News Briefs

• Explorer Projects - Explorer projects are due on Monday. We will mount the explorer, report, map, and flag on construction paper in class. My students are also required to dress in costume for the Explorers Festival on Tuesday. I have posted directions for the projects, helpful tips, and some photos so that you can see ideas and examples of previous years' projects and costumes. Go there....

• Explorers Festival - Important!! The 5th Grade Explorers Festival will be held on Tuesday, November 24th. If you have volunteered to provide food, please send it in on Monday.

• LEGO Robotics Teams - Our Indibot and Smartbot Hotshots teams are in their final stretch: just two more weeks until competition! More...

• D.A.R.E. Graduation - Thanks, parents, for your strong turnout at D.A.R.E. graduation! It was wonderful to see such support at this important event!

Social Studies and Reading. We have really been busy connecting our work in reading and social studies! We took some time to enjoy the Indian legends and origin stories as we delved into the differing cultural regions of the First Americans. Our dioramas turned out great, and you can see by the details the groups put into their work that students totally understood that the environments in which they lived truly shaped the way they lived. If you get a chance, you might want to stop in and see them, on display outside our classroom.

Wasting no time, we moved right into the next unit which covers the onset of the Age of Discovery and the European Exploration of the New World. We read the books Morning Girl to experience the very beginning of the merge of the Indian and European cultures, and Pedro's Journal to experience Columbus's voyage from the ship's boy's point of view. We read about the European Explorers and had great discussions about why they were so motivated to overcome their fears of "the unknown" and set sail to explore the world. The 3 G's, Gold, God, and Glory, sometimes came with a fourth G, Greed, as we studied some of the Spanish conquistadors, like Cortes and Pizarro.

This week we will study the English, French, and Dutch explorers. We will also be reading Eating the Plates, then take the books home over the holidays to enjoy with our parents. Many parents in years past have enjoyed trying one or two of the recipes found in the back of the book. From Kirkus Reviews:

The Pilgrims' hardships and accommodations to the New World are revealed through their diet and changing lifestyle. From the time of their voyage, when the biscuits were full of weevils, the Pilgrims' had trouble finding food they liked to eat. The first winter, when food was scarce and many died, gave way to a summer of bounty, though the newcomers were unaccustomed to many of the foods. Then--with the help of Indians--corn, deer, and turkey appeared on their tables; trade brought molasses, spices, and sugar. The evolution of diet in early America is a subject that should appeal to children; the glimpses of Pilgrim manners and home life are sure to amuse. Ten tasty, simple recipes provide directions for a full meal.

Related Links:

• Pilgrim Hall Museum

• Scholastic: Thanksgiving

Math. We used fraction sticks to get a visual picture that 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, 6/12, and 8/16 are the same value (1/2). We compared and ordered fractions using common sense strategies. We also looked at fractions that could easily be turned in to equivalents of 10ths or 100ths, and rewritten in decimal form.

We employed mathematical strategies with fractions and decimals, like converting fractions to common denominators for comparing, and dividing the numerator by the denominator for finding the decimal and percent equivalent.

Our next unit of study is analyzing data and statistics, so graphing and landmarks (maximum, minimum, range, mode, median, and mean) will be the highlights of our math discussions!

Thanks, students and parents, for continuing to make facts memorization an important goal. As the math concepts get more complex, having those simple, basic facts memorized and out of the way will work miracles on time spent on assignments, and the accuracy of the result!

Conferences. What a great turn-out for conferences -- never better! Thank you! I enjoyed talking with each of you about our favorite topics -- your children. They are certainly doing well, and I appreciate all you do to support your child's learning in our classroom.

Happy Thanksgiving! Next week is a short week -- Monday and Tuesday only for class, although robotics practices will go on. I am thankful for having the opportunity to participate each day in your children's journey as they learn about their world, and thankful for the support that you provide for our classroom experiences.

Have a safe and restful Thanksgiving break!