We were able to make 29 blankets this week, and we still have more donations coming in to buy more fleece! I am so impressed with the kiddos and their hard work. I am also very thankful to have such wonderful parents who are willing to donate in order for this to happen! We could not have done this project with you, so thank you! Enjoy the pictures below that captured our special morning coming together to do an awesome project!

We are finishing up our unit this week and next! We worked on two-digit by two-digit multiplication using the standard algorithm and area model. The students are now able to pick which method they prefer to use.

We also worked on those tricky multi-step word problems. These problems involved multiplication as one step, and either addition or subtraction as the other step. I feel that the classes have gotten used to solving multi-step problems and were fairly confident in working on them this week.

Next week, we will start with a study guide. On Tuesday, we will review for the test, and on Wednesday we will take our Unit 2 test. It's crazy that we are already finished with our second math unit this year!

We learned about our nervous system and how it affects our movement. The class talked about our sensory organs that allow us to hear, see, smell, touch, and taste. We talked about reflexes that happen when our sensory organs realize something could potentially harm our bodies. When small children touch a hot stove, their immediate reaction is to move their hand away. When we see something coming at us, we put our hands up to catch it or block it. When we hear something too loud for our ears, we cover them. All of these reactions, we learned, are a part of our nervous system sending messages to and from the brain to move our muscles in order to protect our bodies from harm. It is so fascinating how fast it all happens!

We started to learn about the circulatory system this week as well. We learned the function of the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries. The students created an interactive science notebook to show the parts of the circulatory system and how the blood is carried from the heart and back through a pathway.

We started a science experiment that dealt with the circulatory system. The kiddos were in charge of finding a partner and deciding on five activities that they could do in a classroom (sit, walk, jog in place, push ups, burpees, etc.). They had to make a prediction and rank them based on how it would affect their heart rate. They completed each activity for one minute, and directly after found their pulse and counted for 15 seconds. Then, they multiplied that number by four to get their actual heart rate in beats per minute. We were able to graph our data and reflect on what happened. Most our our predictions were not correct, so we talked about why that might have happened. We will finish our discussion on the experiment next week and go into how science experiments always have room for error, and what those mistakes could have been this time around.

Dear Parents-

As most of you know, I had a new addition to my family at the end of last year. The district gave me the option of continuing my leave right at the beginning of the year, or at a later date. Realizing how important those first months are for establishing routine and building relationships with the kids, I chose to continue my three weeks after Christmas Break. So starting right after break, I will be out until January 23rd.

The sub covering the three weeks has been here since the first day in 5th grade, covering the other Mrs. Edwards, and will be covering Mrs. Donald’s continued leave in December, and then will hop over to our room.

I will have the plans all written out and ready to go! She will have access to my email and website, so nothing will change as far as communication. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns I can address.

Thank you so much for your support!

Liz Edwards

Reading:

This week in reading we had fun with our final project for our Book Club books. The students were ‘hired’ by a toy company to create a board game on their book. Every aspect of the game must relate back to the book. The students had to come up with a theme, ten questions each, the directions, the design of the board, and finally, working together as a group (which is difficult for some). We will continue to work on the game here and there in between prepping for our final test on character development.

Since we are up for another reading test, over the next two weeks we will continue to review and practice our new skills, focusing mainly on theme, character traits, analyzing parts of a story in relation to the whole, and themes. There are four essay type questions for the test. We will complete about two a week before our upcoming break.

Writing:

As we finish editing our realistic fiction stories, we are diving deep with a creative writing unit. We read together, The Diary of a Worm, with our writer’s lenses. Then the students had to pick an animal they would enjoy writing a diary for. Each student then completed research on that animal. The students needed at least ten facts, most found more. The final product will look like a child’s picture book inspired by The Diary of a Worm, full of humor, facts, and illustrations. Please make sure to ask your child what their animal is!

Email: dewilyn@pewaukeeschools.org
Phone: (262) 701-5557