A New Start to a New Year

An important part of fifth grade is learning how to learn independently and how to reflect on your own learning.  Mr. Weinstein and I also continually assess our teaching and our students’ learning.  We are very happy with our students’ progress this year, and we are excited to continue helping them learn and grow as students and individuals.

We are revising our homework schedules.  Here are a few changes:

Math—Students will complete two word problems per week in the same manner as before.  However, the word problems will be assigned as morning work on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Students will have approximately 25 minutes to complete each word problem.  Problems are due on Fridays, and any unfinished work will be homework.

Reading—Students will continue to read assigned sections of books for homework.  However, they will answer fewer comprehension questions independently or they will have an alternate assignment. 

Spelling—Each week, students write sentences to practice using their spelling words correctly.  These are due on Thursdays.  This, in addition to studying for Fridays’ tests, is their only spelling homework.  Occasionally, students will complete spelling worksheets instead of writing spelling sentences.

Tests—Students take tests at the end of math, science, and social studies units.  We provide them with a study guide of the key points from the unit.  Students receive their study guide at least one week prior to every test, and we instruct them to study for approximately 10 minutes each night.  They should have “finished studying” by the day before the test, because that day in school is reserved for a test review.  This allows students that night to briefly review questions from class that they still do not fully know.  If students are diligent about studying for 10 minutes each night one week before the test, they will not need to spend a long time the night before.