What's Up in Fifth Grade
What a beginning to school! I think we've finally settled into a "school" routine with our expectations, learning, and technology issues. In the spirit of routine, I'm hoping to get into a more regular routine of class updates through the class blog. Please email me (efisher@fusd1.org) with any questions, concerns, or needs that may arise for your family during our flexible remote learning time.
Technology, Assignments, and Grades
The fifth graders (and me!) are becoming more fluent with our Canvas learning platform. At this point, students should easily be able to navigate our homepage and daily agenda where they can find their schedule and assignments for the day. We are working on completing and submitting assignments on time through Canvas. Students and families can see what work is missing by clicking on the "Assignment" button in their app. Student grades in Canvas are marked as complete or incomplete, while their "formal" report card grades (1, 2, 3, or 4) are available through ParentVue in the synergy system.
Canvas Parent Accounts
Have your fifth grader give you a Canvas tour if you haven't checked it out yet! Also, don't forget to get a parent account to observe your student's work on Canvas. Go to the FUSD website to create a family account. You must also have a pairing code to connect your account with your student's. Follow the steps in this link to get a pairing code. Once you are logged in, you are able to be an observer on your child's Canvas account.
Academics
MATH: In Math, we've been working hard on the names of place value spots as well as the value of numbers from the billions all the way down to thousandths. We've also been practicing how to convert between metric units of measurement and multiply whole and decimal numbers by exponents with a base of ten. Next week we will be working on rewriting numbers into expanded form and exponential form followed by comparing numbers.
ELA: In ELA, we've been reading Night of the Spadefoot Toads and practicing our comprehension skills. Expect your student to finish this book in the next several weeks. Much of our focus outside of comprehension has been on figurative language, specifically idioms, similes, metaphors, and personification. Students will be using this knowledge in a poetry project in the coming weeks. We will also be using our knowledge of nouns, verbs, and prepositions to write summary sentences of longer pieces of nonfiction writing.
SCIENCE: We've added science Friday to our week! This means that on top of students accessing their science curriculum through self paced work during their independent study time in the afternoons, we are also taking more time together as a whole class to emphasize science each Friday. Currently, we are working on genetics and will be transitioning to how humans impact the natural world.
