ESS 5TH GRADE NEWSLETTER April 2018 Spring into the Curriculum Dear 5th grade Panda parents, Please continue to reinforce the 30 minutes of reading each night. Even though the year is almost over, this is something that should be encouraged throughout the summer too. We have much going on these last weeks of school so please look at the calendar reminders for upcoming events, including our field trip to Philadelphia. April Calendar Date Reminders: April 2- No School April 4- STEM Night April 9- Early Release April 20- Report Cards Distributed April 25- Math NIght ESS 5TH GRADE NEWSLETTER Inside this Issue: ***Quarter 4 Updates Mr. Serra’s Updates Ms. Eggleston’s Updates Ms. Stevenson’s Updates Contact us at: Carol_D_Eggleston@mcpsmd.org Patrick_J_Serra@mcpsmd.org Ann_B_Stevenson@mcpsmd.org

Reading Check out what we will be working on in the fourth marking period! • Read and compare multiple texts, within a variety of genres, about the same topic. Example: The Buzz on Bees by Shelley Rotner and Where Have All the Bees Gone? By Jennifer Cutarothey • Discuss and analyze theme and figurative language found in literature. • Compare points of view of various texts using strategies, such as comparison circles. • Make inferences based on key details. Example: complete a double entry journal to record important details and/or quotes about the job of a beekeeper. Listed below are at-home activities you and your fifth grader can complete! Read a variety of self-selected texts every night. Identify two or more TV shows and/or books with the same theme or topic. Discuss how both sources are similar and different. Example: watch two fun game shows. Have free family fun! Visit the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. to learn more about animals and their habitats. Source: Created by MCPS Teachers at the C 2.0 Summit 2013

Mathematics – We will be exploring the following concepts throughout the month of April:

Science Social studies In this marking period, students built, tested and optimized their CubeSat models.  They identified design failure points, analyzed mission payloads and presented their designs.   Students created a testable question to investigate how distance affects the apparent brightness of stars.  They also collected data on the length of shadows throughout the day. Students examined how the Earth’s movement causes the shadows to change size.  Earth’s patterns were explored using movement to model day/night, shadow changes, year, and seasonal changes with constellations models.  Social studies Our topic in social studies continues with the discussion of geographic characteristics of the United States population growth, migration, and settlement patterns. We will continue with an understanding of how transportation and communication networks affect the movement of people and ideas.

Our learning goals this month were • to explain and summarize the relationship between two or more events and ideas in historical texts. • analyze similarities and differences in the points of view of multiple accounts of the same event. To expand on learning at home, you can… read a variety of self-selected texts every night including: novels, magazines, informational texts, graphic novels (graphic text), or poetry.  create your own graphic informational text! pick a favorite topic of interest (space, explorers, fashion…). Create a poster in the graphic informational text format to share the important information with your family, friends and teachers. visit the public library and check out biographies of historical figures such as, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Sally Ride, or Mercy Otis Warren. visit the Maryland Science Center (Baltimore, Md.), The National Air and Space Museum (Washington, D.C.), or the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Dulles, Va.) to deepen understanding of famous astronomers and space.