Greetings Parents and Guardians!
It has been a great first week of school so far! I hope your
children have excitedly come home sharing what they’ve learned and endlessly listing
names of new friends they’ve made! I must say that I am very impressed with the level and quality of work I’ve seen thus
far. Bravo! The amount of background knowledge and depth of inquiry that this
group of children possesses is truly notable; such a strong foundation will surely
lead to rigor and great academic strides this school year!
This week, your child will be jumping into most of the curricular
areas that we will be covering this school year. Below is a general update on
the content they are learning this week:
Language Arts: This
year, Archway is very grateful to have adopted the Shurley English curriculum for
our older grades to work through. The fifth grade students are using the level
6 books, and seem to be enjoying it already! This week we are focusing on a
variety of important skills for good readers and writers. These include: goal
setting, study skills, journal writing, editing procedures and strategies,
mechanics, and analyzing analogies. (These skills will carry into next week, as
well.)
Your
children have been formally introduced to the Touchstones discussion curriculum, and seem eager to begin! They’ve
learned a bit about Socrates and his life, (which led to pivotal epiphanies
about the concept of B.C.E and A.D) and what it means to philosophize. We have
covered the ground rules and etiquette for effective Socratic discussion, and
explored the benefits of learning through questioning and conversation. We read
the classic tale, The Boy Who Cried Wolf,
and brainstormed discussion questions; the children identified questions as
explicit or implicit, using logical reasoning. I’m very excited to begin our
class discussions!
This week,
we will jump into our study of Latin and Greek by going over a pronunciation
guide and learning the first Latin word, canis,
meaning dog. I always encourage the students to think of as many English
derivatives as they can!
Your children have learned their first proverb of the school year, which is “Well begun is half done”. (What an appropriate proverb to kick of a year of hard work?!) :) Your child will complete one idiom or proverb a week. These will be collected all year (in the expandable folder) and then bound together into a book during the last week of school.
We will
begin reading The Secret Garden next
week, so please make sure your child has this novel. On the right side of this
page is a link to the “Fifth Grade Consumables” on Amazon, where you can check
that your ISBN is correct.
Next week we will begin the Growing Your Vocabulary book. Please make sure your child has this at school. We will be tweaking the Spelling (Riggs) program in fourth and fifth grade this year, so thank you for your flexibility as we ensure that we are providing your children with the most effective spelling and vocabulary curriculum possible. This is the book:
History: The
students completed their first state sheet this week! Your children will
complete one fact sheet for each state within the USA this year. These facts
include information about when they joined the union, their state motto, bird, symbol,
etc., as well as their geographic location. These pages will all be kept in the
expandable folder and bound together at the end of the school year.
We have
spent the first few days of the week going over general information about the continents
in the world (location and facts). This will provide the students with the important
knowledge to study the major lakes in the world. Some of these include: Lake
Tanganyika, Lake Maracaibol, and Lake Baikal. Have you heard of these? If not,
ask your child to fill you in throughout the week!
Science: We have
begun our study of science by exploring the concept of “scientific inquiry”.
The students will learn important terminology like “scientific idea, model, theory, law, experiment, etc. We will
also identify the steps of a scientific investigation (commonly known as the “scientific
method”). At the end of this week, or at the beginning of next week, your child
will make a foldable to organize and review all of this important information. Please
ask your child to share this creative and helpful learning tool with you!
IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED AN EMAIL ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER, PLEASE
EMAIL ME SO I CAN SAVE YOUR ADDRESS TO MY CONTACT LIST.
THANK YOU!
