Lynchsters Mr. Lynch's 5th Grade Class 

Parent/Teacher Conferences are this week. I sent out instructions for signup via e-mail, but contact me if you need those again. Students have half days on Thursday and Friday.

Our trip to the Old State House is on Friday, March 23.

Students were introduced to the American Revolution Famous Person Speech a couple weeks ago. Each student was assigned a famous person from the American Revolution time period. If they didn’t like the person they were assigned they were able to change him/her, but it is now too late to make any changes. Each student will dress up as, and give a 3-5 minute speech as the historical figure. Speeches are on Wednesday, April 4 and Thursday, April 5. Parent/Guardians will be invited to come watch their child’s speech. More information about this will be made available later.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Old State House trip – Friday, March 23

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

Last Day of School – Monday, June 18 (w/five snow days)

Spring begins in about two weeks, on March 20. This winter weather will have to disappear at some point.

Permission slips go out this week for the Old State House in Hartford, and they need to bring them back by the end of the week. Our team will be going on Friday, March 23.

Last week students started on our major book project, and they will be working on this over the next few months. After about 100 possible topics, they narrowed their final choice down to – Six Word Stories.

Students will be introduced to the American Revolution Famous Person Speech this week. Each student will be assigned a famous person from the American Revolution time period. If they don’t like the person they are assigned they can change him/her. Each student will dress up as, and give a 3-5 minute speech as the historical figure. Speeches are on Wednesday, April 4 and Thursday, April 5. Parent/Guardians will be invited to come watch their child’s speech. More information about this will be made available later.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Old State House trip – Friday, March 23

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

Last Day of School – Friday, June 15 (w/four snow days)

We are back to a full week. We started Unit 6: Add and Subtract Fractions last week.

I also introduced the book project to students, and this will be a big part of what they do over the next three and a half months. They chose about 100 different topics, and over a couple days painstakingly whittled the list down to their final choice. They will be writing, editing, and publishing this book together.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

Last Day of School – Friday, June 15 (w/four snow days)

I hope that everyone had a nice four day weekend. With a couple days off to start this week, we have a three day school week. We start our next math unit – Unit 6: Add and Subtract Fractions on Wednesday.

We will also start the first conversation about our book project this week. This is the book that students will (hopefully) write and publish by the end of the year.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

Last Day of School – Friday, June 15 (w/four snow days)

Valentine’s Day is this week. If students want to give out cards or something else that’s not a problem, but the rule is that they must give one to everyone. They certainly don’t have to bring in anything, but it’s an option. We aren’t having a party, but I will give them an extended break time on Wednesday to do this.

The Unit 5 Math Test (Volume and Measurement) will be on Thursday. I will hold the (usual) optional, extra math review before school at 7:30 AM on Thursday.

After students survive this week, they will have a nice four-day weekend. Enjoy the time off!

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

Last Day of School – Friday, June 15 (w/four snow days)

No matter what that little groundhog decided, this is definitely a wintery winter and our school schedule is constantly being impacted by the weather with early dismissals, two-hour delays, and closings. The kids have been great rolling with the frequent changes.

In science, we’re working on Earth’s Systems and Human Impacts, and students are creating board games that meet two things: they have to be fun and they have to teach about the four earth’s systems – geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.

Last week students learned about a school wide contest called Battle of the Books. This contest lasts for a few months and challenges kids to read from a selection of 14 different books. They could read as many or as few as they’d like, but I want them to read at least two. I suspect that most kids will want to read more than that. Ask your child about this. Encourage him/her to get involved because more involved = more reading.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

Last Day of School – Thursday, June 14 (w/three snow days)

This brings us about halfway through the year – five months down and five months to go.

Last week we finished the volume portion of this math unit, and on Friday we moved onto the second half, which covers measurement. We finally started unit 2 in science, Earth’s Systems and Human Impacts. Science is much more sporadic this year in fifth grade as the curriculum is all brand new, and it is being written/revised for us just prior to the units being taught. However, we’re in it now and it should be fun.

On Tuesday students will learn about a school wide contest called Battle of the Books. Stay tuned and ask your child about this. Encourage him/her to get involved because more involved = more reading.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

Last Day of School – Thursday, June 14 (w/three snow days)

This has the promise of being the first full week of school for students since the week of December 11, 2017. It’s been a long run of early dismissals, snow days, and holidays. We finished up our Roanoke stories last week, where we focused on the use of dialogue in writing. In math we are currently working on Volume and Measurement. This week we get into composed figures, which basically means taking two rectangular prisms and mushing them together.

This is often a tough concept for fifth graders because they don’t give you all the measurements, and you have to figure some of the sides out using clues from the other given side measurements.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

Students just completed their third four-day weekend in a row. Actually, the first of those “four” was in excess of four days. This week we’ll keep plowing into our latest math unit, which focuses on Volume and Measurement. We’ll also finish up the writing piece we’ve been working on about Roanoke.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18

With the surprise four-day weekend this past week (due to the snowstorm), the math test review and test will be on Monday. We’ll start the new unit either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Upcoming Events

April Vacation – April 9-13

Nathan Hale Homestead trip – Friday, May 18