What's Happening?
On this page, you will find out what is going on in fifth grade, from class content to trips to important dates...it's all here! Visit often to see the upcoming events and what your child is learning! Check out our blog for the most up to date learning and pictures!
Class Content
Well, we are already at the midterm of the fourth nine weeks, as hard as it is to believe. We have worked so hard and learned so much this year; we only have a few short weeks left to finish out the year. Your child will bring home a paper copy of the midterm if you've requested it; otherwise, grades will be available on the Parent Assist Module of our county online grading system. If you have a question or concern, please don't hesistate to contact us. We are your child's educational support team, so we want to work together to help your child achieve success.
At this point in the year, we are spending a lot of effort and class time on meeting individual needs to prepare them for their EOGs and the end of the year. Please help us by avoiding daytime appointments, tardies, and absences as much as possible. We can't reteach or review with them if they are not here. Students will need to work on study skills and how to to budget their time and plan for the week, putting first things first. In science, social studies, and math, we are all working on reviewing the year's content, so there will be the expectation that students spend time at home actively studying what we are working on in class. With the end in mind, being proactive, and putting first things first, we can all be successful!
This week in math, we have started our review lessons, using the county's benchmark as a guide. Currently, we are reviewing strategies for multiplication and division, as well as how to determine which operation a problem requires. In addition, we reviewed how to read, write, add, subtract, and round decimal numbers. In the next few weeks, we will revisit geometry and volume briefly, but spend a lot of time reviewing fractions--equivalents, comparing/ordering, adding, subtracting, and multiplying. Students have had (and will continue to have) weekly homework (given Monday, due Friday) that reviews our learning. It is extremely important that students complete these assignments so that I can better use our class time to address specific needs. If they don't do the work, I can't tell what they may need extra help on. Please
remind them of the purpose of the math practice and that it is their way of being an active learner.
For science, students have been reviewing in class, as well. Through pre and post tests, Mrs. McCall has been determining which students need which topics of review and she has been conducting review groups and stations to meet those needs. The vocabulary for fifth grade science is quite extensive and overwhelming, so anytime you can review with your child, it would be greatly beneficial. They are allowed to bring home journals to study anytime, and will be receiving an overall study guide soon.
In the nonfiction reading block, students have been involved in researching the American Revolution. They wrote scripts and created podcasts to present their learning. A Civil War expert came to visit in class recently to enlighten students with various artifacts and information, bringing this time period to life. For their reading skills, the focus has been reviewing skills and applying them in various EOG formatted texts.
In the fiction reading block we've been practicing our reading skills for benchmarks, extending the learning and review from nonfiction block. We are also reading from our Junior Great Book and having great questioning and discussion sessions. This week's story, Charles, was very entertaining for many reasons; ask your student and I'm sure you'll hear all about it.
Trips
June 3---EOG Attendance Picnic, Dana Park
June 6---Fun day at Jackson Park
Important Dates
May 6, May 20--Firehouse Sub Nights
May 7--Early Dismissal, 1:00 pm
May 16--Kickball Game and picnic, 1:00 pm
May 23--EOG, Science
May 24--DARE Graduation, 1:30 pm
May 27--No School, Memorial Day
May 30---EOG, Reading
May 31--EOG, Math
June 3-7(last week)--Book Fair week
June 4--Field Day (4/5) in afternoon
June 6--Field trip of Jackson Park
June 7--Last Day, 5th Grade Celebration, followed by school wide celebration
Events
As you may or may not know, we applied for a School Change Award recently, to highlight the changes and resulting success our school has accomplished over the past few years. We just got word earlier this week that we have been awarded this honor. This is just another exciting opportunity to showcase our students and what we do here at Dana. More information will come from Mrs. Schofield about this as she gets it.
We are happy to announce our annual staff/student kickball fundraiser for this month. Our goal is for each class to raise $25 to attend the game, but the class that raises the most money will be the student team that will face off against the teacher team! This is quite a big deal, so we are expecting each student to do a job around the house or find a way to earn a little money ($1) to bring in to do their part to help their class reach the goal. Thanks in advance for your help and support!
We have started a new partnership with Firehouse Subs (Spartanburg Hwy) to have Spirit NIghts twice a month as a fundraiser. These will happen every first and third Monday of the month from 5:00-9:00 pm and ten percent of the money goes straight to Dana! Great food, great fun with fellow students and teachers, money for our school---definitely a win-win!
Our students have completed the DARE lessons with Detective Starling, and have written essays explaining what they've learned and the importance of DARE to fifth graders. One winner from each class will be chosen to read their essay at DARE graduation on May 24. We hope you will be able to make arrangements to celebrate your child's successful completion of this "course" which will enable him/her to be a more successful, confident student and adult.
Reminders about Wildcat Wednesdays and Polo Thursdays: Every Wednesday we wear purple to celebrate our Wildcat pride and every Thursday we dress for success with khakis and polos (or collared shirts). The students really get into this and it's a great school wide effort to show pride in ourselves.
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