Written by Guest Author: Arya Goyal

Students in 5-C have been very busy over the past 2 months with the basic curriculum and some activities to prepare for different units or field trips.. Here are some of the activities that we have been recently working on over the months of October and November.

Math

During math we have been working on easier ways to solve multiplication word problems that don’t involve stacking. In addition, we have been working on the best bar model to draw for problems, or whether we should draw one at all. In November, we started to use division and divided 2 digit numbers by 3 digit numbers.

Rocketry

We have recently started our fifth grade rocketry unit. Mrs. Cooper has split us all into groups. We have launched our first and second rockets already. Now we have started to build the third one. Everyone hopes to get a high score, but we plan to launch in early November.

Reading

In reading, we have started to read the novel “The Home of the Brave,” by Katherine Applegate. It is about a refugee name Kek whose brother and father were killed, his mom is lost. We learn about his journey through difficult times and how he never loses hope. In addition, during class and for homework, we write about main ideas and how they relate to the story.

During reading we also read Newsela articles. These are nonfiction articles which we answer questions about. By reading these we hope to prepare ourselves on different ways to organize non fiction information and we hope to practice answering questions that pertain to non-fiction.

Finally, we have been finishing our fiction book clubs. Our fiction book clubs usually consisted of 3-4 students. Each group would choose a book, set a steady amount of pages to read every night, and then reflect on their thoughts. Many groups had trouble picking out books, but in the end everyone would compromise. We only did this for a couple of weeks and most groups read 2-3 books.

Social Studies

In social studies we have been practicing on government branches and learning about the founders of America’s jobs were. We have been practicing this for our Philadelphia trip, because we want to know as much as possible for it. In addition, we studied the Bill of Rights. We read books, watched videos, and played games that would help us collect information.

Legislator trip

In addition to studying America’s early years, we visited the local legislative office. There were two trips made, and each time students got to debate a certain topic. They would discuss their opinions and then, at the end, vote just like real legislators. Everyone enjoyed this and it was an exciting, educational break from the textbooks.

Writing

During early October we started to write our news reports. First, we chose a topic that pertained to the school or community. Then, we wrote some basic information. After that we gathered more by interviewing. Finally, each student wrote an article that listed the facts in an interesting way. Most students wrote about 2-3 articles.

During late October, we started feature articles. We began by discussing the differences between a news article and a feature one. After that, we chose another topic, but this time made it more detailed. We spent a lot of time and work on this, and everyone was proud when it was done.

In conclusion, in October and November, we did many things. We had our Halloween party, and we started to get into the full swing of fifth grade. Everybody enjoyed October and November and we all look forward to the next months of the year.