ESS 5TH GRADE NEWSLETTER Inside this Issue: Mr. Serra’s Math News Ms. Eggleston’s Science & Social Studies Updates Miss Thompson’s Reading & Writing Updates Inside this Issue: Mr. Serra’s Math News Ms. Eggleston’s Science & Social Studies Updates Miss Thompson’s Reading & Writing Updates “Tis the Season” December 2014 Happy Birthday to our December “Pandas”! Contact us at: Homework Reminders : Read each night for 20 minutes Practice math skills/homework learned in your daily classes December Calendar Date Reminders: 16 th Winter Concert 12/25-i/2 Winter break 1/5 School resumes 1/16 End of quarter 2 December Calendar Date Reminders: 16 th Winter Concert 12/25-i/2 Winter break 1/5 School resumes 1/16 End of quarter 2 Season’s Greetings to our 5th grade families, We have much to celebrate and be thankful for. As 2014 comes to a close we reflect on the many learning opportunities we have had and the successes we have made. We are reaching our goals and are preparing for our futures. Our fieldtrip to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, was a great success and we were all enriched by the experience. Many thanks to the PTA & parents for providing the funding to allow us to go on that excursion… those memories will remain in our thoughts. We look forward to “2015” and all the “ fabulous” memories that we have yet to make! HAVE A SAFE & HAPPY WINTER BREAK!

From the desk of Mr. Serra:

For the remainder of this marking period, the Measurement Topics of Physical Sciences and Engineering & Technology are interwoven as students explore the physics of electricity and magnetism. Through exploration during weeks 5-9 students get a more in-depth view into MAGNETISM & build and test an ELECTROMAGNET. Social Studies students will participate in the interdisciplinary Change in United States Government inquiry project. In this project, students research a “movement of change” in United States history in order to write an informative piece about how the conflicts and compromises of the movement caused change in the United States government. Students will research events from the following movements in history: Civil Rights Movement Women’s movement Science Labor Movement Health & Safety Movement

Reading and Writing Thank you to those of you who joined us on Reading Night! It was a blast! In whole group, I am continuing to read aloud the novel, Hugo Cabret. I encourage you to ask your child how he/she is enjoying the book. In small groups, the students are reading mysteries. A mystery is a type of fiction text that has clues the reader needs to put together to solve the problem. Our purposes for reading are… -identify the characteristics of mysteries -analyze the combination of illustrations and text used by the author to provide insight to story structure, point of view, and suspense Lastly, we will be exploring several different vocabulary skills. A few are: ● idioms ● metaphors and similes ● synonyms REMEMBER to keep reading for your Book It!