Mrs. Shedd's Fabulous Fifth Grade Classroom: 2017

One of the things we have focused on during the past few weeks has been determining the theme of a text. Students have learned that theme is the central message of a story and is something you can apply to your own life. Identifying a key word, such as acceptance, is a good first step to identifying a theme. We have also learned that a story or novel can have multiple themes. Through mini lessons, students have learned that asking and answering questions about the story elements can help us determine the theme. These include:

How did the main character change?

· What lesson did the main character learn?

· How did a character react to a situation?

· What was the problem and how was it overcome?

Another skill we have been working on is writing summaries. Students have practiced summarizing a paragraph in twelve words or less. They are writing summaries of their independent reading books each week.

We have also been learning about figurative language. Figurative language is writing that appeals to the senses and goes beyond the meaning of the words to give the reader a new understanding. We began with similes and metaphors, learning that both of these are comparisons between two unlike things. It is great to see students begin to include these in their writing. We are now looking at personification and onomatopoeia. Be sure to ask your child about these types of figurative language.

In writing, we have been studying personal narratives. Mini lessons have included leads, endings, transitions, elaboration and craft. We will be completing post assessments on this unit within the next week or so.

My fifth grade math class has focused on area, volume, and surface area of rectangular prisms. They began the unit creating a two dimensional robot on graph paper with a specified area. Later in the unit, students created three dimensional robots and determined the volume of their robot. Early next week we will be finishing our work with this unit.

We have started our unit, Explorers of the New World. This week, we began reading a historical fiction book, Pedro's Journal: A Voyage with Christopher Columbus, August 3, 1492-February 14, 1493. This is the story of a young boy who has been assigned as ship’s boy to the Santa Maria, a ship bound for India. Although he has had little experience at sea, he can read and write and it is for this reason that he has been chosen to accompany Christopher Columbus. Pam Conrad, author of this novel, based her book on research of this historic voyage.

We have also started preparing for a Scholastic simulation titled, “Explorers”. This simulation is designed to teach students about the Age of Discovery by re-creating challenges experienced by the early explorers. Students will keep a log through a journal during this simulation. This week, each student chose a role (such as a helmsman, navigator, ship’s surgeon, etc.) and decided on their name for the simulation. Next week, students will learn about a project on an individual explorer.

Beginning next Monday, we will be having Brent and Maya McCoy for a Theater Residency. Below

please find a message from them.

Hello Parents of East Montpelier Elementary students. Brent and Maya McCoy here.

We’re writing to let you know that we’ll be bringing our YES! Theater Residency

Program to your children from November 6 – November 17. Our curriculum integrates

circus skills, story creation, teambuilding, and physical theater for students grades K-6.

We’ll finish the program with a hilarious and amazing Vaudeville Show will take place

on Thursday, November 16 at TIME, at the U32 Gymnasium. and YOU are warmly

invited! If you can’t make the show, but would like to drop in on a class, feel free. We’d

love to meet you. Also, if you’d like to read more about what we do, check out

YEStheater.com. Thanks!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!