Fabulous Fifth Grade Winter Happenings!

Fabulous Fifth Grade Winter Happenings!

As winter break approaches,  the fifth grade continues to work hard up the 

hill in language arts, math, and history!

What we are reading: 

        

       

Ask your daughter her opinion of the main characters in her assigned novel. 

What we are calculating:

Fractions!

Prime and composite numbers, GCF, equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting, and... COMING SOON: multiplying and dividing! 

What we are researching:

Native American Cultural Regions

Amazing diorama pictures coming soon!

(all images in this post courtesy of Google Images)

WINTER CONCERT

Come one, come all!

Please join us for the Winter Concert for students in grades 3-5 on Tuesday, December 20.  The concert begins at 8:30 am and will end by around 9:15.

Each and every student participates in this performance!  The fifth graders will be on the right side of the stage (as you are facing it).

Attire for the concert is as follows:
• Split top uniform, skort, jumper, or gray pants
• Dark green or gray tights or knee socks (no leggings or white socks)
• White long sleeve turtleneck or polo shirt (no sweaters – the girls will be warm enough under the bright lights!)

See you there!

Art_ Distorted Self-Portraits

The girls completed a self-portrait that was intentionally distorted. At first, this was an uncomfortable assignment for some of them because they like to record their best selves, however, their reflections reveal how their distortions are actually more representative of their true selves. 

They referred to a list we made of their reactions to seeing artists' distorted portraits. The questions:  What effect do the distortions have? What message does the artist convey? How are the distortions more "real"  to representing the subject than a realistic portrait?

Here are some of the results:

And, the thoughtful reflections...

French: Sports Skit

The fifth grade girls have been learning how to talk about all of the things that they love to do.  Here is a skit that they have learned about what sports they like to play.

From the Library

Fifth grade read Laura Amy Schlitz' The Bear Skinner in Library. Schlitz was our Newbery visiting author last year and as part of her visit she told this story to the then fourth graders. Students enjoyed hearing again and seeing the beautiful illustrations of this story, in which the middle daughter is the star (!). We've also read Margaret Mahy's short story Perdita and Maddy, from her collection The Door in the Air and Other Stories. Ask your daughter how returning library books led to an around-the-world yacht race. We then read Tomi Ungerer's dreamy Fog Island, set in Ireland. From there we jumped to the Middle Ages, reading I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat: History's Strangest Cures. We learned about leeches and mustard plasters, among other unappealing treatments. We then read Interactive Middle Ages, in which we followed different threads of the story. Sometimes we were woodworkers or knights or ladies in waiting. Sometimes we died of the Plague, other times we survived.
Fifth graders have been presenting their partner book projects in class. They chose and read a book as a twosome, and are now either presenting the book verbally, including something about the book upon which they enthusiastically agree, and another aspect about which they politely disagree; or they design and draw a six panel cartoon using the same information.

Art_The Baltimore Museum of Industry Field Trip

The girls had a very successful trip to the museum! The girls participated in two workshops engaging in the design process to make board games and roller coasters. They exhibited and developed their communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity skills. This field trip is an integral part of an integrated unit in art and technology - a gaming and design unit that investigates gaming elements, game design, and parts to a whole.  

Art_Leaf Paintings

The girls just finished a unit where they put their new R-Mode skills to work. They painted leaves by painting the space around the leaves - the negative space. It was a challenge for sure! 

They learned a trick that helped them "see" better. They gridded the paper that the leaf was on and they gridded the painting paper. This technique allowed them to more accurately see the space and thus see the leaf itself.  When they painted the positive space (the leaf itself), they adjusted the lines to get it "just right". 

Check out the work in process! Some of the finished leaves are hanging in the entrance gallery to the Lower School administration building. 

 

Gaming and the BMI

The year 5th grade students began the year with a gaming unit.  The culminating event for this unit will be designing your own game, using the Thinking and Learning Design Process.  The first step in the process is exploration.  The girls reviewed various types of games like home made video games, arcade games, and board games. 

As part of the gaming exploration we also visited the Baltimore Museum of Industry.  While there, the students participated in two exhibits:  

Design It: Balls & Tracks which is a STEAM related program where the students get into small groups to build and test roller coasters.  We will focus on collaborative work and parts to a whole.

Video Game Wizards:  Playing games is fun, but the real fun lies in making them. In this interactive, hands-on program, students race against the clock to design their own board game, determining rules, sequencing, and special powers. Using critical thinking skills, the think creatively as a group in order to develop an innovative and enjoyable game -- just like the real life game developers featured in the Video Game Wizards exhibition.    

Art_Baseline Self-Portraits

The girls drew a baseline self-portrait showing what they see in the mirror. Observation skills will be a major theme this year in 5th grade art. They will learn ways to switch to R-Mode (the right side of the brain) and develop their observational skills using different drawing strategies.  

We are off to a great start!!

What is the Most Boring Landform?

PLAIN!

Sorry, just a little geography humor to brighten up this rainy Monday.  All horrible puns aside, the girls are hard at work thoughtfully brainstorming ideas for their History Landform Project.  Each group (collaboration opportunity, woohoo!!!) will design and create a three dimensional map that illustrates some of the landforms that we have studied in class.