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5th Grade
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5th Grade students continue to have a very busy and exciting year!
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We’re beginning a study of the sacrament of Confirmation. Next, we’ll focus on the sacrament of Eucharist. Students will create a photo essay around the theme of: Eucharist: Memorial, Meal, Sacrifice. During Advent, 5th graders researched the meaning of each of the symbols for the Jesse Tree and designed their own ornament; they also kept “Giving Trees” of good deeds and random acts of kindness. This year, 5th graders will wrap packages of baby gifts for charities in need. Mission initiatives will include: Pennies for the Poor, Baby Formula collection, and this year, 5th graders collected over 50 canned goods for the St. Agnes Day Room.
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: - 5th graders will begin addition and subtraction of fractions. They are still using activities such as Beat the Clock, Mad Minute X, Golfball Bouncing Multiples, flashcard reviews, and fraction Bingo to keep their X facts at their fingertips. They will be moving on to X and division of fractions after a short break. During this break, 5th graders will be studying different types of graphs and how to use them to display collected statistics on a researched topic. Then, students will be creating graphs using data collected from online surveys on a chosen topic. These posters will be considered for the State Graphing Competition. Students continue to do well on their weekly Simple Solutions quizzes.
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5th Grade is working on an exciting unit of study in Astronomy. Students will go on a Solar System Webquest to gather data on one of their assigned planets. In the course of traveling the webquest, students will discover many different links that will give them lots of fascinating information and some fun activities. For this unit, projects are threefold: 1) a poster “advertising” their planet; 2) a scale model showing prominent features; 3) a travel brochure created in Computer class. Students’ study of Astronomy has been expanded this year to include: stars, galaxies, and comets. Many activities are planned for both inside and outside to gain more insight and understanding on these topics. Titles of activities include: “Solar System on a String”, “Hopping Across the Solar System”, Nightlife on Jupiter”, “A Leap of Space”, “Star Scramble”, “Star Darts”, and “Celestial Circles”. In March, 5th graders will participate in their first S.T.A. Science Fair. Working independently, in pairs, or in groups of 3, they will prepare projects for ALL branches of Science.
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5th graders will once again be fulfilling Spelling Contracts for assigned words. They will choose from activities such as: write a short story, draw a comic strip, write acrostic sentences, do a magazine picture collage, find the foreign language equivalent(your choice of the language); students will also be writing their own contracts, creating their own activity ideas and point values;
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Students will read a theme of 5 stories. Genre subject matter will range from realistic fiction to historical fiction to a nonfiction article. Once again, 5th graders are reading a book from a self-selected genre. They have chosen to read from among biographies, historical fiction, nonfiction, realistic fiction, and fantasy fiction; students will complete book reports including Character Cards, Dress-Up, “JustTimelines, Time Capsules, Photo Album, Write a Picture Story, Spend a Day with the Main Character, Design a Board Game, and Design a Cereal Box.
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LATIN-5th grade students are really enjoying their weekly Latin class with Father Golias. They are studying Latin roots and realizing how they are a part of so many English words. Their study of Latin will definitely help students with their study of vocabulary.
FRENCH - “Just For Fun!” Students are “dabbling” in French. Presently, they’re learning “The Sign of the Cross”, “The Hail Mary”, numbers, months, days of the week, and colors. One of their favorite games is “I SEE” in French.
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5th graders continue to meet with their Pre-K Prayer Partners for a variety of fun activities. They helped the little ones shop at Santa’s Secret Shop and celebrated “Los Posadas” during Advent; starting in the Spring of 2010, 5th graders may become their “silent helpers” at First Friday Mass.
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January - PA State Graphing Competition
S.T.A. Open House
February - S.T.A. Talent Show
March - S.T.A. Science Fair
Terra Nova Testing
April - Practice testing for Math League
Spring - Field trips to: Martin Guitar Factory and Guitar Museum
The Amish Country
May - S.T.A. “Decades Festival”
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5th graders are completing a study of Early Explorers and will begin the Settlement of North America. They have been using maps, timelines, charts, and stories to review chapter material. 5th graders are also using “foldables” to keep important notes. A study of the settlement of the 13 original colonies will follow. Afterwards, 5th graders will “switch gears” and research and study present-day states - their geography, history, and culture. 5th graders will again start a “Scavenger Hunt” to discover facts pertinent to each day’s celebration or remembrance for the month; they will use many different resources such as: dictionaries, encyclopedia, atlases, almanacs, Guinness Book of World Records, the internet, etc.
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