Celebrate! The Trimester is Over!

Hello Families!

We made it through 2nd trimester! Please take this three-day weekend to celebrate your student’s hard work towards school work and testing! A grade sheet will come home today so you can be aware of your student’s grades on the report card. You can also look at Parent Connect. Please sign this grade sheet and have your student turn it in on Tuesday, March 12th.

NWEA Testing is Here! We will be testing on… 

• Wednesday, March 13th for Math
• If your student is absent, they will make it up the next day!
• If your student would like to do some practice tests, then visit https://www.prepdog.org/5th-grade.htm and do the Math and Reading Test

For Math, we are working on Unit 5, which includes solving fractions with all four operations. We will also learn about equivalent fractions, factors, multiples, and common denominators. Also, remember all homelinks and the family letter for the unit are on Google Classroom. 

For ELA, students published their comparing-and-contrasting themes in two book essays. If you want to read the essay, please ask your student to show it on Google Classroom. We are now moving on to our Nonfiction Unit. If your student is absent, we have mini lessons on Google Classroom that we are doing in class. 

For science, we started Changes Cycle 1 unit. We are investigating the idea that different metals conduct heat at different rates. Also, we turned in our Scientific Method Projects today. Students were able to share the projects with their peers in small groups, but students will present their projects in front of the whole class the week before spring break. 

Therefore, I asked the students to practice presenting their projects in front of their families, dogs, or even stuffed animals at home. The goal is for the student to refrain from the words right off the slides. They should be able to go through each slide summarizing and giving more details than the slide says when presenting since they did the project!

Remember, if you are absent, please look at Google Classroom. Most of the time, I put what we did on there. Plus, most science assignments, all the Math Lesson videos, and ELA assignments are on Google Classroom.

Here are some announcements for next week:

No School on Monday, March 11th

Movie Night at Maltby on Friday, March 15th

Spring Break is from Saturday, March 23rd to Sunday, March 31st. I will see everyone back at school on Monday, April 1st.

We have had many students not write in their planners correctly, which is causing communication problems with what homework to do, which can also lead to students not turning in homework assignments on time. 

Therefore, please talk with your students about how they are doing with assignments and turning them in. Also, please make sure you are checking the planner and Google Classroom for all assignments.  

Students need to wear their ID cards and DOG tags every day. They are allowed to keep them here at school. This protocol is essential since Maltby is so big that if all students have their cards and tags on them, we can identify them in passing times. 

Planners: Please sign the planner for Friday!
Math: Unit 5 homelinks and family letter are on Google Classroom. The McGraw Hill app has many games students can play at home to practice their skills.
Reading/Writing: Students are learning how to read complex nonfiction text. We will be starting a non-fiction book project soon!
Science: Practice Scientific Method Project Presentations at home! Presentations start the week of March 18th!

Homework: Read for 20 minutes and fill out the reading log.

Parent To-Do List: 

• Sign Planner
• Sign Reading Log 
• Sign Grade Sheet

If you have any questions, please email me at [email protected].

I hope everyone has a fantastic three-day weekend!
Mrs. Orrico

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