Dear PAT families,

Here we are at the beginning of May! I’ve tried to give you a guide for what is upcoming so that you begin to see the light at the end of this rollercoaster of a year.  That’s quite a mixed metaphor, must be time for me to head home.  Please read on to find out what we’re up to.

I encourage you to pay special attention to two topics below (our current social studies topic and upcoming 5th grade FLASH/KNOW curriculum) as these are topics to encourage discussion at home to help your student process and better understand.

Have a great week,

Ms. I

This week:

This week we we are focusing on:

• Literature circles – Students are preparing for their second meeting, which will be on Wednesday during our whole class online meeting
• Math – Some groups are exploring fraction operations while others are building their algebraic understanding. Check with your student to see what they are working on.
• Social Studies – This week, we are pausing to look at the experience of African slaves during colonial times.  This can be an uncomfortable subject to talk and learn about. Today, we had a short about how it is perfectly okay to experience a large number of negative emotions and that it’s okay to talk about them.  We also talked about how this is an important aspect of history to discuss because the inequality started during this time has not yet been fully resolved today, as evidenced by so many events seen on the news in the last year.  Please feel free to continue this conversation at home to help your student deepen their learning and process any uncomfortable emotions. Also, kudos to many of you out there; I can tell my many of our student responses to this topic that several families have already been having these conversations. Thank you.
• Science – We are beginning a unit on Biodiversity. To support that your student has chosen a sit spot and will be making observations from that spot for several weeks to come.  You might ask your student to give you tour of their sit spot and share their journal with you to show their scientific observations.
• Vocabulary – Yup, we are still doing vocabulary this week. Students should be studying daily! Quiz will be on Friday.

Upcoming Learning:

As we are now in the last two months of school, we will be working hard to wrap up the year and try to squeeze in as much as possible. Here’s some of what you can look forward to:

• Language Arts: Students will be reading a variety of American Revolution books (a literature circle book, an independent book and a non-fiction book). This will keep them reading and learning through what they read.  In writing, we have two major remaining writing assignments. One is a choice writing piece where students can choose to write something in a genre and on a topic of their choosing.  Our very final writing piece will be a This I Believe Essay to be shared at the end of the school year.
• Math: We are going to keep on moving through our math units and try to cover as much as we can.  Depending upon how far we get in June, I may recommend a little summer review for those students who chose to take Pre-Algebra. I want make sure that they at least see all the topics that the 6th grade curriculum covers; I’ll share more about that when we get to June.
• Social Studies: Our next and final topic will be a Colonial Boston simulation to help students see the tensions that lead up to the American Revolution.  I have hinted to students that we are going to try using Minecraft as a whole class location for constructing our “town”. Cross your fingers for me! They are teaching me how to Minecraft and it’s a steep learning curve! (But they are being very patient with me).
• Science: We have two upcoming science units, both of which fall into the realm of biology.  One is a unit on Biodiversity.  We will be using several tools to understand biodiversity locally and around the globe and beginning to understand why it matters.  The second unit is FLASH/KNOW unit. This unit will be taught to 5th graders only, as per district guidance. This learning will begin on May 17th.  The purpose of this unit is to provide scientifically accurate information for students on sexual health and HIV prevention education.  Major topics covered by this unit include puberty, reproductive anatomy and an introductory understanding of HIV/AIDS.  To learn more about this curriculum, you can learn here about the FLASH/KNOW curriculum. You are also welcome to email me if you have concerns.  You are also welcome to opt your child out of this learning, but I would encourage you to review the material before making that decision. Opt out forms are available in the earlier link.  If you are feeling vague about how this is going to work, never fear, I am working on it and will have a plan out to you next week.  It’s going to work out!

Reminders:

• Take home folders: Students will continue to bring home green “Tuesday Folders” each week with communications from the school and returned work from me.  Please view and return the folder with your child by Thursday of each week.  That’s it. I’m not adding a signature log or any other level of detail, I just ask that you communicate with your student sometime between Tuesday and Thursday morning to review and remove the work in their folder so that it can be returned to me.  Thank you!
• In Class vs At Home: Even though there is a sense to normalcy returning to our routines, it is still important to remember that students are completing half of their school day (and work) at home and my need support from you.  This week, I have tried to indicate what tasks should be completed at home inside each activity node.  Please find time to check in with your child and have them show you (not tell you, ask them to SHOW you) the work that they need to complete at home. Thank you!

Ways you can support your student (and your teacher!):

• Keep doing that daily wellness check! You guys are doing great with that and it makes things so much easier for us! Our class is almost 100% every day and it is awesome.
• Ensure that your child is coming to class with their math book, a fully charged laptop and power cord (just in case), as well as the other items in the “What’s in your Backpack list” (You’ll find this in your student’s weekly loop).
• Talk through the daily loop with your child to offer support or simply help them process what needs to be completed.
• Set up a daily check in time for your child to share one aspect of their learning with you by showing you their work.  Let your student choose what they want to share and celebrate their efforts.  Ask questions to redirect or nudge them in a different direction if something looks amiss.
• Encourage your student to use the solutions node in the Math loop to correct their problem sets OR you can offer to correct it with them. This gives both you and your student immediate feedback on their understanding.