From the Desk of Mrs. McCreedy 5th Grade Teacher

We are well into the third quarter and the fifth grade students are working hard to get their Accelerated Reading points.  This is a reading program where the students read a book and take a computer quiz on that book.  They will need to get 13 points by the end of the quarter to meet their goal.  In reading, we are starting the novel Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.  As we read the book, the students will take quizzes, reenact some scenes, and rewrite parts of the book in their own words.
 
The fifth grade is beginning Earth Science this quarter and have recently done a lab on making models of the ocean floor and learning how Earth’s systems work.
 
In History class the students are working on a project for Black History Month. They are doing research on Elijah McCoy, a child of Runaway slaves who fled to Canada through the underground railroad.  He was an Engineer who invented many Patents over his 83 year life span.  The students are starting a new unit on the Americas and we will begin with Mexico.  They will be having a Mexican party in March, bringing in articles and food about what they have learned about this country.
 
In Religion class, the students are learning how to live as God would want them to, and how to spread the good news.  Working in groups, the students recently put together a commercial on spreading the good news to others…..Unleashing the Gospel.
We are completing our section on Verbs in English and the class will soon be taking their test on the eleven different kinds of verbs.  After our verb unit they will begin the writing unit.  They will learn the proper way to write a letter and how to write a personal narrative.  They are getting new Pen Pals this month and will begin sharing letters with the 5 ^th graders at Most Holy Trinity.
 
In Math we are learning about the rules for adding and subtracting numbers.  Using different signs such as positive plus a negative number, and subtracting a negative number from a positive number.  They continue to work on their Simple Solutions book each day.  This book has a little bit of everything they have learned in math up until now.
 
The 5 ^th graders are buddies with the preschoolers. We recently spent time together celebrating the 100 ^th day of school.  We did activities such as making hats with ten streamers and 10 stickers on each streamer. They exercised together doing one hundred exercises, ten of them were pushups. The fifth graders are always excited to spend time with their buddies.
 
Many of our fifth grade boys and girls have just finished their basketball season.  They all really enjoyed being part of the St. Clare Falcon team and will miss it now that the season is over.  Our classroom pets, a Gecko lizard and a tropical Green Tree Frog are doing well.  Like the rest of us they are looking forward to warmth and sun to come soon and shine in their cages.