New Year, New Units

It was so exciting to all be back together today.  We began four new units/projects today.  In Social Studies we started our American Revolution Unit.  Students brainstormed and listed what they think they know and what they hope to learn.  I started reading My Brother Sam is Dead, an historical fiction novel set during that time period, aloud to the class.  During this unit students will have a mini-research project.  One of the big ideas we will focus on is there are many events that lead to a revolution.  We will also talk a lot about why people feel freedom is worth dying for.  In Math we started decimals.  Any way you can point out your real use of decimals to your fifth grader would be great!  Writers began a month long writing assignment: their thoughts/feelings/beliefs about God.  This is a very powerful writing piece, and there is intentionally no rubric for this assignment.  In Reading we talked about how literature circles will work for our next novel, The Word Eater by Mary Amato.  Stay tuned for much more!