Mr. Nathan's Blog

Thank you all for attending parent-teacher conferences. We appreciate your engagement and support as we continue our learning journey this school year.

English Language Arts (ELA)
Next week in ELA, we will explore the wonderful world of folktales. Students will deepen their understanding of narrative structure and literary elements by analyzing the plot, setting, and themes of these traditional stories. Additionally, we will focus on inflectional endings to strengthen our spelling skills. Our work on our spooky Halloween stories will also continue as students refine their creative writing abilities.

Mathematics
In math, we expand our number sense by reading, writing, and understanding decimals. Students will explore the relationship between decimals and place value, learning to fluently convert decimal and standard forms. We will also revisit the concept of powers of ten, building on our previous lessons to solidify our understanding of this important mathematical principle.

Science
Our science exploration is focused on Earth’s intricate systems. We will delve into the geosphere (the solid Earth), the biosphere (the living world), the cryosphere (the frozen parts of the planet), the hydrosphere (the water cycle), and the atmosphere (the gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth). By understanding how these systems interact, students will gain a deeper appreciation for the complex and dynamic nature of our home planet.

I hope your student has enjoyed this story as much as I do. If you have been watching with your student here is the final password to book 1. As, a class we have voted to continue the series!

9th: TANGINABARRONS 

Sarafincher.com

Hello Everyone,

This week in math, we will be learning about Powers of 10 and how to read, write, and evaluate expressions with exponents. This skill will prepare students for future algebra topics such as factoring and solving quadratic equations. As always, if your student could benefit from extra practice, you will receive an emailed invitation for after-school tutoring.

We are finishing our study of problem and solution text structure in ELA and will test that skill on Friday. Please continue support of at-home reading for 20 minutes per day!

In science, we learn about Earth’s systems (the geosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere) and how they interact to produce the environments we know.

If you haven’t done so yet, please sign up here for a time to meet with me for Family-Teacher Conferences next Monday, October 14th, and Tuesday, October 15th. Please choose a time that works for both you and your student to attend together. I can’t wait to discuss their progress with you!

Please note that Fall Break is also next week, October 16-18th, and there will be no school. I hope you enjoy that time together!

Please sign up for which day and time works for you! I am so excited to be able to talk with you about your student.

Day 1 October 14th sign-ups

Day 2 October 15th sign-ups

Here are the passwords that we have received since the last time. Again this book is a fun interactive book of mystery. I grew up reading this book and loved it. I hope your students have loved reading and have told you about it. If they have not I encourage you to.

Here are the new Passwords

4th: AMONTILLADO

5th: DRJEKYLLANDMRHYDE

6th: PETERQUINT

7th: LUCYWESTENRA

8th: MILTONARBOGAST 

Again go to Sarahfincher.com to watch these.

5th grade families,

Please make sure to send your student prepared for those cooler temperatures with a jacket/coat.

Also, Family-Teacher Conferences will be held in two weeks on Monday, October 14th, and Tuesday, October 15th. Both days will be early outs. Sign-ups will be coming out this Friday.

This week in math we will be learning all about place value in preparation for operations with decimals. Students will learn that for both whole numbers and decimals, a digit in one place not only has ten times the value it would have in the place to its right but also has one-tenth the value it would have in the place its left. This means we will be using the multiplication and division skills we have been learning the past few weeks to expand our knowledge of numbers.

In ELA, we are practicing rereading to compare text structures, with a special focus on problem and solution, while we consider the question “What do good problem solvers do?” Please help your child remember to read for 20 minutes every day at home!

Hello 5th-grade families, We will be doing rise training on 10/14 and 10/15. I wanted to give you a heads-up before that happens.

Thank you.

You may have heard as a 5th grade we are reading a story called Skeleton Creek. This is a fun engaging story. It is a mystery story. We get to read this novel, but we also get to watch little clips that carry us through our story. We receive passwords to access these clips, and the students have asked me to share them.

The website you will visit if your student chooses to revisit the clips is. Sarahfincher.com. You should be able to just click and it will take you there.

Our first 3 passwords are

1st Houseofusher

2nd Theraven

3rd Pitandpendulum

***Remember*** Don’t spoil it for our friends in the other 5th-grade classes.

Our cookie dough/beef jerky fundraiser starts Monday, I will send home information about it early this week. Contact me with questions you may have, if I can’t answer them I can certainly find someone who can.

In math, we will continue our quest to master standard algorithms for multiplication. Towards the end of the week, we hope to be ready to move into long division.

In ELA we will be working on plot and r-controlled vowels.