Student Council Elections

The past few weeks, our class has had many students who have been getting reading to run for student council. They have gone to informational meetings, designed posters, and wrote speeches about why they are qualified for the position they are running for.

Today, our class had the opportunity to listen to all of the candidates running for office give their speeches. Our class came prepared with their mini clipboards to take notes, so they could vote for the most qualified candidate.

Below are the students in our class giving their speeches, as well as some who were campaign managers!

The Eastern Woodlands

5th Grade

In social studies we are learning about the last region in our first americans study, the Eastern Woodlands. Students have been working hard in their expert groups to produce posters and a presentation to present to the class. Below you can see them presenting, as well as their poster!

Double Number Lines

6th Grade

In math we are still working on ratios. We have used pictures, tables, and tape diagrams to show ratio relationships. This week we have added a new model to our "tool box". It is the double number line. The double number line helps us express ratio relationships, as well as solve ratio problems with missing values. 

Math Training at CVESD

Our district has adopted Eureka Math as our math curriculum. Today at a math training, we were given an article about boosting student achievement by using messages that motivate them.

As many of you have seen in these first few weeks of school, the math homework being sent home looks different from previous years. Students are being exposed to productive struggling and this is something they are not used to.

Attached are a few articles I want to share and encourage you to read. We were given these at our training today. 

Constructive Struggling
Boosting Achievement

Japanese Abacus Assembly

Today, we were lucky to have a group of Japanese students visit our school and demonstrate the use of an abacus to make multiple digit calculations. We were blown away with their skills! They were given a series of number to add together (three-digit!) and in less than 5 seconds of the list begin read out, they had solved the equation and were ready to share their answers!

After the assembly, the 5th grade classrooms were able to work one-on-one with the Japanese students. Our 5th graders were divided between the four other 5th grade classrooms, and they learned basic abacus manipulations.

Character Traits

6th Grade

This week in reading, we have been reading the short story "Barbie" by Gary Soto. Students have plotted the story on a plot line and today, they were given the opportunity to use our classroom iPads to annotate for character traits. In small groups (3 people), they had 1 iPad between them. They took turns re-reading the story aloud, and finding evidence and character traits of the main character Veronica. Here is a look at them using technology in our classroom!

Rounding Decimals

5th Grade

This week in math, our focus has been on rounding decimals to any place using place value understanding and vertical number lines. We began with renaming decimals using various units to strengthen students understanding of place value. 

For example: 

1.5 = _______ tenths (we know that there are 10 tenths in 1 whole so 1.5 is equal to 15 tenths)

1.5 = 15 tenths

2.5 = 25 tenths

12.5 = 125 tenths

Below is how we are decomposing numbers on the place value chart, and then plotting them on the vertical number line. 

Totem Poles

5th Grade

This year in social studies our focus in the United States history and geography: Making a New Nation. Our first unit of study is the first Americans.

Students describe the major pre-Columbian settlements, including the cliff dwellers and pueblo people of the desert Southwest, the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest, the nomadic nations of the Great Plains, and the woodland peoples east of the Mississippi River. 

1. Describe how geography and climate influenced the way various nations lived and adjusted to the natural environment, including locations of villages, the distinct structures that they built, and how they obtained food, clothing, tools, and utensils. 

2. Describe their varied customs and folklore traditions. 

3. Explain their varied economies and systems of government. 

This past week, we finished our focus on the Pacific Northwest. They are known for their totem poles. At the end of this region, we created our own totem poles. The students were given a handout about totem poles that contained information about what each color symbolized, as well as what the animals represented. They were asked to create their own totem poles and pick animals and colors that related to themselves. Once their totem pole was done, they had to do a writing piece to go along with it. For each animal they chose, they needed to discuss what the animals represented, how it related to themselves, and why they chose the color they did. 

Below are students working on their totem poles, as well as using our classroom iPads, to type up their writing!