This year we are using Seesaw to share and communicate with families! Your child will post to Seesaw to share their learning. I'll also use Seesaw to send you messages and reminders. Seesaw is private; you'll only see posts created by your child.

After you sign up, download the free Seesaw Family app and sign in. You can also access Seesaw from a computer at https://app.seesaw.me.

Thank you for supporting your child's learning!

Maryann Zyzdorf

P.s. If you used Seesaw last year or have more than one child using Seesaw, follow the link above, then click the 'Sign in' tab at the top of the screen. You do not need to create a new account.

What a fun and productive first week of school! I am enjoying getting to know your awesome children! Fifth grade is a year filled with many exciting and important learning experiences, and we are ready to jump right in!

We have already been very busy! Over the (half) week, we talked a lot about 5th-grade procedures and expectations, participated in “getting acquainted” activities, went to some specials classes, had an assembly, and survived a heat wave! I created a short video to give you a little sneak peek into our first days. You can find that on Seesaw (see previous post to sign up if you haven’t already).

Some notes:

That’s all for now. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me right away. It’s important for us to stay in touch!

💖Maryann Zyzdorf

Until next time!
💖 M. Zyzdorf

It was great to see most of you at Curriculum Night! If you could not make it, you can find most of what we covered on the class website. As always, feel free to contact me anytime with any additional questions or concerns.

Over the past two weeks in room 24, we have learned a lot! I hope you are finding your child’s weekly reflection helpful in giving you a glimpse into what we are up to in school. -If you have not received a reflection from your child this week, it may be because he or she was with another teacher during our writing time on Friday. Please discuss the letter with your child, initial it (and write him or her a quick note if you choose-they LOVE that), and return it on Monday. 

A few ways you can support your child’s in-class learning, at home:

-Ask your child to estimate (mentally) the total cost of a small shopping trip 

-Point out where and when decimals are used in real life, their values, and how to read them properly (Why is there a third decimal number in gas prices?)

-Ask your child questions about the book he or she is reading. (describe the characters, the settings, the problem of the story, etc.)

-Encourage your child’s curiosity about the world around them- could what they see, hear, and feel make a good story to write about in his or her writer’s notebook?

Thank you for all that you do, and for sharing your children with me! I am truly blessed to do what I do, every day! 

💓Maryann Zyzdorf

P.S. Be sure to check out our Book Buddies video on Seesaw!

We are becoming very set in our class routines and have been very busy over these last few weeks of school! I am really enjoying getting to know your children better as they are becoming more comfortable with me.

Here is a little snapshot of what we’ve been up to in room 24.. Please see your child’s weekly reflection for more information from his or her perspective! 

In writing, we have been working on generating ideas for writing personal narratives. We have enjoyed some wonderful picture books for inspiration, lively classroom discussions about special moments and people in our lives, and we’ve had time to write and exercise our writing stamina. 

In reading, we have been reading and responding to current events articles (Scholastic News), studying literary characters to infer/determine their character traits, learning new vocabulary, and completing our DRAs. We will have our first reading assessment this Friday! Up next, we will be studying nonfiction text through the lens of social studies. It’s a fun unit in which we study and present on Early Explorers.

In math, our focus has been on understanding place value and adding/subtracting decimals. This past week, the students worked on some challenging “real-world” decimal computation word problems in their math journals; practicing fact fluency on XtraMath (can access this website at home, too!); and had a brief introduction to measurement conversion. Next week our focus area in math will be converting metric and customary measurements. 

Some other highlights and notes:

-We enjoyed an Arabic story with Hatim’s mom, Mrs. Omer (pictures in Seesaw).

- “Pork Chop”, the Nature’s Classroom director came to visit us! She shared a presentation with us about what to expect during our stay in Colebrook. “Pork Chop” also offered some Q&A time at the end of the presentation; the kids asked great questions! (pics on Seesaw!) **Please send in paperwork and payments if you haven’t yet.

-The Moon calendars and reflection (in Google Classroom) on observations are due Friday.

-If you have not already, please sign up for a fall conference through this link.

Thanks for reading and sending in the weekly reflections! I hope you are enjoying them!

Maryann Zyzdorf

Wow, have we been busy in room 24! I hope you have been hearing about all of our exciting learning from your child and reading about it, as well, in his or her weekly reflection!

In math, we have been working through our “Operation Computation” unit. We began the unit with order of operations expressions (PEMDAS). Next, we studied long multiplication. We reviewed the area model, the partial product method, and finally, the traditional or standard method. The goal is to master multi-digit multiplication using the standard algorithm. It’d be helpful if you gave your child a few practice problems every now and then to check in :). 

We then moved onto long division! First, we reviewed the partial quotients method, but with larger numbers! This model relies on estimation and a good understanding of the basic multiplication facts. The traditional model of division was introduced and practiced next. In fifth grade, we expose the students to both methods, but the students can use whichever they are feeling more confident in. In 6th grade, they will be expected to master the traditional algorithm. 

Next week, we will be multiplying and dividing large numbers with decimals! Here are a few helpful links to support at-home practice:

In writing, we have been working on our personal narratives. After several lessons and writing sessions practicing strategies to generate ideas of good topics to write about, the students created a plan, a flash draft (first rough draft), and have begun the revision stages of writing. I think you will be very impressed with your child’s final, polished product! -We even invited a special guest teacher, Mr. Wallowitz! He came to our room and showed us how he and his son work through the revision process when writing songs! (pictures on SeeSaw). 

In reading, we have been working on strategies for writing good summaries of nonfiction text. We have been using print and online resources to gather and summarize information by finding central (main) ideas and key supporting details. We are placing an emphasis on why the author includes certain information and whether it is important for our understanding of the text, and to the topic. 

You probably have heard that we are also working on a fun explorers research project! You will get to enjoy your child’s presentation, on the explorer of his or her choice, once he or she has published to Seesaw (at some point before the holiday break).

In other news….

That’s all for now! 

♡M. Zyzdorf