5th Grade

Current Unit:   Module 10 - The Lives of Animals - continued, Module 12 - Fiction Genre Study

Module 10 Reading (continued):

Over the next three weeks, our class will build their knowledge about the lives of animals, with a focus on the informational text genre. We will read texts and view videos about the amazing characteristics and abilities of animals. Children will also write an expository essay that compares animal interactions and human interactions.

 

HOME CONNECTIONS:

Tips for families to support learning

→Set aside time daily for your child to share with you what he or she is learning. Use these ideas to help build your child’s knowledge about the topic:

• Talk about the ideas your child has added to the Knowledge Map each week.
• Ask about the texts your child is reading and what he or she has learned from them.
• Share with your child your own questions about the topic, and work together to find the

answers.

→The genre focus in this module is informational text. Discuss with your child the characteristics of this genre. Ask your child to read to you each day and make time to read together. Look for texts that:

• spark your child’s curiosity
• tie to the module topic
• express a clear central idea
• include text and graphic features
• have a particular tone
• use precise and descriptive words

→ Build Vocabulary: Use these ideas to help your child build a rich vocabulary. 

• The Big Idea:  Reinforce the topic words tension, antisocial, bond, and relationship in everyday conversations with your child. Use prompts like these: With whom do you feel a strong bond? When do you feel tension?
• What Does It Mean?: Have your child keep a growing list of the Critical Vocabulary words. Quiz each other on their meanings.
• Word Hunt:  Look for words with prefixes in–, anti–, and pre– and Latin root bene in books,magazines, online texts, and environmental print.

 

Use these websites/materials to support your child’s learning at home:

→ RAZ Kids has a large variety of nonfiction reading passages on your child’s reading level - Kids Log-In

→ Open access reading is available on www.readworks.org/ for short nonfiction passages on a variety of reading levels - have your child log in using their NYC email account and they are connected to our classroom

→ Targeted reading lessons on IXL that correlate to the objectives and lesson foci of this unit.  These will be updated weekly.  

→ Room Recess - reading games for all ages

Module 12 Reading:

Over the next three weeks, our class will build their knowledge about fiction. We will read different forms of fiction, including realistic fiction, plays, and mysteries.

HOME CONNECTIONS:

Tips for families to support learning

→Set aside time daily for your child to share with you what he or she is learning. Use these ideas to help build your child’s knowledge about the topic:

• Ask about the texts your child is reading and what he or she has learned from them.
• Share with your child your own questions about the topic, and work together to find the

answers.

→The genre focus in this module is fiction. Discuss with your child the characteristics of this genre.

Ask your child to read to you each day and make time to read together. Look for fiction texts that: 

• spark your child’s curiosity
• provide interesting characters, settings, and plots
• have unique formats and graphic features

→ Build Vocabulary: Use these ideas to help your child build a rich vocabulary. 

• The Big Idea:  Reinforce genre by having your child point out and explain genre features in the books he or she chooses. Use prompts like these: What parts of this book tell you it is fiction? What kind of fiction is this? How do you know?
• What Does It Mean?:  Have your child keep a growing list of the fiction books that he or she has read. Next to each title, have your child note the book’s genre features.

 

Use these websites/materials to support your child’s learning at home:

→ RAZ Kids has a large variety of nonfiction reading passages on your child’s reading level - Kids Log-In

→ Open access reading is available on www.readworks.org/ for short nonfiction passages on a variety of reading levels - have your child log in using their NYC email account and they are connected to our classroom

→ Targeted reading lessons on IXL that correlate to the objectives and lesson foci of this unit.  These will be updated weekly.  

→ Room Recess - reading games for all ages

Writing: Literary Essays

Students will be working with different forms of literature, both digital and print, to write thought-provoking literary essays throughout this unit.   We will be refining claims about themes to be more precise, gathering and organizing reasons and evidence logically based on our analysis of the character's words, and explaining how feelings and actions (as well as using language) when writing arguments should be specific to the story.  Most importantly, students will understand the style and tone of various types of argument writing related to literary analysis and "not just an opinion" about a topic.   Students will be using the Panyee Football Club as a Mentor Text to drive the unit.   Through the analysis of different pieces of literature (both fiction and nonfiction) students will be angling evidence from the texts to support their claim about the text.   Students will be completing two writing pieces over the course of this unit and showcase their ability to integrate information from multiple texts as well as their ability to deeply analyze the characters, plot, setting and dialogue in a text. 

 

Tips for families to support learning

→ Provide a place for your child to write. 

→ Read, read, read! 

→ Encourage your child to keep a writer's notebook.

→ Provide authentic writing opportunities for your child. 

→ Be a writing role model. 

→ Ask questions. 

→ Help your child publish their writing.

Check out these resources that we are going to use to guide our literary essay writing

Anchor Charts 

5 Paragraph Essay Flocabulary Video

What’s a Thesis Flocabulary Video

Paraphrasing Flocabulary Video

Five Paragraph Essay BrainPop Video

 

Math Module 5: Getting Ready for 6th Grade 

From now until the end of the year, we will be working to get ready for sixth grade adventures! We will be looking at multiple topics to make sure we are prepared for sixth grade math. All of our topics will be looked at through the context of story problems and Exemplars.  We will begin by looking at the order of operations. Students will discover the correct order to solve equations: groupings ()[]{}, exponents, multiplication/division, and addition/subtraction. Then students will solve problems involving length conversions and plotting/interpreting data on line plots. Next up is coordinate grids. Students will learn what grids are, how to read points, and how to plot points. We might even be playing some old school battleship! We will dive into ratios or negative numbers at the end of the year! Finally, we will end the year by creating a Google Slides lesson to teach next year’s students a topic we learned about this year!

**It is extremely important that children know their basic multiplication and division facts.

Exemplars

Ask your child about our Exemplars work! We are working on showing our thinking not only with an algorithm but with a representation. They are creating plans with math vocabulary. They are labeling their representations with keys. They are verifying their results and they are making connections. They take each task a step further by doing something extra!

 

→ Encourage your child to use the Problem Solving Procedure when solving math problems at home!

Tips for families to support learning

→ Practice your Multiplication facts

→ Basic Facts Flash Cards

→ Revisit old lessons and videos with your child for some spiral review. 

       → This will help to reinforce all of the 5th grade concepts we learned about throughout the year.

Use these websites to support your child’s learning at home:

→ https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-fifth-grade-math 

→ https://www.math-play.com/5th-grade-math-games.html 

→ https://www.splashlearn.com/math-games-for-5th-graders 

→https://www.mathgames.com/grade5 

→https://www.education.com/games/fifth-grade/math/

→https://www.mathplayground.com/grade_5_games.html

Music: 

Students in Fifth Grade music are preparing for their concert performance “Firework” which will take place on May 6th, 2025 and 8:30am. Students should wear PINK, ORANGE or YELLOW for their performance. Formal dress is required, SPARKLY dress is encouraged! In addition, students will be learning songs to prepare for their Graduation Assembly. 

Dancing Classrooms:

Students in fifth grade are completing a sixteen session residency in Ballroom Dancing. The residency will culminate in a performance for families, which will take place on June 13th, 2025. Students will be completing a connecting project, giving them the opportunity to research the country of origin that corresponds with their favorite style of  dance. 

Art:  

5th grade will continue to make connections to their HMH module by creating artwork related to the lives of animals. Students will observe different animals and what they look like. Students will learn how to make the different parts of an animal. Students will focus on key details to explore the shape, color, texture, and environment of the animals they will be creating.

We  ❤️  Feedback in Fifth Grade

• The most important strategy we learned in writing this year:

  • The most important thing is how to write a literary essay - you need to include an inference that starts with “This shows that…” -Toshani B.
  • I learned how to write a strong literary essay.  I enjoyed watching the video about the Panyee Football Club because I was able to write about the themes I noticed.  -Maya H.
  • The most important thing I learned is to start your writing with solid information.  This is important because, if you have too much in your introduction, it can feel like a body paragraph and that is NOT how 5th grade writing goes.  -Adalynn L.
  • I learned how to organize my writing.  This was important because if you just write run-on sentences and your writing doesn’t make connections within it, it might not make sense to your reader.  -Bryden R.
  
  

  The most important skills we learned in reading this year:

  • An important thing that I learned in reading this year was that every story has a purpose and a lesson to teach.  -Jaelyn W. 
  • An important thing I learned from nonfiction reading this year is that it can teach us about the world around us.  -Nuha U. 
  • The most important topic we learned is animals - we learned when we read nonfiction, we need to look for the main idea.  -Kate C.
  • I learned that you can compare and contrast information as you read about different topics. -Anaya M. 
  
  

  The most important concepts we learned in math this year:

  • The most important thing I learned was how to divide fractions.  This was helpful because if I need to measure things at home, it will help me in real life.  -Tahrim R. 
  • The most important thing I learned was how to multiply fractions.  -Zara U.
  • My favorite topic was division because I like to use the long division strategy.  -Daniel C.
  • I learned how to divide decimals - this is important because decimals are money! -Cooper R.
  • I learned how to use the area model to do division.  I learned that decimals can be different things, like money.  -Reneé B.