Week of Nov. 24 - 26

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we are beginning a two and a half day school-week! As we have a meaningful short week of instruction, I want to wish all families a happy Thanksgiving and I hope you all stay safe on the roads, those of you who may be traveling out of town.

This week in Science... we are wrapping up our matter unit! Students should be finishing up their study guides for the unit exams. This study guide is due Wednesday, Nov. 26. We will go over this guide together, as a class, on Wednesday. Students should be using this study guide to review for the test that will be on Tuesday, December 2. Other ways students can study are to visit "Arctic-Science" on ANGEL. Under "Units" and "Matter", there are some great power points that students can view to help review the content. There's even a Matter MEHpardy game that you can play at home to play with a friend, parent, or by yourself!


This week in Social Studies... students will begin reviewing important concepts from our European Explorers unit. Tuesday, students will be completing a graphic organizer in class that will help them narrow down their studying. Another great way to review for the test is to do the online tutorials from History Alive - Here's the link: History Alive Tutorial
Students should also visit angel and view the (wmv) video called "Explorers Unit Reivew" as a way of reviewing the material. This video can also be found at: www.vimeo.com/SS5. Remember... History Alive doesn't have everything. It will be necessary to use additional notes in the Social Studies spirals. If you are unsure whether your notes are complete, check out the Explorers unit under Social Studies on ANGEL - the notes are there as well. The unit test is on Friday, Dec. 5.


This week in Math... we are working on comparing and ordering decimals as well as rounding decimals . Next week we'll look in to adding and subtracting decimals as we wrap up our Number Sense/Addition & Subtraction unit.
Assignments:
Monday - WKS: Practice 2-11 - Exploring Comparing and Ordering Decimals
Tuesday - WKS: Practice 2-12 - Rounding decimals
Wednesday - NO HOMEWORK

Week of November 17 - 21

This week in science... we will continue to explore the properties of ocean water through hands-on experiments. Through those experiments we'll practice making predictions, observations, and drawing conclusions. How does salinity affect the density of ocean water? How does salinity affect water's ability to freeze? How does the pressure of ocean water change the deeper we go? We'll find out!

Check out our videos we made about our elements on: www.vimeo.com/science5

Students will be receiving a study guide for our matter unit on Tuesday. This study guide should be completed by Wednesday, Nov. 26 (this gives everyone a week!) and our final unit assessment on matter will be Tuesday, Dec. 2, that's the Tuesday we get back from Thanksgiving Break!

If students do not complete the Thursday Thought in class Thursday, they should bring it home for homework Thursday night to be due Monday. The materials for the Thursday Thought are available on ANGEL.

This week in Social Studies...we will learn about some European explorers: What country were they exploring for? What what route did they take? What were their motivations? and What were their accomplishments for the Age of Exploration. We'll find all of that out!

This week in math.. we will continue to explore large numbers by ordering and comparing them using the symbols <,>, and =. We'll be rounding large numbers for the purpose of estimating and we'll finally, and the end of the week, begin using decimals and becoming more familiar with them.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Monday - WKS: Practice 2-5
Tuesday -WKS: Practice 2-6
Wednesday -WKS: Practice 3-1 side ONLY
Thursday - Other side - Practice 3-2
Friday -No Homework

Our Element Videos!

These video documentaries about our elements have been a long time in the making, but we're done!!!

Check them out on: www.vimeo.com/science5 - LINK: Click Here!

These are as good as any professional ones you'll find online! If you don't see your video here, keep checking back. :)

Way to go fifth grade science students!

Week of November 10 - 14

This week in Science... we are finishing our storyboards in order to create our video documentaries about our elements. Students should type their script into the template found on angel and send it to me or print it out and bring it in to class by Wednesday, Nov. 12. In class we will also be looking at different properties of ocean water through some experiments -- properties include salinity, temperature, and pressure.

This week in Social Studies... we are continuing to discover what motivated European explorers to head across the open seas to new lands. Why did they go? What were they looking for? We will also explore some obstacles they faced as well as accomplishments.

This week in Math... we will explore our place value system and how it's a base-10 system -- each place value is ten times greater than the one before it... so how much is one million really? Could be tap on our desks one million times in one day? One thousand times? Could there be number systems that are not based on tens... for example the binary number system? What do all those ones and zeros mean? We'll find out!!
Assignments:
Monday - WKS: practice 2-2
Tuesday -Numbers in three forms (on a piece of loose leaf paper students will write each number in three forms).
Wednesday -WKS: practice 2-3
Thursday -WKS: Exponents
Friday -NO HOMEWORK

Week of Nov. 3-7

We had a great time over the past two days meeting with parents and setting some great goals for the rest of the school year. Thanks for taking time out of your days to meet with us! Look for copies of the conference notes in Friday Folders this week.

This Wednesday, Nov. 5 is a short Wednesday. Students will be dismissed at noon. On Wednesday students will participate in a cultural exchange simulation all morning. This will set the stage for our Social Studies unit on the Age of Exploration! What happens when European cultures met the Native cultures in North America?
Some other Essential Questions we will discuss and answer in this unit are: Why did European countries compete for power in North America? What were the obstacles faced by the explorers? What were the accomplishments of the explorations? What regions of North America were settled by France, England, and Spain? What regions were explored by Portugal? How did the American Indians and Europeans interact with each other? What impact did Europeans have on Native American cultures? What was the importance of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai? How did West African empires impact European trade?

In Science.... We will continue exploring matter by defining properties of ocean water and see (through experiments) how properties like salinity, temperature, and pressure affect ocean water. We will also begin our element video documentaries by creating our scripts and story boards! Students will need to visit ANGEL and download the electronic version of the story board on a computer in order to type in their script in each of the 6 boxes. We will work more on the rough draft on Monday in class. Students should print out the story board with text or email it to Mrs. McCann by Wednesday, Nov. 12.

In Math... we will begin our new unit on NUMBER SENSE -- this includes place value, decimals, adding and subtracting.
Wednesday - No math due to Cultural Exchange Simulation
Thursday -No Homework
Friday - No Homework

Week of Oct. 27 - 31

We had a great trip to the American Indian Museum on Friday, thanks to our parent chaperones who spent the day with us!!

It's SPIRIT WEEK here at MEHMS! Students can show their school spirit this week by dressing as follows:
Monday - PJ Day
Tuesday - Sports Day - wear a shirt or jersey of your favorite sport or sports team
Wednesday - School Spirit Day - Wear HUSKY colors or HUSKY apparel
Thursday - Crazy Hair Day
Friday - Halloween! Wear black and orange!

Also going on this week... the 5th grade will be participating in a Brass Rubbings experience on Wednesday. Ask them all about it Wednesday after school! Friday, Oct. 31 is the last day of the first quarter! Students have no school on Monday and Tuesday while parents come in and meet with your student's teacher! The second quarter begins on Wednesday, Nov. 5.

Don't forget to VOTE on Tuesday, Nov. 4!

This week in Science... we are studying how molecules act in the three states of matter and how heat affects how they act. How can heat change matter from a gas to a liquid, to a solid? What is the difference between a chemical change and a physical change?

This week in Social Studies... we will review for our Native Americans Test (Ch. 2 and 3 of History Alive!) and take the test on Thursday, Oct. 30.

This week in Math... we will review graphing and data analysis and take the final unit assessment on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Monday - Study for Graphing and Data Analysis Test
Tuesday - Graphing Test
Wednesday - No math: Brass Rubbings Workshop
Thursday - Test Corrections
Friday - Test Corrections Due - No Homework

Week of October 20

Fall has finally arrived! The cooler weather reminds us that it's Fall and that we are well in to the school year. Students are in a groove and getting the hang of 5th grade and Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School.

Reminders:

• Money for our three upcoming field trips is due Wednesday and our field trip to the Museum of the American Indian is this Friday!

• Conferences will be held Monday and Tuesday, November 3rd and 4th. You will be receiving a conference time reminder in Friday Folders this week. We are looking forward to meeting with you!

• As the school-year is in full swing and the fall and winter travel season is approaching - a quick reminder about the school's make up work policy - students are responsible for making up all work that (is possible and appropriate to be done outside of the classroom) the student missed while out. The time frame for making up the work is at the discretion of school staff. It is the student's responsibility to obtain the make up work upon return from an absence. All trips that will be longer than three days should be pre-approved by the school administration.

• This is Red Ribbon Week! This week students will be participating in a variety of activities surrounding the theme of being drug-free for life.

This week in Science... What is a chemical change? How is that different from a new mixture? We'll be conducting some experiments to explore those questions and more! Students should be working on their element project final drafts. Details and resources for that can be found on Angel under "Arctic Science", "Units", then "Matter". The final project is due Monday, Oct. 27.

This week in Social Studies... we are continuing to explore the cultural regions of the US as defined by historians. We are studying what natural resources each Native American group had to use that influenced their culture. Students should know where each region is as well as which tribes settled where and what some key artifacts are that belonged to the different cultural groups. Details and notes can be found on Angel. Wednesday night students should complete the Chapter 3 tutorial on the History Alive website. We will have a quiz on locating the cultural regions on a map on Friday, Oct. 24. The Unit Assessment on Native Americans will be Thursday, Oct. 30.

This week in math... we are wrapping up our Graphing unit by continuing to practice ways of analyzing data: finding the range, mean, median, and mode. Students will be receiving a study guide this week and the test will be on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
Assignments:
Monday - WKS: MMMR1
Tuesday -Begin working on review guide. Due Monday, Oct. 27
Wednesday -continue working on review packet
Thursday -continue working on review packet
Friday -No math today --> Field Trip