicksol@dearbornschools.org or call Lindbergh at 313-827-6300.

There will be a mid-module math test on Monday October 1st.  The study guide will be passed out in school tomorrow and students will have time to complete it in school.  We will check the study guide on Friday 9/28.

Remember that on any given day your fifth grader should be able to tell you what we did in school. The planner is a good reminder for them to help with this narrative. Sharing what they have learned each day is an excellent way to help students review.
The planner should be signed by a parent or guardian every day.

Homework might not always be a worksheet!!!!!
**Students should be working on multiplication facts every night.
**They should be working on Spelling City 10-15 minutes per night Monday – Thursday.
**Students should be reading 30 minutes each night. Their comprehension can be checked using the question sheet given to parents at conferences.
**Moby Max or Khan Academy- at least 20 minutes should be done each night.
**Students can use Ducksters, History.com, and Ben’s Guide to the Government to review social studies and/or science topics covered in class.
**Students will have assignments which need to be completed on Readworks.
**Content binders should come home every night so students can study and review that day’s lessons.
Math, social studies and science material in the binder should be studied each night to prepare for upcoming tests.

Math

Mid-module test on Monday 10/1.

In Module 1, students’ understandings of the patterns in the base ten system are extended from Grade 4’s work with place value to include decimals to the thousandths place.  In Grade 5, students deepen their knowledge through a more generalized understanding of the relationships between and among adjacent places on the place value chart, e.g., 1 tenth times any digit on the place value chart moves the digit one place value to the right. Toward the module’s end, students apply these new understandings as they reason about and perform decimal operations through the hundredths place.

Social Studies-

District Common Assessment Friday 9/28.

This unit provides students with an opportunity to review essential civics and government concepts learned in previous grades. It also establishes a common foundation that sets the stage for deeper discussions about government throughout the year as students explore the question: Why is the federal government organized to give and to limit power? Students begin by examining what life would be like in the absence of government and hypothesize about the reasons people form governments. Next, students review core democratic values and principles upon which our government is based and investigate how they are rooted in the organization of the federal government. In doing so, concepts such as limited government, popular sovereignty, rule of law, and individual rights are stressed. Students analyze and explain how the Preamble to the Constitution reflects the purposes of government and explore other parts of the Constitution for evidence of federalism, limited government, and individual rights. In learning about federalism, students compare the powers delegated to the federal government and those reserved to the states (or the people). Contemporary examples of government in action are used throughout the unit. Moreover, this unit provides teachers with the opportunity to connect classroom rules with ideas about government, including why people form governments, what happens without rules or laws, and the importance of the rule of law. Finally, this unit allows for a seamless connection to Constitution Day, which is required by federal law.

Science-

In this unit on matter, students will be involved in activities that hone the following skills:

Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.

Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.

Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.

Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.

Writing–

The Common Core State Standards require Fifth grade students to write narratives in which they orient their reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator or characters with the event sequence unfolding naturally. Additionally, students are expected to use details including dialogue, descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words and phrases to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. The goal of this unit is for students to write personal narrative stories that elaborate the tension or problem and focus upon an important message or heart of the story. Students will immerse themselves in age-appropriate personal narrative mentors to discern how these texts tend to go and to gather possible story ideas from turning points within their life experiences. They will draw on everything they’ve learned from writing small moment stories from Kindergarten- second grade, as well as personal narrative writing in third grade and fourth grades. Additionally, students revisit qualities of good writing and craft to write personal narratives. They will select their best work to revise, edit, and publish.

Reading-

We continue the implementation and organization of our Daily 5 routine.

Lessons will emphasize students’ ability to identify key ideas and themes in a text, whether in print, graphic, quantitative or mixed media formats.

The focus is on reading to understand, during which students focus on what the text says.  The premise is that students cannot delve into the deeper meaning of any text if they cannot first grasp the surface meaning.  Beyond merely identifying ideas, students also see how ideas and events connect and evolve over the course of a text.

Students are working on various reading responses for their literacy binders.  The class will finish reading Shiloh on Friday.

Students have assignments on Readworks.  These assignments can be worked on in school and at home.

Grammar – We will review the parts of speech.

Spelling – Please see Spelling City for the current spelling list and activities.  Click on the Spelling City in the links list on this page.  We are on Week 4.