Core Subjects

                                 History
In fifth grade, the focus of social studies is the history and geography of 
the United States.  Our teaching materials include our textbooks 
(Reflections, United States History: Making a New Nation), projects, and 
Interact simulations. The study skills of memorization, research, note 
taking, and outlining will be used, as well as critical thinking skills, to 
understand the reasoning and decisions made by explorers, colonists, 
soldiers, and pioneers.

HISTORY BOOK COMPUTER CD-ROM
ONE LESS HEAVY TEXT BOOK TO CARRY HOME...
Copies will be sent home at Goal Setting Parent/Student/Teacher conferences.

OUR Current Units of Study - Early People of the Americas and Explorers



                               Independent Reading
The fifth grade independent reading program consists of two parts: 
1) a weekly reading log (60 pages a week) 
2)a monthly book report  

Part I
Reading Log: turned in once a week on MONDAYS
The first part of your independent reading grade comes once a week.  You will 
read from a variety of genres this year. You will keep track of the reading 
you do at home with a reading log.  The goal is to read 60 pages per 
week. This can include independent reading books AS well as reading 
assignments you are given in class for science, reading, and language arts.  
Have your parents sign your reading log once a month.  Record your minutes 
every week and turn it into Mrs. Nakagawa to earn your stamp on Mondays 
during reading class. No stamp= no credit.  Please take the time to fill out 
the pages you read during the week so you can earn the credit you deserve.
 

Part II
Book report: once a month
Trimester 1
***due date: September 18, 
2009***                                             
Create a timeline (sequence of events)

                                  Math

By the end of fifth grade, students will increase their facility with the 
four basic arithmetic operations applied to positive and negative numbers, 
fractions, and decimals.  They will know and use common measuring units to 
determine length and area.  Formulas will be utilized to determine the volume 
of simple geometric figures.  Students will understand the concept of angle 
measurement and use a protractor and compass in solving problems.  
Additionally, they will use grids, tables, graphs, and charts to record and 
analyze data.  The five strands of math to be covered this year are:

1.	Number Sense
2.	Algebra and Functions
3.	Measurement and Geometry
4.	Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability
5.	Mathematical Reasoning

Our math text is published by Houghton Mifflin.  

                        PEMDAS SONG (order of operations)

Yo, listen up, here's the story
About a little thing that helps us keep order
And all day and all night, in every problem we do
We know to go from LEFT to RIGHT
The order is important to find the correct answer to all our math problems
We know if we follow this order we will get the right answer

Chorus:

I know the order of operations (3X)
Or you can call it PEMDAS

P for Parentheses
E for Exponents
M Multiplication 
And D is for Division
A for Addition 
And S is for Subtraction
Or you can call it PEMDAS!!

                                  
                                   Science
Your Book online

McGraw-Hill 4th and 5th Grade Science
Accessing the On-Line Textbook

1.	Go to the following website: 
http://activities.macmillanmh.com/science/ca/
2.	Scroll to the bottom of the web page.
3.	Click on the button that says OSE (On-Line Student Edition).
4.      For 5th Grade, the User Name is casci05.
5.	The password is redwood.
6.	On the left, click on the Plus Sign in front of Table of Contents.
7.	Select the Unit you want to view. Click the plus sign in front of 
that unit. Then click the plus sign in front of the chapter you want to view. 
Click the lesson or activity you want to view.
8.	You can also click on Page Navigator on the left of the screen. Then, 
you can select an exact page number that you would like to view.