Our MATH curriculum in Hudson is called Investigations, which is an inquiry-based (that means we ask a lot of questions and do a lot of sharing to find out our answers) curriculum that is taught in a series of units.

Mrs. O'Connell and Mrs. Ginsberg will be teaching all grade five math classes . Both teachers utilize the concept of heterogeneously conceived performance-based groupings. They believe that mathematical success occurs when a child's cognitive and developmental levels are challenged. Mrs. O'Connell and Mrs. Ginsberg hope to provide more challenging work for those students who show an aptitude for it, and they will provide the extra help for those students who need it as well.

We begin in September with a unit called "Mathematical Thinking at Grade Five" which helps us learn about numbers that are called "landmark numbers". Some examples of "landmark numbers" are numbers that end in 5s and 0s. Can you think of a reason why they are called "landmarks"? (Go ahead and look up that word; that might help your inquiry!) You will also work with two units from Investigations' middle school component called Connected Math during this school year.

We will cover other units on geometry ("Picturing Polygons"), fractions, decimals, and percents ("Name That Portion"), probability ("Between Never and Always"), 3-D geometry ("Containers and Cubes"), and we'll do some work in statistics, estimating, and measuring.

Phew! Sounds like a lot, right? Well, we think you will enjoy it. On some days you will practice your math skills using various math manipulatives, techniques, and games. You will do some word problems, some computation, and some skill work all in an easy-going, fun kind of way.

You MAY also have a "POW" or Problem of the Week most weeks and you may be given it on a certain day, to be due the following week (unless Mrs. O'Connell or Mrs. Ginsberg tell you differently). These are difficult problems, and they are tricky at first, but you'll soon catch on. You can expect to have math homework each night (Monday through Thursday).

Mrs. O'Connell and Mrs. Ginsberg want to remind you to study your facts a little each day.

Language Arts

LANGUAGE ARTS: will be taught by Mrs. Ginsberg, Mr. Mulcahy, Mrs. Varden, and Mrs. Williams. Mrs. Ginsberg and Mrs. Varden will teach Reading and Writing to their own homerooms. Mr. Mulcahy will teach Reading and Writing to his homeroom, and Reading to Mrs. O'Connell's homeroom. Mrs. Williams will teach Reading and Writing to her homeroom, and Writing to Mrs. O'Connell's homeroom. We will do lots of writing, grammar, and spelling. You can expect to read and write almost every day. Here's a brief overview of the Language Arts curriculum:

WRITING: You can expect to write almost every day. Writing is a vital part of Language Arts in the fifth grade. Writing is something that you will do for the rest of your life, and it is very important that you learn how to do it correctly. We follow the 6 + 1 Traits writing curriculum in the 5th TEAM.

In these classes, writing will be short term and long term. By that we mean you will be writing short, quickly concluding pieces, and you will have long-term projects that may take several days to several months to complete. For example, we begin our year with the Moon Journal project in October. It's wonderful and VERY creative! We KNOW you will enjoy it very much, but it's not easy!

We MAY also do a project called the Poetry Anthologies in the spring. These are beautiful, but, again - a LOT of work!

Our long-term writing assignment is either Autobiographies or writing Children's books.

This is just a taste of our writing curriculum. You will have a block of time in the computer lab to "publish" your writing each week, so try not to get behind. "Works in progress" are more easily managed when you have the work in school, so please do not take your writing home until you and we decide it's ready to go. OK?
Since we all have email addresses, we do encourage parents to email their children's writing pieces if typing is done at home.

READING:
Our 5th TEAM classes will be Readers' Workshop. We utilize different instructional media, such as tradebook literature (chapter books), informational texts that integrate our curriculas' content areas, and leveled books to accomodate the range of abilities in our classrooms. Each day will have a focus lesson concerning a reading strategy - often taught through the use of picture books or very short texts. Our students will then try to apply that strategy while they read independently on their own. The conclusion of each lesson is a gathering of the class to discuss what they "found" in their reading. Teh 5th TEAM teachers are very excited about this new way to discover reading - in fact we have added minutes to our scheduled blocks to accommodate this new initiative!

Each student's reading level will be determined by using assessments determined by the district, and reading levels will be constantly monitored throughout the year.

We will also be doing RAH (Reading At Home) every day using suggested titles from the reading program, and we will also use some corresponding titles from our rather extensive grade five trade books collection. These are novels that have been chosen for our students' learning and enjoyment especially by the fifth grade teachers and our Reading Specialist. You will be expected to read each night for at least 20 minutes, and complete a RAH sheet related to your week's reading. This sheet (included in a RAH booket) is to be signed by a parent or guardian and returned to your chid's reading teacher at the end of each week.

Each 5th grader will also be included in an RtI (Rading to Intervene) block each day. It is this block that students will be placed according to a specific reading need. This is our third year of RtI, and we are convinced of its efficacy.

From time to time you will have reading projects (such as our "Living Biographies") due, but we'll explain those in plenty of time.

WORDLY WISE:
You will be working on this vocabulary curriculum in your homeroom, taught by your homeroom teacher. This is a wonderful vocabulary learning experience, but it's not easy! You will have Wordly Wise homework each night (Monday through Thursday) and you will have a test each Friday. The good news is that by the end of the year, you will have mastered over 300 new words to add to your vocabulary!

Science:

Your Science teachers for the 5th TEAM will be Mrs. Varden and Mr. Mulcahy.

Our Science curriculum in Hudson is called "FOSS " or Full Option Science System. In fifth grade we spend the year studying some interesting areas of Science inquiry. This deep introspection really helps our students figure out how things work. We will spend some time preparing for the MCAS exam in May. More information will be given to you later.

Social Studies

Your Social Studies teacher in the 5TH TEAM will be Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Varden.

We will begin our work in grade five this year by focusing on an in-depth study of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with emphasis on Constitution Day this September. We will spend a great deal of time learning about our government, how laws are made, elections, etc. During the second half of the year will be taking an ethical look at history by examining some issues such as slavery, wars and other conflicts, overviews of the Holocaust, and the Civil Rights movement.

New this year is a separate Geography block for some of our 5th grade students. Mrs. O'Connell will be teaching these blocks for Mr. Mulcahy's, Mrs. O'Connell's, and Mrs. Williams' classes. Some areas to be studied will be the United States and the world in Geography because it is very important to know where we are located on Earth.

We will have lively discussions, some interesting debates, some short writing assignments relating to the topics we're studying, and we'll do other interesting things to learn social studies.

Another aspect of Social Studies is Current Events. Our study of Current Events comes from using Scholastic News this year, and classroom discussions of what is currently in the news. This (Scholastic News) is new this year, but more than likely there will be occasional homework.

Grade five will also be participating in the D.A.R.E. program and "Rachel's Challenge". More information on these programs will follow.