Cascade Team

October 17, 2005

Dear Parents and Guardians of 5 th Grade Cascade Team Students,

We're sending this note to you now so you will have a chance to familiarize yourself with our curriculum before Curriculum Night on Thursday, October 20, at 7:00 p.m. It's hard to imagine that next year these boys and girls will be going to middle school! They will be working hard all year to learn the necessary subject matter and study skills to make their move to middle school successful. The following is an explanation of what is to come in our academic program at Sanislo:

THEMATIC UNITS : Our fifth graders will participate in three units of study, which integrate Reading, Writing, Social Studies, Vocabulary and Science. For each unit, the students will produce a written research project, prepare an oral presentation for their classmates and create multimedia displays to demonstrate their learning. These units of study are:

•  Native American Cultures - This unit integrates Literature, Social Studies and Writing. Each student is assigned a tribe and produces an expository research report. The unit culminates with a ceremony in which students present an oral summary of what they have learned and submit their reports.

•  The American Civil War - This is another unit that integrates Reading, Writing and Social Studies. This unit begins with an exploration of the Middle Passage and ends with the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

•  Oceanography and Marine Biology - Students participate in explorations of tides, beaches, marshes, oceans and the creatures that live in all those places. Students work for a day on a Marine Research Vessel and participate in two beach walks. This unit extends into Reading, Writing, and Science.

READING : We've divided students into flexible groups. We will be putting strong emphasis on basic skills. We'll be using a reading textbook, a variety of non-fiction books, and paperback trade books (children's literature).

Another important part of the reading program is that students read nightly at home. This means the student is read to, reads to you or another family member, or reads silently for 20 minutes each night . This year we will offer your child complimentary daily copies of the Seattle P.I . and The Seattle Times , as well as a subscription Sports Illustrated for Kids and either Weekly Reader or Time For Kids .

MATH : Our math program involves 3 main elements that you should be aware of. All of our students will be participating in all 3 parts of the math program.

1. Morning Problem Solving - Students will engage in daily problem solving first thing every morning. They will learn and share strategies for approaching and solving problems. The focus will be showing your thinking with number, pictures, diagrams and words. The correct answer is important and how you get to that correct answer is important as well.
2. Saxon Math Textbook - The focus in the math book is to build skills that will help students be mathematical problem solvers. The skills that are taught build on each other. Nightly homework provides constant review of skills that have been taught. We have found that this curriculum helps students develop computational confidence and competence.
3. Investigations in Math - Students will do investigations to try to develop solid math understanding and problem solving skills. The first investigation focuses on learning about the numbering system and “landmark” numbers (like 100, 1000, 10,000 and their factors and multiples) that help us find our way around that system. As part of this they will develop a better understanding of how numbers are put together, as well as how division and multiplication work.

It is our hope that by providing students with this program we will be giving them a more balanced look at math. Students will do the morning problem solving each day and will do 5 day rotations between Saxon and Investigations. We are always trying to make our program better for our students and we appreciate your support. We are looking forward to an exciting year as we create a mathematical community in our classroom.

COMMUNICATION/LANGUAGE ARTS : We believe it is our Writers' Workshop that is the cornerstone for our student progress and development in the use of the English language. During our Writers' Workshop, a daily lesson will develop proficiency in skills needed for successful writing, such as control of the six traits of quality writing (ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions). Since instruction takes the majority of the writing time we have in class, students will be expected to do more writing at home in order to practice the skills we are teaching in class. We feel this will allow students to achieve the best results.

Students will write in a variety of modes (narrative, expository and persuasive) for different purposes, including a major Native American research report on a specific tribe, which will be due in December. Students will use the writing process to compose pieces of writing that meet our fifth grade standards. Students will do oral presentations during each thematic unit. We integrate the use of technology in written and oral reports as well.

Our Vocabulary words for weekly tests will be chosen from words used throughout the curriculum. The students will have nightly Vocabulary homework. Pretests are usually on Wednesday and tests are on Fridays.

SOCIAL STUDIES : Our Social Studies will be theme based. Topics include current events (using the daily newspaper, Time Magazine for Kids and Weekly Reader ) and themes of US History (Native American cultures, Civil War, and geography, to name a few). We plan to use a combination of text and project approaches. Our textbook is quite challenging and will require students to learn and use higher level thinking skills.

SCIENCE : Sanislo is on board with the National Science Foundation's Inquiry Based Science Program. In fifth grade, our students will be engaged in three science units. This fall we have been working on a Land and Water unit which now integrates raising salmon in the classroom. In the winter our students will be studying Models and Designs, a physical science unit. In the spring, integrated with our Oceanography unit, students will study microorganisms in a Microworlds unit. Students will use investigations to explore different scientific concepts and relationships in these units.

TESTING : Students will take part in a three-day writing assessment in the fall, as part of a school assessment, and again in late spring as part of the state writing assessment. Students will write on one given topic for 45-minute periods on three consecutive days. Their stories and essays will be evaluated and students will receive feedback about their performance. The new standards require that students show strength in the six areas evaluated: ideas and content, organization, sentence fluency, word choice, voice and conventions (spelling, punctuation, etc.).

This year our students will also be taking the brand new Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) in Science, Reading and Math.

We will be giving classroom-based assessments throughout the year to check the level of student proficiency on different standards and skills.

HEALTH : We will again be using the 5 th grade curriculum for FLASH (Family Life and Sexual Health), which includes a course on HIV/AIDS (mandatory by state law). Materials are available by request for parents to review prior to the spring unit. You will be given notice before the unit begins.

TECHNOLOGY/COMPUTERS : Our fifth graders will be using various forms of technology to assist them in doing research and producing a quality research report. They will use presentation and multimedia software to augment oral presentation. The fifth graders will also be creating the graduation slideshow, an integration of images and music.

FIELD TRIPS : Our class trips use funds made available from our PTSA fund-raisers and money collected from each student. Between now and the end of the year, our fifth graders will be participating in many activities outside the classroom. We are asking families to pay $45.00 to cover all of these activities. The check should be made out to the Sanislo P.T.A. We feel very fortunate to offer such a varied enrichment opportunity that supports our units of study. Payments for these experiences are due very soon, so we would appreciate it if you could send payments in as soon as possible. Remember, the $45.00 covers all of the field trips for the whole school year. Here are some of the activities we have planned:

•  October 28- Visit the Downtown Public Library

•  November 8- A trip to the Zoo to study the tundra and animal adaptation.

•  December 1- Instrumental music students' trip to Roosevelt High School Jazz concert.

•  International dance performances at Meany Hall in January.

•  A trip to Benaroya Hall to see the Seattle Symphony

•  Spring- An exploration of watersheds at Camp Long

•  A day to release our salmon at Fauntleroy Creek

•  A beach walk at Constellation Park at Alki for each class, and naturalists from the Seattle Aquarium to prepare and guide students

•  May 2- A day on the Pacific Marine Research Vessel

•  June- Harbor Tour and Pike Place Market trip

•  June- The fifth grade barbecue and beach walk at Lincoln Park

•  June- The fifth grade graduation luncheon

With the help of the PTA we have worked hard to keep the costs of these trips down. The cost of the Pacific Marine Research Vessel alone is $30 per student. The PTA is covering a large portion of the cost for each student. Even with this PTA support, we need the $45 to help us cover the rising costs of buses, fuel and admission fees. However, no child is ever excluded from these activities for financial reasons. Special payment arrangements will be made for students in need.

GRADUATION : Fifth Grade Graduation is a festive affair, held in the afternoon on the last day of school, and we hope you all can come! It is a festive afternoon of music, awards, and diplomas, and 5 th grade graduates like to dress in their finest on their last day at Sanislo School!

See you at Curriculum Night, on Thursday, October 20, at 7:00 pm!! You will also have the first opportunity to sign up for a November parent-teacher conferences, so bring your calendar.

Sincerely,

Sherry Wicklund

Dennis Purcell

Mary Lou Larson

Susan Lichtenberg