5th Grade

What We're Learning: May 2024

Reading & Writing: This month we will continue reading the autobiographical novel-in-verse Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Students are using these poems (as well as others) to inspire their own poetry. 

English Language Arts: This month we continue our learning about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. For their end of unit project students will create and present either a play, spoken word, or art piece to show what they’ve learned and how the movement has inspired them to speak up about the injustices they still see today. 

Math: This month, we continue exploring the connection between fractions and decimals. We will focus on dividing both fractions and decimals. Additionally, we will learn how to apply these skills to real life contexts. We are also learning about polygons and their attributes. Students will use this information to create stained-glass watercolor paintings to decorate the gym during graduation.  

  • Students participating in a student-led lesson
  • Students coding on tablets
  • Students coding at the Microsoft Experience Center
  • Students playing video games at the Microsoft Experience Center field trip
  • Students outside the Microsoft Experience Center field trip
  • Students posing with characters at the Microsoft Experience Center field trip

Home Connection

  • Math Tip: When we divide 8/10 by 2/5, we get 2 as the answer. Imagine we have a green area divided into 8 parts, with each part worth 1/10, and a blue area divided into 4 parts, with each part worth 1/5. We can see that there are two groups of 2/5 in the green area, which is why the answer is 2. Imagine you have 8 out of 10 slices of pizza, and you want to share them equally among a group of friends. At the same time, each friend has only 2 out of 5 slices of pizza. You want to know how many friends you can equally share your 8/10 slices with, given that each friend has 2/5 slices. To solve this, you would divide 8/10 by 2/5 to determine the number of friends who can each have 2/5 of the pizza. To find the number of friends, you would divide 8/10 by 2/5: (8/10) ÷ (2/5) = (8/10) × (5/2) = (8 × 5) / (10 × 2) = 40/20 = 2
    So, in this scenario, you could evenly share your 8/10 slices of pizza with 2 friends, with each friend getting 2/5 slices.
     Model of dividing 8/10 by 2/5 

     

  • At the end of the month, we will have our first 5th grade picnic to celebrate the end of your child’s elementary school experience! We will enjoy a picnic lunch in Central Park. Please let your child’s teacher know if you’d like to help chaperone.
  • When solving math problems, 5th graders (and families) are often eager to use tricks and number skills to solve. Do not be so quick to abandon images and pictures to solve and make sense of problems, especially when working with fractions. Pictures (like the one above) actually show more understanding than the tricks we all learned as kids. When in doubt, draw it out.

Important Dates

Wednesday, May 1st: Welcome Back From Spring Break!

Thursday, May 9th: Parent Association Meeting and Family Fun Event at 6pm

Thursday, May 9th & Friday May 10th: Math State Test

Friday, May 24th: 5th Grade Trip to MCNY!

Monday, May 27th: Memorial Day (Schools Closed)

Friday, May 31st: 5th Grade Planetarium Trip 

Friday, May 31st: Arts Festival at 6pm

Contact Your Teacher

Ms. Aucapina maucapina@ps343.org Text Ms. Aucapina

Ms. Rabin srabin@ps343.org Text Ms. Rabin

Ms. Verde everde@ps343.org Text Ms. Verde

Ms.  Ramirez jramirez@ps343.org Text Ms. Ramirez

B-412 Ms. Clock's Class