An Exciting Start to the New School Year!

With only two weeks of school completed its hard to believe how much we have already accomplished.  A week ago the fifth grade had a "Friendship Friday".  During the afternoon, children from Mrs. Lee's, Jaffe's, Norman's, and Raymond's classes worked together to design posters that demonstrated their understanding of friendship.  They shared these posters at our recent school assembly on Belonging.  The children have also worked together to create and draft a 5th Grade Classroom Constitution that has been signed and hung on each teacher's door.  Below are a few pictures of children working together on Friendship Friday and sharing their visions of friendship.

In terms of academics we have now officially begun our enVision math program.  We are studying place value from the billions through the thousandths. In class we are using manipulatives (base ten blocks)  and visual aides (place value charts) to make place value concepts clearer.  Below is a photo of the children engaged in a place value game.  The objective of the game is to say and write the numbers formed by the placement of the markers on the charts.  The student with the largest number after each of their markers has been placed is the winner!

In science we are hard at work observing.  Children are observing details in shells and leaves using magnifying lenses.  They are sketching and writing what they observe.

In language arts we are writing about our Hopes and Dreams for the new school year.  We are learning and applying the strategies required to be an active reader.

I've enjoyed meeting homeroom parents at our Back to School Conferences.  I look forward to our year together.