Announcements LA Updates Special Presentation from UMass Dartmouth Biology Students 50-50 Day **Permission Waiver for Field Trip to Newport for Volvo Ocean Race** A few announcements:
Home of the Brave This week we finished Home of the Brave. The class agreed that finishing the book was very bittersweet. The students are working on a final project to culminate the reading of this wonderful story. They are working in small groups with the other FA fifth grade class to illustrate and explain the proverbs that Katherine Applegate used in her story. The proverbs are: When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. You only make a bridge when there is a river. One doesn't forego sleep because of the possibility of nightmares. When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. A sandstorm passes; the stars remain. You can see photos of their progress below, first discussing and planning, then sketching and finally adding color. They will present their posters on Monday. On Thursday we had a special presentation from seven UMass Dartmouth biology students thanks to Isabelle's dad, Erin Bromage. His students shared with us their research and presentations on several topics in immunology, focusing on animals. We learned about why frogs are dying and how to help them, why the flu shot is important, why there are more ticks after a warm winter, why bees are dying and how to help them, why sleep is important, and why polar bears are dying. The presenters were a little nervous to present to fifth graders, but everyone (fifth graders included!) did a wonderful job. These opportunities to see other students, albeit a bit older and discussing more advanced topics, share passion for science and demonstrate expertise to a larger group. Our students were sitting still, listening with engagement, and asking thoughtful questions for a full hour! 50/50 Day As a school school community and in our classroom we have been discussing 50/50 day and what we can do to make our world more equal across genders. We looked at percentages of men and women in different professions. We read about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act, and how it was made. During our discussion, women in politics around the world also came up. Our Congress is about 80% male, but our country is only 50% male. However, there are some countries whose governments show much more equality, with Rwanda being the most diverse in terms of gender. Below are some the articles and the video that we looked at. Students also wrote a letter to me about an area they see gender inequality in the media. Video from Let It Ripple about what it would be like if men and women were represented more equally Article about Lilly Ledbetter and how she was underpaid for years, as she was told that asking for a raise would potentially cost her her job. TED Talk from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on "Why We Should All Be Feminists". We also were lucky to have my "little" sister Allison come visit us and present on what 50-50 day means to her. The reason she visited us is because she is a mechanical engineer, now working as a Technical Sales Engineer for HVAC equipment. She is oftentimes the only female on a jobsite, in meetings, or even when she was in college lectures. Allison shared images like this with us (you can probably tell which one she is, since we look somewhat alike). Her share led to deep discussions, gave students thinking points, and displayed to them tangible ways that gender inequality occurs- directly and indirectly- in the workplace. Lastly, as a reminder I've sent home a waiver that all students must have signed before we attend our upcoming field trip to the Newport Volvo Ocean Race Village on May 17. It is a bright green paper in their backpacks this weekend. Please return it as soon as possible! I've also attached an electronic copy in your email for your convenience in case the paperwork somehow doesn't make it home...
Happy weekend! Let's hope for some more warm and sunny weather. Best, Sarah
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Social Studies: God Grew Tired of Us Documentary & Refugees Language Arts: Home of the Brave Math: Area of a Triangle Continued Poetry Continued This week we watched an incredible film called "God Grew Tired of Us", which is about the Lost Boys of Sudan. The character of our book Home of the Brave is a fictional character who represents many nonfictional people in history who were lost boys themselves. I highly recommend this documentary to you all. I did skip a few more graphic scenes towards the beginning, since I did not feel the fifth graders needed visuals to fully understand the gravity of the situation these young men were in. We continue to read Home of the Brave in school. We also are continuing to write some poetry, which will end up in the school poetry anthology, called the Friendly Falcon. Also, we did a poetry scavenger hunt on Thursday! I gave students books and collections of poems from picture books to Walt Whitman. They then had to find a poem about nature, a poem with alliteration, and a poem written by an African-American author, to name a few. It was a wonderful way to expose them to many types of poetry, and poets in one sitting. We are continuing to practice finding area of triangles, working on increasingly challenging problems and thinking in new ways. This unit in particular seems to combine so many of the skills and methods we have been learning and practicing throughout the whole school year!
ERB scores are in, and Jamie Ross Cory has results. To view results and to discuss, please make an appointment with her through Jeanne Machado by emailing her here: [email protected] . I hope you enjoy your extra long weekends, folks! As always, please reach out to me with any questions or concerns. Home of the Brave and Figurative Language (from Michael, Hannah, and Lizzy) Field Trip to the New Bedford Whaling Museum (from Izzy, Mirna, JJ, and Zeke) Kip Bordelon's Visit (from Calvin, Stella, and Martim) Math Curriculum Update (from Madi, Jared, and Emma) Reminder: Conference Meeting Opportunity (Optional) Refugees and Figurative Language Update, from Michael, Lizzy, and Hannah: We are learning and studying types of figurative language because it makes writing more interesting and poetic. For and example: instead of saying the star was bright and twinkling you can summon it down to “The Star Winked At Me.” The 4 main types of figurative languages we have been learning are Alliteration: The use of the same beginning consonant sound in a line or verse. The second is Metaphor: A comparison in which one thing is said to be another. Simile: A comparison of two things by using like or as. Personification: Giving human qualities to animals or objects. Simile Example: I am loud like an elephant Metaphor Example: My dog is a ball of fluff Alliteration Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers Personification Example: The Stars Winked at me We have just started reading the book Home of the Brave in Social Studies to tie in with learning about Refugees. Home of the Brave is about a refugee named Kek who moves from Africa to Minnesota, and tries to start a new life with his cousin Ganwar and his Aunt in America. In class we’ve been learning about refugees and how tough it is to be a one. Kek is not completely familiar with the English language so he describes everyday objects differently. We did a worksheet on what we would call these objects if we were Kek. For example we described a whiteboard as a shiny white wall, and a doorbell as a music button. For fun over the weekend you could come up with descriptions for some these words. -Balloon -Water bottle -Microwave -Refrigerator -Telephone booth Additionally, we are studying and learning about refugees because it is important to know what is happening in the world around you. Also because we are studying the constitution and the way of the government so we should see all sides. Quiz For Parents: (Simile, Metaphor, Alliteration, or Personification?)
Answer Key: -My Mother's laughter is like bubbling water from a deep spring (Simile) -The Wind howled (Personification) -In Arabic the words sound like a river flowing over rocks jagged and smooth (Simile) -The Snow is a white blanket (Metaphor) -Alice’s aunt ate apples and acorns around August (Alliteration) We visited the Whaling Museum this week....an update from Mirna, Zeke, Isabelle, and JJ On Tuesday afternoon we went to the New Bedford Whaling Museum. They invited us to come, and learn more about the history of Old Dartmouth. We had a fantastic tour. This includes the colonize of Massachusetts and wait for it….. Whales! We learned that the different kinds of oil comes from whales and the scrimshaw (whale bones/teeth.) You can use scrimshaw to make beautiful artwork. The sailors on the whaling boats would make the artwork when they had nothing to do. The Museum has the biggest scrimshaw collection in one place in the world. Now time to tell you about the Whales. Right whales are nearly extinct, and the saddest part is that two years ago there was only 17 baby right whales and last year 0. 40% (or even more) of right whales die because of fishing hooks and fish nets. So what can we do to help the right whales survive? Now if you’d like here is a quiz (the answer are down below): Quiz Questions 1. What is Scrimshaw? 2. What day of the week did we go to the Dartmouth whaling Museum? 3. How many right whales are there in the world currently? 4. Who has the largest Scrimshaw collection in one place? Answers: 1. Whale bones/teeth decorated intricately 2. No days- we went to the New Bedford Whaling Museum. 3. 460. 4. New Bedford Whaling Museum The things we saw at the museum were amazing! From looking at whale bones to ships to seeing the view of New Bedford and the view of the harbor. We talked a little bit about Quakers and how and why they moved to here. Everything went well, but the Quakers ended up having wars with the local Native American tribes. We learned that some of the Quakers and Baptist settlement were actually located along Buzzards Bay We also learned that Atlantic right whale is endangered so take care of our oceans and don’t litter. Speaking of oceans it’s joke time: what did one ocean say to the other? Nothing, it just waved (hilarious right) Some other highlights from the field trip was going on a giant boat, hearing whale noises, and seeing a dolphin brain! We saw scrimshaw like in 4th grade. The ship we mentioned is the biggest model whaling boat in the world. The bus was fun because everyone could talk really loud to our friends, and the scrimshaw canes because of all the cool designs. It was a lot different than 4th grade! See below for a description of our visit from Kip Bordelon from Calvin, Martim, and Stella: This week on Wednesday Kip Bordelon came to Friends Academy and talked to us about diversity and told us a few stories. Kip talked about ‘’courts, color, conflict, constitution and culture”. One story he told us was this: There were 3 indentured servants, working the same plot of land. Their names were John Punch, who was black, Victor, and Oliver whom were white. They all wanted to run away, although they were only 2 out of 5 years into their indentured servitude. They fled to Philadelphia, but were caught. The court gave Victor and Oliver 30 lashes and 5 years tacked on to their servitude. John also got 30 lashes but he had to be an indentured servant for the rest of his life. He was the first legal slave. “ I think that Mr. Bordelon’s visit was really interesting and easy to listen to and understand because of his choice of words and way of speech. It made me very sad and sort of angry to hear about John Punch, and I question who their talking about in the constitution when it says ‘ We the people’ (which we also talked about). ” Stella Hoffman thought. “ I think that Mr. Bordelon’s story about John Punch was really interesting. I especially liked to learn that John Punch was related to Barack Obama,” says Martim Conceicao. “ I thought this story was great. It really shows irony because John was the first slave and Obama was the first black president. This story really shows how long it took for equality between blacks and whites, and its disappointing,” says Calvin Colby. Kip taught us a bunch of other thing including things about the constitution and that James Madison could write with both hands in different languages at the same time. James Madison was really short too, he was about 5’ 4’’ that's shorter than Napoleon Bonaparte who was 5’ 7’’. Now for a math update from Madi, Jared, and Emma: We just finished the algebra unit and had our assessment on Tuesday. Now we are starting the area unit. We are also close to doing geometry and it’s so exciting! We did this unit in fourth grade! Finding the area of squares and rectangles is really fun! It may seem challenging but it gets easier as you go along. We are going to tell you how to find the area of a square and a rectangle. All you really do is multiply the length and the width. So say you have a rectangle with 6 inches as the width and 9 inches as the length. The area would be 54 inches squared, because 6 times 9 is 54! Now you may be thinking how do you find a triangle’s area? Well we will tell you. So take the question before. To find the area of a triangle's area cut from this rectangle, cut the width or length in half. We are going to split the 6 in half. So 3 would be the width, and then you would do 3 times 9, which is 27. So for a triangle with the base as 9 and the height as 6, the area would be 27 units squared. Thanks for reading! Last but not least, I want to remind families that should you want to take advantage of the optional conference day next Friday, I am available. We can always set up a meeting time closer to the end of year, also.
Happy weekend! Sarah |