Welcome to Mrs. Hackett's 5th Grade Class Website 2016/2017

Alessandra Hackett

email: Alessandra.Hackett@rentonschools.us

phone: (425) 204-4394

 

Hello 5th grade families!  Here is what we are up to in Portable 3...

Reading

We have recently finished our Argument and Advocacy unit where we researched debatable issues.  We will begin our final unit, Fantasy.  Students will read books from the fantasy genre and work in clubs.  This unit will further develop higher-level thinking skills to study how authors develop characters and themes over time. They think metaphorically as well as analytically, explore the quests and themes within and across their novels, and consider the implications of conflicts, themes, and lessons learned.

On the reading page, you can view writing prompts/sentence frames student are encouraged to use while writing about their reading in fiction.  

Writing

Students have recently published their argumentative essays!  We are are now using what we learned about constructing a claim and using evidence to support our claims and combining it with prior knowledge of fictional story elements to write literary essays.  Check out the writing page to see what makes up a literary essay.   

 Math

We are wrapping up Unit 5 - Multiplying and Dividing Fractions and Whole Numbers.  Next up is Unit 6 - Graphing, Geometry and Volume.   

In this unit your child will:

  • Calculate the volume of a rectangular prism using a formula and other strategies
  • Graph points in the coordinate plane
  • Sort and classify triangles, quadrilaterals, and other two-dimensional shapes
  • Multiply a mixed number by a whole number and by another mixed number

Visit the math page to learn more about the unit and see sample problems.  

Social Studies/History

Trait of the Month: Responsible

In history, we are studying the events leading up the the Revolutionary War first hand.  All students have taken on the role of a colonist living in Boston in 1765.  Students have colonial names, colonial families and businesses, and take part in town hall meetings.  Students will end the unit making the decision to join to Patriots or stay loyal to Britain.  

Science

We have started our ecosystems unit!  Each science team has built a terrarium and aquarium in anticipation for our live insects (isopods, crickets, water snails and guppies) and plants (algae, elodea and duckweed) to arrive.  Throughout the unit students will work together with their science team to study ecosystems through observation and discussion.  

Computer Coding

We are beginning a weekly computer programming class to help students become college and career ready. Programming, or coding, is simply telling a computer what to do, like creating a recipe. Students will be using programs from the websites www.code.org and www.scratch.mit.edu to learn the basics of computer programming languages. Both of these sites are free and can also be accessed at home. Students will then be applying their new knowledge to create computer programs to show some of their learning from other subject areas. We are excited about this new opportunity to help students apply technology to their learning!

Access to our classroom coding page: studio.code.org/sections/MBWKFJ 

Students should know their secret word/password.