For more links, go here!
A New Science Unit! Astronomy!
Look up the hours of daylight on your birthday in the following cities:
Seattle, WA
Miami, FL
Fairbanks, AK
Boston, MA
Keep track of the times in your science notebook!
Welcome to the 2019 2020 School Year in F3!!
Hello! I am Marcia Ventura, and I will be your child’s fifth grade teacher this year. I have taught in the Seattle School District since 1998, and teaching fifth grade at Maple since 2007, and I love it here deeply! Joining me this year is Blake Luley from the Seattle Teacher Residency program. Mr. L. will in the classroom Monday-Thursday this year!
Fifth grade is a very exciting year for students. At this moment they are one year from starting middle school, and as such, it is critical that throughout the year, students become academically and socially ready for that transition. Instruction, especially in the areas of reading, writing, and math, will be rigorous to ensure that readiness.
What will students learn this year? In science, they will work with learn about forces, composting and matter. They will also complete several engineering design challenges. In social studies, your child will learn about early US history and the principles this country was founded on.
Homework will be given Monday through Thursday. Students should be spending about 10-20 minutes on homework, and thirty minutes reading a book of their choice. I expect homework to be done completely independently. If your child is asking for help often with the homework, please let me know. All homework given in class will be directly related to what was taught during that school day.
Coming up very soon will be fourth and fifth grade camp!! Most of the students are already signed up and paid for. If you are not, you'll be receiving a phone call from me very soon :). Camp is very exciting and will be taking place at Camp Seymour in Gig Harbor from September 25-27.
Please visit the blog often! Also, the kids will get started on podcasts soon. They will be heir reading stories over "the air" and you will be able to listen to their weekly KOF3 radio shows. Curriculum night is September 19-- see you there!
Please fill out the paperwork attached by Friday the 6th.
Cheers!
Marcia Ventura
5th grade teacher, Maple School
Spring in F3!!!
F3 Families!
I wanted to share some exciting dates for the spring. Please keep this note up on your fridge so
that you know what is coming up.
April
|
May
|
June
|
5 report cards go home
8-12 spring break
18 field
trip to DLR Architects (metro)
23 SBA (ELA CAT) Literacy - reading and
writing
25 field trip
to Center for Humanity (school bus)
30 SBA (ELA
PT) Literacy – reading and writing
|
1 SBA (ELA
PT) Literacy – reading and writing
2 field trip to the Children's Theater "The Diary of Anne Frank"
7 field
trip to Cedar River Watershed (school bus)
13 FLASH unit
begins
16 field trip
to Seattle City Hall and Municipal Court (metro)
17 Maple
School BBQ!
21 SBA (CAT) Math
23 SBA (PT)
Math
27 Memorial
Day, No school
30 FLASH
parent and kid night!
|
6 (WACAS) Science Assessment
10-14 First Aid
and CPR training (possible)
17-21 Fifth grade leads Kindergarten Maple
Camp (possible)
27 Fifth grade promotion at 9:30am! Fifth
graders dismissed right after ceremony!
|
SBA- Smarter Balanced Assessment- the WA state test for
Literacy and Math 3-8 grades
ELA- English Language Arts
WACAS- WA Comprehensive Assessment of Science (for 5th
and 8th grades) (formerly MSP)
You will be receiving a packet soon of all the field trip
permission forms. Please come to as many
as you can. Contact me if you have any questions.
Cheers!
Ms. V
Seeing Our DNA!
Today we spent an hour with Science Adventure Labs experimenting with our own DNA. It was awesome working in a real lab with scientists from Seattle Children’s Hospital. We learned about lab safety, practiced following a scientific procedure, and tried using cool lab tools like pipettes, heaters, and even chemicals! Students collected a sample of their own cheek cells and worked to extract the DNA from the cells using enzymes and ethanol. In the end, we could actually see strands of our DNA in the test tubes!
I’m really excited to be joining the action in F3 for the rest of the year, and I’m looking forward to teaching your amazing kids! I hope to meet you soon, please let me know if you have any questions about my role in the classroom.
All the best,
Ms. Daviduke
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