I
am hoping everyone is enjoying this transition in
to Fall just as much as I am.
This upcoming season is full of wonderful things here in Ms. Barcelona’s
class. To celebrate Halloween, we are
having a classroom party full of games, food and prizes. If you would like to
help out for this party celebration please fill out the pink form that was sent
home with your child last week. We are
looking for some classroom volunteers to help with the games as well as donated
baked goods and paper goods.
Most
recently in Language Arts we have been plugging along in our first classroom
novel, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It is a WONDERful book about a boy who has never
attended school and has a face deformity. He is just about to enter fifth grade
and the book really speaks to a fifth grader about what it is like to have
someone so different in the school, as well as what it is like for that unique
person. We are learning about figurative
language and why authors use figurative language throughout their stories.
Furthermore, we have been looking at nonfiction and text features of a
nonfiction articles. Using text features
really helps give an insight of what the article if about, having these skills
will be really beneficial when starting our Current Events this week. A current
event assignment is due twice per month and takes the place of a reading log
day. Instead, they read a nonfiction article in which they summarize who, what,
when, where and why of the article. Also coming up is our book report project,
students were all given a packet with all of the information about the book
report. I will be very excited to see the presentations right before
Thanksgiving break.
For
Math we are working on rounding, estimation, and place value. Students are all
learning of the different types of place values from ten million to thousandth.
Those decimals can be tricky, but our fifth graders are starting to really get
the hang of them. We have been playing many math games with cards and dice to
formulate the largest number possible against our partner, very similar to the
card game War but with place value. Pretty
soon we are going to learn to multiply and divide with these really large
numbers. Speaking of multiplying, please
help your child keep up with those basic math multiplication facts. Making
flashcards is a great way to remember them! Also on our classroom blog there is
a Math Fact tab to help with their math facts. http://marinbarcelona.blogspot.com
In
Science recently we have started using the Scientific Method for experiments.
We are talking about different types of variables and how they affect an
experiment. One experiment that we just
completed was our gummy bear experiment. We used different solutions (baking
soda, salt water, vinegar, water) and placed a gummy bear in each to see how
they gummy bear would react. Little did
we know, it would change size, or take away the color.
For
Social Studies we are working with geography to have a better understanding of
how we belong in the world. Mainly, we are working with our 50 United States
and how they are apart of our country and where are location is in relation to
others.
Thank
you for your constant support. As I always say, having supportive parents and
families will help your child be tremendously successful with their education.
Please email if you have any questions. J
Sincerely,
Ms. Barcelona
cbarcelona@bridgeportedu.net
