Welcome Back After Winter Break

It’s hard to think about returning to school or work after an extended vacation. Luckily, this next semester is filled with high interest and stimulating units of study. We already began reading the novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My cry, before the break, but now, we are getting into the heart of the story. For those of you adults who would like a “good read,” try this book. It is so well written: beautiful language, vivid and well honed character development and very realistic recreation of an historical epoch in America. The life and times of an African -American family in The South during the Depression provides a story which will not only help the reader understand the effects of racism on those targeted, but will also inspire the reader to see how a family maintains their pride and dignity despite hardships. Learning about segregation, Jim Crow laws, racism, slavery and prejudice in American history coincides with honoring Dr. Martin Luther King’s life and accomplishments this January.  In history, we will be learning about the economic origins of slavery in America and see why it became so important to the South and not the North. We will also be contiuing the simulation activity, “Discovery” as our student groups colonize North America and experience the hardships and triumphs that the original colonists experienced.  Over the break, every student was assigned to read a biography about a woman of important achievement. When we return to class on January 7, 5th graders will begin learning about how to research and write a report. This unit will take a lot of time as it involves learning so many new skills. We’ll be learning how to take notes, how to paraphrase and not copy, how to organize notes into an outline form, how to structure a research report, how to write a thesis statement, an introductory paragraph and a conclusion, how to write a bibliography and use a bibliography. Students will also learn about the issues and historical background that led to the woman’s accomplishment. For instance, in reading about Eleanor Roosevelt, the student will learn about the Depression, World War ll, etc. We will be advancing our unit on inventions. Students have already submitted proposals for what they would like to invent. Now they will “research” if it has already been invented. If it hasn’t, they will make a survey to see who, if anyone, would buy it or use it. This is a form of marketing research. Then they will make a log book detailing all their experiences researching, surveying and making the invention. Keeping the log book is  crucial in order for them to get a patent. Parents may be asked to sign as a “witness” to the daily entries. Be sure to remind your child to get their entries signed and dated. Without a date there can be no patent awarded. An Invention Fair will be held during the week of Open House for all to see. We will also be doing a science unit on simple machines and will learn the physics behind how levers, inclines, wedges and pulleys work.  In math, we will review and complete division of fractions. We will be spending some focused time on word problems using all the operations we have learned in math this year. Then, we will do a unit on geometry. Geometry is one of my favorite subjects in math. I find that even those who say they are not good in math, enjoy and can excell in geometry. We will be learning more on decimals, ratio and a big unit on percent (and how it relates to fractions, decimals, ratio).  These are just some of the units and activities that will take place over January and February.  And now, a word about homework… for the next few weeks, your child will be taking notes for the research report. I will be teaching them how to do it in school and for the first week or so, they will mostly take notes in class. Then, they will be assigned to take some notes at home each night. I’ll collect them and read them each day and guide them accordingly. They need index cards, library books and an organized place to do this work. If your child tends to lose things, please help him/her pack their note cards in their homework folders and backpacks each night. Every step of this project, from organizing one’s work space to writing the final draft of the paper, will be a great learning curve for your child.

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