Greetings 5th Grade Families,

 

Today and tomorrow (Saturday), from 9am-4pm, Living History Days is reenacting the life and times of US Colonial Times during the Revolution. 

 

See Link for details. 

 

I'm sharing this with you to enrich your child's current learning of colonial times leading up to the Revolutionary War. We are currently building our own colonial simulation in the classroom and will be discussing the French Indian War (Seven Years War) that sets the stage for a biographical look at George Washington and the problems that develop between England and its North American colonies. 

 

We will also continue to see the issues from both Native American and African perspective as we learn about gentry, colonial economics, and the government structures within the colonies.

 

Thanks for considering this opportunity to enrich your child's learning. 

 

Best Regards,

Mr. McGinnis

5th Grade Social Studies

 

 

In Social Studies we've embarked upon our journey to the historical establishment of the earliest English Colonies of North America which includes the motivations and perspectives of various Europeans, the interactions and perspectives of indigenous tribes, and the start and evolution of the Institution of Slavery and the African perspective in the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies through the 17th and 18th centuries. 

 

We started this unit focusing on primary and secondary sources with a focus on literacy and identifying main ideas using text evidence. 

 

Students have been grouped into teams that will engage in simulations that help create collaborative decision making and experiences that will anchor the learning and enrich discussion on multiple perspectives. Details on various assignments and projects will be communicated in the weeks to come. 

 

Best Regards,

 

Mr. McGinnis

Greetings Parents,

 

I've challenged your child to build a Viking Ship out of whatever resources they have available. My only request is that it does not exceed 18 inches. It does NOT need to be 18 inches; it can be 9 inches. Other than that, I want to challenge their creativity and resourcefulness. We will present our Viking Ship Armada Museum Monday Afternoon on December 4th.  

 

In Social Studies we are transitioning from Native American Cultures before Columbus to Interactions between Europeans and Native Americans. Vikings are an outlier to our curriculum, but I find it worth mentioning as Archaeology demonstrates that Columbus isn't the first European to interact with the indigenous of North America. While these sites are located in Canada and not the United States, I wanted to highlight the ships that managed to cross the Atlantic 500 years before Columbus. 

 

Please don't feel pressure to spend money. Please don't put expensive Legos at risk. In the past I've seen students make things out of toothpicks, cardboard, origami paper, pretzels and candy, and even vegetables; yes, a lacquered eggplant became a replica of a Viking ship. All that to say, I want the students to utilize their creative skills to create a product relevant to class discussions. 

 

Best Regards,

 

Mr. McGinnis

Greetings Fifth Grade Families!

 

In Social Studies, we are currently getting a survey of the land and people that lived in regions of the United States before Columbus. For this week though, the topic of the learning is focused on the History of the First Thanksgiving and how it became the American Holiday it is today since we're getting a whole week off of school because of it.

 

The emphasis on this lesson is to represent multiple perspectives through various texts. Here are a list of the books I'm using to teach the topic.

"If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving" by Chris Newell, Scholastic 2021

"1621 A New Look at Thanksgiving" by O'Neill Grace, Bruchac with Plimoth Plantation, National Geographic 2001

"Squanto and the First Thanksgiving" by Joyce K Kessel, Learner Publishing Group 2004

"Keepunumuk, Weeachumun's Thanksgiving Story" Greendeer, Perry, and Bunten, Charlesbridge 2022

"We Are Grateful Otsaliheliga" by Traci Sorell, Charlesbridge 2018

 

I'll be sending home recipes based on historic and cultural dishes related to the region and time of the First Thanksgiving. Feel free to take photos to share if you try them at home. Thanks for creating a hands on experience for them to try at home. 

 

We're continuing to learn the geography of the United States, but instead of by states, we'll be learning from the physical land as used to describe different cultural groups of indigenous peoples of those physical regions. We'll be doing this through large map templates that they will illustrate in the classroom. 

5th Grade Social Studies Update!

(If this is the first time you're receiving an email me from me for Social Studies, I apologize it's taken me a quarter to fix this. I've been missing your contact in the Edlio system that notifies you of the updates made on the school webpage>Academics>ClassPages>5/6th)

 

Due to Outdoor Education taking up a couple days, and for want to honor students who've put the work in, State Presentations have been extended. Student can access their work on Microsoft Teams by logging in with their school email account. Please let me know if you're having difficulty doing that. 

We're in our third week of our State Project where our focus is on presentation. I gave each student 8 index cards to write down what they plan to say for each of the 16 slides in the presentation. The goal is to be familiar enough with what to say that they only need to reference their index cards and not read them. The slides are meant to only have visuals that support the speaker and not to be used for on screen text beyond giving context to images. To score above expectation, they will have their information memorized. 

 

Some students have expressed not having access to a computer at home, if this is your circumstance, please reach out to me and let me know so I can see how I can accommodate for that need.

 

The presentation is due this week. Please ask them to show you their slides and become a practice audience for them. Thanks for your support!

In 5th Grade Social Studies, we are learning about the Geographic Features of the United States by region and state. The goal is for them to identify all fifty states on a map and to gain background knowledge on how and why states are grouped by South, Northeast, Midwest, and West regions. 

 

There will be a State Presentation Project later this quarter when we complete our survey of the regions. 

Greetings Parents,

 

Your student may need support or approval for bringing in an artifact that meaningfully reflects who they are as an individual. The stories they will tell regarding the artifact should connect to something reflecting their experiences or passions. They may want to bring something to show because "its cool" but check to make sure they can connect it to themselves. Please do not have them bring something priceless or sacred. I know many have asked if they can bring a photo of the item in but the other part of the lesson is attached to the concept of primary source evidence. Presenting a photo is secondary unless the photo itself is the artifact. One of the examples I showed students included a photo of 17 year old me bending over backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone (don't judge) when I traveled to Ireland. I've asked students to bring things in as early as tomorrow (Friday), but if they can bring it in Monday, August 21st, that would be ideal. Please email me and let me know how we can come up with a solution if there is anything that is making this request too difficult. Thank you!

Last week I met your student and used some creative and artistic methods to get to know their interests and passions. I used their visual images (and Mr. Varela's Legos) to introduce them to concept of culture and how their activities, passions, and interests when joined together with other students expresses the culture they are building as a classroom of students learning together in this place at this time. They then had to collaborate combining their interests with a partner's interest out of Legos to communicate their ideas. 

 

This week, we'll reflect on the pictures I took of their creations and then I'll introduce them to the Geography of the United States. My goal is that by the end of the quarter they will at least know all 50 states and key physical features of our country though I will give them the opportunity to go beyond. They may have already shared with you that I asked them to draw the United States without a reference. That was fun. They will find those drawings even funnier after they learn more about the geography of the country.