Download the 5th Grade Supply List for September, 2008
Fifth Grade
Fifth grade is a special year for Anne Hutchinson students since it
is their last year attending Anne Hutchinson. We will be learning many new things and participating in many exciting
activities, projects and trips. Here’s just a taste of what
will go on in the fifth grade this year…
Assessments
Students in the fifth grade will be assessed throughout the year in
many different ways. Teachers will be using student observations,
conferences, tests and quizzes as well as written assessments.
Students will often be assessed using a rubric, on a 1-4 scale.
This year, students in the fifth grade will be taking New York State
Tests in ELA, Math and Social Studies on the following dates:
NYS Social Studies Test: November 15th & 16th
NYS ELA Test: Week of January 9th – 12th
NYS Math Test: Week of March 5th-9th
English Language Arts
All of the fifth grades will be diligently working on their balanced
literacy approach to reading and writing.
Students will read many great books this year. Many of the fifth graders
will be reading the Margaret Peterson Haddix series that begins with
the novel, Among the Hidden. Here are just a few remarks made by students
who already read these books…
“Margaret Peterson Haddix made the chapters very suspenseful
and that always makes a story better.”
Nick
“I love these books. They are very suspenseful and action filled.”
Robert
“The Margaret Peterson Haddix books are fun to read. She is
very good at writing cliff-hangers.”
Jessica
All of our fifth graders will be writing up a storm and publishing
their original work in the Anne Hutchinson Publishing Center. We look
forward to reading their masterpieces.
Math
Fifth graders will master many math units this year. Students will
begin the year reviewing many of the skills they learned in fourth
grade. The first half of the school year will focus on number theory
and statistics as well as fractions and decimals.
Students will be designing graphs and charts based on information
gathered from our “Fifth Grade Census”.
Here are just a few examples of skills the students will need to master
this year:
Formulate conclusions and make predictions from graphs;
Read, write, order and compare whole numbers to millions;
Use a variety of strategies to multiply three-digit by three-digit;
Understand and make connections and conjectures in their everyday
experiences to mathematical ideas;
Provide an organized thought process that is correct, complete, coherent,
and clear;
Increase their use of mathematical vocabulary and language when communicating
with others;
Explain, describe and defend mathematical ideas using representations
Social Studies
In the first half of the year, students will become government experts,
learning about different types of governments and studying, in depth,
the United States Constitution.
At the same time, we will be reviewing many topics to get the students
ready for the New York State Social Studies exam, which will be given
on November 15 & 16th.
In the fifth grade, students will be “traveling” to many
wonderful places. We will be exploring the regions of the United States,
as well as the provinces and territories of Canada.
We will also be exploring Latin America, which is full of beautiful,
fascinating locations.
Science
Students will become experts at using the scientific method this year.
They will get to show off their knowledge at the third annual Anne
Hutchinson Science Fair, that will take place in the spring. We are
looking forward to seeing the remarkable work they produce.
To kick off the science program this Fall, students will be designing
pendulums, testing buoyancy and experimenting with “flippers”
in which they will watch small objects fly through the air. All of
these experiments will help students become familiar with how variables
can change the outcome of an experiment.
Special Events
Fifth grade students participated in the Madden Program this fall. Students were involved in activities that required
patience, communication skills and most importantly teamwork. Students
enjoyed the different activities and hopefully will use the strategies
learned that day on how to work together as a team throughout the
year.
What we’re looking forward to:
Orienteering with Chris Cassone
Date: TBA
What is Orienteering?
Orienteering is a sport in which orienteers use an accurate, detailed
map and a compass to find points in the landscape. It can be enjoyed
as a walk in the woods or as a competitive sport.
A standard orienteering course consists of a start, a series of control
sites that are marked by circles, connected by lines and numbered
in the order they are to be visited, and a finish. The control site
circles are centered around the feature that is to be found; this
feature is also defined by control descriptions (sometimes called
clues). On the ground, a control flag marks the location that the
orienteer must visit.
To verify a visit, the orienteer uses a punch hanging next to the
flag to mark his or her control card. Different punches make different
patterns of holes in the paper.
The route between "controls" (refers to the flag or the
site) is not specified, and is entirely up to the orienteer; this
element of route choice and the ability to navigate through the forest
are the essence of orienteering.
Most orienteering events use staggered starts to ensure that each
orienteer has a chance to do his or her own navigating.
Chris Cassone is the organizer of this fun activity. We look forward
to working with him this fall.
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