Weekly News
3/30-4/2
This week fifth grade mathematicians finished up their work on multiplying decimals by whole numbers and decimals by decimals. This week they will begin looking at strategies for dividing with decimals using familiar whole number strategies. To learn more about this topic, please check out the family math letter. Sixth grade mathematicians wrapped up their work with combining like terms and the distributive property this week. They began their new topic which focuses on equations and inequalities. On Thursday they began by looking at equations to determine if a number sentence was true, and given a value for a variable, if it produced a true equation.
Writing class combined with Integrated Studies this week as the students began working on the culminating activity for the Mexico unit. This project will be a research project as Galaxians learn about famous places to visit in Mexico today and work with their group to create a Google Earth travel guide about a region of Mexico. In Writing, Galaxy students reviewed the steps of the research process and discussed strategies for skimming and scanning their sources and taking effective notes.
During Reading, Galaxians continued meeting to discuss their historical fiction Literature Circle books. We continued to practice the skills for participating in student-led conversations and the students have improved at staying focused on key aspects of the book for longer periods of time.
As mentioned above, we began the culminating activity for the Mexico unit in Integrated Studies this week. After selecting the locations that they wanted to research, the students began using print and online sources to take notes. Next week, Galaxians will use these notes to prewrite, draft, revise, and edit their reports for the Google Earth travel guide.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our unit celebration on Tuesday! We had a number of families ask for links to the biome websites. Please click the links below to check out each of the student created websites from our Ecology unit.
Ocean
Grasslands
Tundra
Tropical Rainforest
Desert
Wetlands
Galaxians have been introduced to their end of year project. This project will focus on planning and budgeting for a trip to popular cities around Mexico. They will be researching airfare, where to stay, historical and fun activities to do, as well as delicious restaurants to eat at! They will begin working on this project this week and will present their findings before the end of the year.
Spring Trip Parent Meeting
Please join us on Thursday, April 9 at 6pm in the Galaxy Pegasus classroom for our Spring Trip parent meeting. At this meeting we will share details about our destination and important information about the trip.
3/23-3/27
Please join us on Thursday, April 9 at 6pm in the Galaxy Pegasus classroom for our Spring Trip parent meeting. At this meeting we will share details about our destination and important information about the trip.
In Writing, Galaxians finished up their historical fiction short stories this week. The students had the chance to revise and edit their drafts, get feedback from a classmate and the teacher, and use these suggestions to add narrative and historical details. They did a nice job showing what they knew about Mexican history! Next week Galaxy students will begin working on a research report tying in with IS.
During Reading class, Galaxy students began the historical fiction Literature Circle cycle and had their first two meetings. We also introduced a new role sheet, the Investigator, whose job it is to research information to build the schema of the group. We continue to work on the skills to have an in-depth student-led discussion, like listening and building comments in a group conversation.
This week fifth graders moved from adding and subtracting decimals to multiplying decimals. We looked at strategies for placing the decimal in their final answer such as estimating the answer and count and place. To learn more about our new topic, please check out the family math letter. Sixth grade mathematicians continued their work with expressions as they began to look at the distributive property. They related the distributive property to areas of rectangles before they determined how an expression could be represented as a product of the factors or a sum. We then connected to an earlier concept of writing an expression with as few terms as possible as we combined like terms in order to simplify expressions.
Galaxians prepared for and took their final unit test in Integrated Studies this week! As usual, we also used this as an opportunity to review effective study and test-taking strategies. Next week, we will begin working on the culminating activity for the Mexico unit, which will be a research project that will result in a Google Earth presentation.
As a reminder, we are inviting parents and guardians in for a special STEM Celebration this coming Tuesday, 3/31, from 2:15-3:00 in the Galaxy classrooms. The students will be sharing some highlights from the science-themed Ecology and Chemistry units earlier in the year. You are invited to take your child home with you at the end of the unit day.
It’s hard to believe that the Spring Trip is just a little over a month away. If you are interested in possibly joining us as a chaperone on the trip, please email Tracey by Thursday, April 2nd.
3/17-3/20/26
This week in math, fifth grade mathematicians reviewed many of the foundational decimal concepts that we explored before spring break before we began adding and subtracting decimals. For both adding and subtracting decimals, we began by modeling the operations in a place value chart before moving into the standard algorithm. To learn more about this topic, please check out the Family Math letter. Sixth grade mathematicians completed their topic on expressions and real world problems, and began to explore equivalent expressions. They were introduced to the concept of like terms and the distributive property.
In Writing this week, Galaxians began a new mini-unit. Inspired by our new Literature Circle genre, as well as our current IS unit, the students will be writing historical fiction short stories about an important time in Mexico history that we have discussed in our unit. Using information from the unit, and also additional research, Galaxy writers began planning and drafting their short stories. In class mini-lessons, we discussed how to include historical details naturally in their drafts.
In Reading, we kicked off the third and final Literature Circle of the year, on the historical fiction genre. The students had the chance to give their preferences of which book they would like to read and to organize their schedule with their group. As a reminder, during Literature Circle time, the students do not have a Reading Log, and instead they have to plan their time to have completed their assigned chapters and role sheet for each group meeting.
In Integrated Studies this week, we focused on the politics, traditions, and culture of Mexico today. We began the week by watching a video about the many influences on modern Mexican culture. Later in the week the students moved through centers exploring different aspects of life in Mexico today, such as food, holidays, immigration, sports, and dance. On Friday, Galaxians worked on their review test for the end of unit Mexico test, which will be this coming Wednesday, 3/25.
3/2-3/6/26
This week fifth grade mathematicians continued their work with decimals. They focused on different strategies for comparing, ordering, and rounding decimal numbers and finished the week with a topic quiz. Sixth grade mathematicians began writing expressions with all 4 operations to match descriptions and real world examples. They also discussed what types of numbers can be substituted for a variable in different situations.
In Writing class, Galaxians continued to finish up their work in different units before Spring Break. Some students wrapped up their persuasive essays about their Literature Circle books, while others worked on a bonus piece of their choosing. Also, some fifth graders enjoyed an optional playwriting mini-unit, while some sixth graders participated in an optional journalism mini-unit, where their articles will have the chance to be published in the school newsletter!
In Reading, Galaxians continued to enjoy their independent reading books. We also wrapped up our targeted skills groups focusing on strategies like synthesis, fluency and monitoring comprehension. We will begin our third and final Literature Circle cycle soon after Spring Break.
In Integrated Studies last week, we concluded the section of our unit on the history of Mexico. We learned about the caste system that developed in Mexico after the Spanish Conquest and how this led to the protests that resulted in Mexican independence. We also studied the Mexican Revolution and the Constitution of 1917, which will lead us into our study of modern Mexico after Spring Break.
2/23-2/27/26
This week fifth grade mathematicians began looking at decimal place value and how place values are related (the tenths place is ten times as much as the hundredth place, or the thousandths place is one tenth times as much as the hundredths place). Next week they will apply this understanding of place value to comparing, ordering and rounding decimal numbers. Sixth grade mathematicians completed their first topic of module four this week with a topic quiz and additional practice with using the order of operations, including a fun game of bingo and several math mysteries. Next week they will begin using numerical expressions to represent real world problems.
Galaxy writers were working to finish their persuasive essays about their fantasy Literature Circle books last week. The students used teacher feedback to make final revisions and edits and put together their final packet. Early finishers had the chance to work on a bonus piece of their choosing, including some sixth graders participating in an optional journalism mini-unit.
In Reading, Galaxians continued their targeted small groups focusing on skills such as monitoring comprehension, fluency and reading strategies. The students also learned about the new reading strategy of synthesis, or how their thinking has changed about their books based on clues from the story.
In Integrated Studies last week, Galaxians continued their exploration of the ancient Maya and Aztec civilizations. The students participated in a debate about what they think ended the Maya Classic Period and a webquest about the Aztecs Empire. Galaxy students also had the chance to consider similarities and differences between the Maya and Aztecs. At the end of the week, we learned about the Spanish Conquest and the rise of New Spain.
Our Spanish class is going over modern Mexican history, focusing on the Mexican Revolution and, more recently, Mexico’s first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. We will begin working on planning individual trips to popular cities around Mexico this week! We will research, budget, and plan excursions to share with our classmates and our community for our End of Unit Celebration!
Upcoming Events
Study Session: weekly on Wednesdays, 3:10-4 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25
End of Unit Mexico test
Friday, March 27
GrandFriends Day, RSVP here
Tuesday, March 31
STEM themed Unit celebration, 2:15pm