Dear Fifth Grade Families,
It was wonderful meeting with parents this past week to talk about your children. It is always exciting to have an opportunity to share your children’s work and progress. Thank you!
We had a full week of Botany lessons as we learned about specific areas in the Lower plant kingdom. We learned about fungi, algae, lichen, and moss in relation to higher plants. Fungi, lacking leaves and blossoms were first, followed by algae, which has leaves but no stem, and then looked at lichen, an amazing combination of alga and fungus which allows the lichen to live where neither could on their own. We finished out the week with mosses, ferns and horsetails. On Friday, the class enjoyed a scavenger hunt, looking for varieties of Lower plants on our forest campus. They collected some smaller specimens and made a small terrarium which they took home. Please help your child to remember to water it as needed (unless they choose to leave it covered) and indirect sunlight so they can watch it grow!
This week we will move from ferns and horsetails to conifers and also learn the parts of trees and trunks. We will end the week with a look at monocotyledons and grasses. Through the week, the class will continue reviewing long division and working in our fractions workbook. Please continue being prompt to school so your child can fully participate in math review, dictation, and pentathlon training sessions.
Our magical Kingdom of Halloween festival is just around the corner!! In addition to our beautiful fairy tale walk in our forest, we will have crafts, food and vendors set up in the field. Please invite guests from your community to attend! This is an excellent opportunity for your child to use their imagination and make their own costume to wear to our festival. Be inventive and use what you already have at home! Please remember: no masks or marketed characters. Finally, please sign up to help out that night. Your volunteer participation and attendance is necessary for our Kingdom of Halloween festival’s success. Our class is responsible for candle dipping. Please be on the lookout for a sign-up and more information from our class rep. Thank you. We couldn’t do it with out you all!
Reminders:
October 18: Parent Coffee
October 18: GOAL Zoom at 7:00pm
October 21: Parent Handwork 1:00 - 3:00pm
October 22: Community Work Day
October 29: Kingdom of Halloween
Nov. 1: Late Start—9:40 - 9:55am carpool
With gratitude,
Melissa
