Miss Kay’s Fifth Grade News September 25, 2015 Reading/Literacy Math This week each student chose a topic for his or her feature article. Each student then made a research plan, complete with prior knowledge, questions, format for sharing new information, and resources for information. We also began researching those topics, and it was fine when some students chose to revise their topics slightly. A few students asked to take their writing notebooks home to do some research, and this is fine. They do not need to write any drafts at this point but any extra research is welcome for the articles. Fractions are the focus of the week! I am impressed with how well the kids are doing! After reading Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper, the class became very interested in differences and disabilities. Each student is now reading their own novel independently about some sort of disability or difference of a child. These novels are about facial disfigurement, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, Down ’s syndrome, missing limbs, dwarfism, and others. Coming Up Social Studies This week in social studies the class did some review work on Chapter 9. Our upcoming test is on Wednesday, after MAP testing is complete. *Student Council applications are due Monday! *MAP testing: Monday and Tuesday, 9/28 and 9/29 *Early release: 9/30 *Student Council speeches and election: Wednesday, 9/30 *Social Studies test on Chapter 9: Wednesday, 9/30 *Earth Science *Feature articles