Mrs. Woodfin’s Blog

Update: From now until the Science TAKS at the end of April, I will be covering Science topics in my classroom.

Mrs. Zieg and I are both focusing on Life Science Objectives.

This is Objective 2: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the life sciences.
The following study guide is available through  TEA and is an excellent resource for discussion and practice at home.
There are also links to Mrs. Zeig’s web page that students can access to help them prepare for Science TAKS.

This week, we have started a unit on plants. Like all organisms, plants need to meet their basic needs. Our focus will be on the life cycle of plants,  plants reproduction, the process of photosynthesis and the role that plants play in the carbon cycle.

We will also discuss how plants adapt to their environment to meet their needs and how the different parts of the plant help them to survive and thrive. A test is scheduled on Thursday, March 12.

After Spring Break, we will study how organisms adapt to their environments and the different biomes found around the world.

Students can apply what they have learned just by observing organisms around them. Look at the plants in your neighborhood. How are they meeting their basic needs? What structures are helping them to survive? How have they adapted to their environment?

Families can also make a trip to the Houston Zoo. This is a great place to expose children to animals from around the world and learn about them (what they eat, where they live, adaptations that they have to survive in their environment).

In fact, Mrs. Zieg is offerning extra credit to any student who visits the zoo this year. All you need  to do is bring in the receipt from your visit.

1 Comment »
Filed under: Uncategorized

This Learning Focus summarizes the causes, major events, significant individuals and events and results of the American Revolution.

The following generalizations will be covered during this unit:

• Government actions may cause discontent.
• Major conflicts may begin with minor events.
• Great movements require great ideas.
• One event may have many results.

The following are content-specific vocabulary that will be discussed  during our study of the American Revolution:

• French and Indian War
• Proclamation of 1763
• King George III
• protest
• revolution
• “No taxation without representation”
• Boston Tea Party
• Declaration of Independence
• Thomas Jefferson
• George Washington
• Patriot
• Loyalist
• Trenton
• Valley Forge
• Saratoga
• Yorktown
• Treaty of Paris of 1783

No Comments »
Filed under: Uncategorized

This Learning Focus examines the first English settlements at Jamestown and Plymouth Colony and explores life in the Thirteen Colonies, noting the effects of geographic differences.

During this unit we will emphasize the ESP (ecomonic, social and political) characteristics of the colonies, since the characteristics developed the  regionalism, a cause of the Civil War.

The students should be able to identify the three regions: New England, Middle Colonies and Southern Colonies.  They should also have an understanding of how each region made a living and why (ECONOMICS), who were the settlers that were in each region and why (SOCIAL) and who had authority in each region (POLITICAL).

As part of our study of the Thirteen Colonies we will also learn about important documents and institutions in colonial America that contributed to the establishment of representative government:

• Virginia House of Burgesses (1619): First representative assembly in America
• Mayflower Compact (1620): legal document written by the Pilgrims before they landed in Plymouth colony which specified basic laws and social rules for the colony.

The students will also study how religion contributed to the growth of representative government in the American colonies.

Please visit my Social Studies Resources page. Here you will find links to class assignments and notes.

http://www.thericeschool.org/fifth/ss/resources.html#unit4

1 Comment »
Filed under: Uncategorized

Please don’t forget that our unit test is tomorrow. Study your maps of the regions and read pages 24 to 30 in your Social Studies textbook. If you have not finished your Regions Study Chart, than you will need to complete it tonight.

You can log the time that you read tonight for your AR.

No Comments »
Filed under: Uncategorized

Hello 5th graders!!I What an incredible week!!!!

I hope that everyone is doing well. If you don’t have power yet, I hope that it will be restored soon. My family and I feel like we have just been on a “camping adventure.” We had no electricity for almost a week. Fortunately the weather after the storm was beautiful, so I had a chance to spend a lot of time outdoors with my kids. We also had a lot of barbecue this week…anything we could grill.

We  dusted off some classic board games. We taught our 4 year old how to play checkers, Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect Four, Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land. For the 8 month old it was more a lesson of what not to eat (i.e. game pieces, electrical cords coming from the generator).

The school is open today so that we can be prepared for you tomorrow. We will continue Learning Focus 1.2 “Being a Historian.” On Tuesday, we will analyze political cartoons. On Wednesday and Thursday we will discuss chronology (time lines). The test has been rescheduled for Friday September 26th.

No Comments »
Filed under: Uncategorized