The Anne Sullivan School
cr
P.S. 238
5th Grade Newsletter
January Happenings
Welcome back! We hope everyone had a restful,
enjoyable, and productive Winter break!
There are only a few more days until the fifth grade takes
the ELA State Exam. Please make sure your child is
reading every night and completing his/her reading
homework in preparation for the test on Tuesday, January
13th and Wednesday, January 14th. On day one, the
students will be required to read several passages and
answer questions and respond to one short answer
question. Day 2 consists of a listening passage followed by
four questions and one short answer response as well as
an editing passage where the students will have to correct
several errors in capitalization, punctuation and grammar.
Please make sure your child goes to sleep early the
night before the exam and eats a healthy breakfast! Make
sure your child has two #2 pencils to write with for the
exam.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!
Reader’s Workshop
Our emphasis for January is reading books authored by Roald
Dahl. We will be exploring Roald Dahl’s imaginative and creative
books through Literature Circles. The students will work
independently, with a small group of their peers and with their
teacher to examine these selected texts. The students will
conduct discussions that facilitate comprehension and
accountable talk to complete written tasks which will
demonstrate their comprehension skills. They will each be
assigned a job in their literature circle.
During January, the fifth grade will continue to read for
stamina during independent reading. We will be focusing on
important reading strategies and skills during Reader’s Workshop
to increase the students’ literacy and fluency skills which they
will apply during guided reading and Literature Circles. We will
continue to prepare for the ELA State exam which will be on
Tuesday, January 13 and January 14.
Encourage your child to read as many books/essays on
these genres as possible that are on his/her “Just Right”
reading level. Ensure that your child reads for a minimum
of 30 minutes and completes their Reading Log entry
every night. Your signature is required on the Reading
Log. Please make sure that your child is also responding
to what they are reading by using the 50 Sentence Leads
for Reading Responses. Ms. Escowitz’ class is assigned
two leads a night. Please encourage your child’s
comprehension by asking him/her to restate, summarize,
and make connections to what he/she has read.
1633 East 8th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11223
January 2009
Vo l u m e 1 , I s s u e 3
Writer’s Workshop
In December, the fifth grade published their
realistic fiction stories. In January, the
students will continue to use the writing process
to begin writing a Response to Literature. The
students will learn strategies to engage the
reader, advance a judgment that is
interpretative, analytic, evaluative, or reflective;
supports judgment through references to the
text, other works, authors, or personal
knowledge; and demonstrate an understanding
of the literary work.
Mathematics
In December, the fifth grade started learning
about fractions in Unit 5. We will finish Unit 5 which
focuses on Fractions, Decimals and Percents.
We will review fraction concepts, such as exploring
mixed numbers, comparing and ordering fractions,
and finding equivalent fractions; practice turning
fractions into decimals and percents; and review the
properties and construction of bar and circle graphs.
This month, the students will learn how to use
data and add and subtract fractions. The
students will formulate conclusions and make
predictions from graphs; develop and explain an
argument verbally, numerically, and/or graphically;
and use a variety of strategies to add and subtract
fractions and mixed numbers. Use the Family Letter
for Unit 5 and 6 to help your child learn the math
vocabulary and to review your child’s Study Link
homework.
Social Studies and Science
This month in Social Studies, the fifth grade will
learn about the geography of Latin America with an
emphasis on its landforms; its economics, its people
and key events that help shape this great region. The
fifth grade will also study the ancient civilizations of
the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas.
In December, the fifth grade learned about the
earth’s landforms and its topography. In January, The
fifth grade will learn about the structure of the Earth,
different types of volcanoes and earthquakes. The
fifth grade will be watching the film “Journey to the
Center of the Earth” and “An Inconvenient Truth.”