Dear 5K Families,

Mrs. Katnani’s Notes
Happy Valentine’s Day!! 5K had such an exciting week this week! On Monday, we decorated Valentines Day bags with our Little Buddies. Then on Wednesday, they had a Museum of Science Presentation on Forces and Motion. This presentation even included a student lifting me in the air using what they learned about force. Oh boy! Thursday was Valentine’s Day and we had our school celebration! During our class celebration, students were able to pass out any valentines they brought in. Thank you for all of my lovely Valentines! Today was quite possibly the most exciting! We had the School Committee visit our classroom in the morning to see our work on our News Reports. 5Kers loved showing off their work! Then we had the health videos… I am sure you will either hear all about it or hear nothing about it! Finally, they worked in teams to solve number puzzles. It was the girls vs. boys. The boys won by just one point! Some of the students might be bringing home this challenge to share with you! How many can you solve????  
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Review of This Week
Math – We have been working hard with line plots and learned a new method for converting metric measurements. Did you know that King Henry Died Unusually Drinking Chocolate Milk? If not, ask your 5th grader about it!
Science – We continue our discussions of gravity. We learned about gravity on Earth as well as in outer space!
Social Studies – Some students were able to start their Jamestown brochures. We will be working more on these in the upcoming weeks.
Writing – We worked a lot on our News Reports this week. Most groups are finished filming and are in the editing phase. I will share these when they are complete.
 
Important Dates
February Break – No School – Mon 2-18 to Fri 2-22
Fri 3-1 Math Operations Test (Study Guide will come home Monday – this will be straight operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division)
 
Miscellaneous
            We go outside for recess on most days unless the wind chill factor is below 16 degrees; as such, students should make sure they have the appropriate outer gear. 5th grade policy is to send them out with whatever outerwear they bring in the morning. Students should be checking the weather each morning and making responsible decisions on what to wear that day. On days where there is snow on the ground, students will only be allowed to walk in the snow if they have snow boots and play in the snow if they have snow pants; otherwise, they can play on the blacktop.
 
Have a lovely February break!

Sincerely,

Today we filmed our news report on water around the world. Kids brought props for the filming to make it more realistic. Pictures and post by Brady Cahillane

Today we met with our little buddies and made our valentine bags for Thursday. Worked hard with hard with our little buddies making sure they had fun and they worked hard too on the bags. Post and pictures by Brady Cahillane

Foster Plus Registration Begins Sat 2-2 10:00 am
Dear Foster 5K Families,

Mrs. Katnani’s Notes
             Welcome to the shortest month of winter! The weeks are flying by now! I can hardly believe next week is the last week before February break! 5K received all of the letters in their compliment this week and voted for 30 minutes of chromebook time. We will have this compliment celebration next week.  
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Review of This Week
Math – This week students took their Unit 5 tests and began Unit 6: Investigations in Measurement: Decimal Multiplication and Division. We started the new unit off reviewing powers of 10 and learning scientific notation (although we do not call it that in elementary school!).
Science – We finished learning about the sun and stars and began learning about gravity. We discussed what our classroom would be like if there was no gravity!
Social Studies – We finished learning about Jamestown and received our next Social Studies project. Students will be creating brochures for Jamestown in the 1600’s using Canva.
Writing – Most groups finished their news reports and are in the editing phase. We will be filming on Tuesday!
 
Important Dates
Foster Plus Registration Begins Sat 2-9 10:00 am
Health Videos – Fri 2-15
February Break – No School – Mon 2-18 to Fri 2-22
 
Miscellaneous
A couple of notes about Valentine’s Day.

• We will be decorating our bags with our little buddies on Monday – students do not need to bring anything, but can bring special decorations if they would like.
• If students are bringing in Valentines, they must bring one for everyone in our class. A list went home last week. I also suggested bringing one for our student teacher, Ms. DeCosta and their little buddy, although neither is required.
• Students may bring in Valentines that have candy or treats, but they are not to be eaten at school. They will be sent home in their bags.
• We will be having a 30 minute in-school celebration on Valentine’s Day with some fun snacks for 5Kers. There are no activities during this celebration other than passing out their Valentines!

Sincerely,

We had so much fun doing this gravity Mystery Science Activity today!

Photos on by Parker Bruneau

Dear 5K Families,

Mrs. Katnani’s Notes
Another great week in 5K! The Foster Plus letters went home this week. Sign-ups are online and will begin on Saturday at 10am. It is first-come, first-served, so if your child really wants to participate in a class, try to sign up early!

Review of This Week
-Math – This week we learned the algorithm for multiplying fractions and we also learned how to divide fractions. We have not taught the reciprocal algorithm yet. To divide fractions, they should be drawing a picture to represent the problem and find the quotient. They will learn how to multiply by the reciprocal, but they need to understand the division first!
-Science – 5Kers are really enjoying learning about the sun and other stars. We have focused on appearance vs. reality. The sun “appears” as if it is traveling across our sky, but really we are revolving around the sun. The stars at night appear much smaller than our sun, but in reality, some of them are much bigger than the sun! Ask your 5Ker to tell you what a lightyear is!
-Social Studies – This week we read about the lost colony of Roanoke in social studies. Students learned that this was an early English settlement that seemed to disappear!
-Writing – Students continued to work on their scripts for the Water News Reports. They are coming out great and we can’t wait to share them with you!

Important Dates
Camp Invention Registration Begins! Tue 2-5(students entering grades 2-5) fosterinvents.weebly.com
Early Release – Wed 2-6
All-Town Chorus Concert – Wed 2-6 5:30 – Student Drop Off, 6:30 - Concert
Unit 5 Math Test – Wed Tue 2-6
​Foster Plus Registration Begins Sat 2-9 10:00 am
February Break – No School – Mon 2-18 to Fri 2-22

Miscellaneous
Valentine’s Day is coming up! Students should be coming home today with a class list. If they would like to bring in Valentines, they must bring one for everyone in the class. We will celebrate Valentine’s Day on thursday, February 14th. Students will get bags to decorate, and then they will be able to walk around and give out their valentines. I will supply bags and markers. Students are more than welcome to bring their own decorating materials but it is not necessary. What a lovely day it is going to be!

Sincerely,

Measuring how far the light is and how dim or light it is in our science experiment. Pictures by Owen B

Dear 5K Families,

Mrs. Katnani’s Notes
What a crazy weather week we have had! Below-freezing temperatures, snow, rain, sunshine, and temperatures in the 50’s all in the same week! 5K has had a very exciting week! On Tuesday, we met our new student teacher, Kristyn DeCosta. Miss DeCosta will be in our classroom every Thursday until her semester ends. She will mostly observe and help students as they are working. She is required to teach one lesson at the end of her practicum, but she may teach more if I feel she is ready! Yesterday, we celebrated National Compliment Day. We discussed what a compliment is and how we can make them more meaningful. Each student wrote compliments about 4 of their classmates. Students really enjoyed reading their own compliments.  We also had our January celebration today. Congratulations to all Math Olympics Awards Recipients.

Review of This Week
Math – This week 5Kers have been hard at work solving fraction of problems. This can be tricky, especially when the answer is not a whole number (for example, ¾ of 30). Students have learned two strategies to solve these types of problems, but we will continue practicing with them since they can be challenging.
Science – This week we started our new unit on the Solar System. We learned about star trails and discussed the sun’s relative size in comparison to Earth.
Social Studies – We finished chapter 5 and began chapter 6, which focuses on early English settlements.
Writing – Students have been working hard on their scripts for their science news reports. I know they are very excited about these projects!
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Important Dates
Bingo Night – Tonight! 6: 30
Early Release – Wed 2-6

Sincerely,

Yesterday, students enjoyed the Aquarion presentation. They rotated through six different  stations that taught them where their water comes from and what happens when there is pollution.  Thank you so much to our parent volunteers who were able to help facilitate the learning! 

Dear  5K Families,

Mrs. Katnani’s Notes
            First full week of 5th grade in 2019! 5Kers are slowly getting back into their routines. Some of us have needed some extra reminders about expectations in the classroom. I’m hoping we are back on track next week! There have been a couple of days this week during which we had to stay in for recess because it was too cold outside. As a result, students may have more energy than usual when they get home. Please make sure students are dressed appropriately on colder days because there is always a chance of us going outside as long as the wind chill is above 16 degrees.  
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Review of This Week
-Math – We took our Unit 4 tests and 5K did awesome! These tests will come home early next week. Today we began Unit 5: Operations with Fractions.
-Science – 5K discussed ocean temperatures and how the sun affects these temperatures. They learned about a new science project that they will work on mostly in school. Groups were assigned an article about Earth’s Water. They will read and discuss the article, come up with a solution, write a script, and then present their news report using a green screen app! Very exciting!
S.S. We finished reading about the explorers. Students have been working hard to fill in their graphic organizers!
Writing – Students finished their graphic organizer for their Explorer Journal entries and they continue to work on their Famous Failure research/paragraphs.
 
Important Dates
Aquarion Presentation – Thur 1-17
Science Topic 4 Test – Fri 1-18
MLK Day - No School – Mon 1-21
 
 
Miscellaneous
            Want to know about school closings as soon as possible? You can sign up for text message or e-mail alerts through various websites. Here are a couple of the websites that you can sign up with: https://www.wcvb.com/weather/closings
https://www.boston25news.com/weather/closing-login

Sincerely,