News From the Top of the Hill

The time is flying!  We are already in October and finishing up our first class book, Our Only May Amelia, before conferences take place next week.  Jennifer Holm is the author of this wonderful book that has made the girls laugh as well as cry!  Some other titles that you and your daughter might enjoy reading are the sequel, The Trouble With May Amelia, as well as some of Jennifer Holm's other terrific books:

Boston Jane, historical fiction about a spunky young girl who travels from the east coast to the west coast for a husband....or not! (a series of three books - all wonderful)
The Fourteenth Goldfish, her newest book that examines science and scientific discoveries with a great sense of humor and adventure
Penny From Heaven and Turtle in Paradise, two books with young female main characters who have stories based on Jenni Holm's own family history (as is Our Only May Amelia)
Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf and the Baby Mouse series, graphic novels that the girls really enjoy

Speaking of reading, here is an informative graphic that supports the 20 minutes of reading we ask fifth grade girls to do each night:

 You can see what a difference those 20 minutes of nightly reading can make!

 In math, we are wrapping up our unit on division and soon will be moving on to exploring graphs and data.  With the Orioles doing so well, it's a perfect time to talk about batting averages!  The unit begins with a lesson on mean, median, and mode.

We are also creating our own countries after completing a unit on maps and geography.  Your girls are a very creative bunch; ask them about this project!

We enjoyed celebrating Founders' Day today and look forward to seeing the many creative Spirit Day outfits on Tuesday!  Happy October!

Art: Identity

The year-long theme in fifth grade art is IDENTITY.  This is fitting because they are increasingly complicated, social beings with greater introspective abilities. They will make art, talk about art, and look at art that explores and expresses this theme throughout the year.  The girls wrote on post-its their own definitions of identity and have started discussions in their fifth grade art Edmodo group.  It will be a fun year getting to know them and watching them get to know each other and themselves better! 

Art: Masks

The girls will step out of their comfort zones and into new forms by making masks.  Be ready to be fooled though: Often times being something we are not reveals who we really are.  

First, they learned to use plaster gauze and then used the material to make a mask on their partners. The girls were intentionally partnered with someone they don't know well.  They got to know each other quickly with this up close and hands-on exercise! 

The fifth grade just completed a field hockey unit in PE.  The girls learned stick skills, two kinds of dribbling, three types of passes and ways to shoot on goal.  Benefits of the unit include spatial awareness, body control, hand eye coordination. and teamwork.  Plus, we were able to be outside on the turf on an out of uniform day!  Go Orioles!

Music: Jamaican Folk Song

"4 White Horses" is a traditional Jamaican folk song with an advanced hand-clapping pattern.  Just imagine the level of concentration it takes to pull this off!

Tech Time

During technology, the girls have been focusing on keyboarding skills.  We are using www.typingweb.com and have completed the home and top rows.  This week, we used iBooks and learned about Digital Citizenship.  We created a class motto and posted it on the 5th grade Edmodo page!  In the next few weeks we will continue practicing keyboarding, work in Google Drive, and Gmail.