Ms. Chen's Fabulous Fives 2025-2026

   Jan 26 - 30 Learning Outcomes Math Explain the standard algorithms for multiplication of natural numbers. Multiply up to  3-digit  by  2-digit  natural numbers, using standard algorithms. What Did  Students Do? This Week in Grade 5 Math: Exploring Multiplication Strategies This week in math, students focused on developing strategies to solve larger multiplication problems , an important Grade 5 learning goal. As students progress, they learn and practice a variety of algorithms to help them work confidently with 3-digit by 2-digit multiplication . This week’s focus was the grid method , a strategy that breaks numbers apart and organizes the multiplication into smaller, more manageable parts. Students learned how the grid method supports accuracy and helps them clearly see the value of each digit in a multiplication equation. Through guided practice and independent work, students used the grid method to solve multi-digit multiplication problems, ...

  Jan 26 - 30 Learning Outcomes Science  Students investigate the particle model of matter in relation to the physical properties of solids, liquids, and gases.  What Did  Students Do? This week in our Grade 5 science class, students explored a hands-on experiment using oobleck , a fun and fascinating substance that helped us learn more about matter. Oobleck is made by mixing cornstarch and water, and it doesn’t behave like a typical solid or liquid. When students squeezed it, it felt hard like a solid, but when they let it rest in their hands, it slowly flowed like a liquid. As students experimented, they observed how oobleck changes depending on how much force is applied. This led to great discussions about the properties of matter and how some materials do not fit neatly into one state. Students recorded their observations, used scientific vocabulary, and shared their thinking with classmates. This experiment encouraged curiosity, careful observation, and proble...

    Jan 18 - 23 Learning Outcomes English Language Arts Apply creative-thinking processes to enhance personal expression and artistry. What Did  Students Do? This week in writing, students focused on creating bold and entertaining story beginnings that immediately capture a reader’s attention. We explored different types of strong leads, including talking leads , sound effect leads , and action leads , and discussed how authors use these techniques to hook their audience from the very first sentence. Students practiced these skills in a variety of ways. They took boring story beginnings and revised them to reflect one of the engaging lead types we studied. They also searched through our classroom books to find real examples of strong, entertaining openings written by published authors. To further develop their creativity, students practiced writing multiple story beginnings using picture prompts and the wordless picture book Found . This allowed them to focus on crafti...

  Jan 5th-9th Learning Outcomes Science  Students investigate the particle model of matter in relation to the physical properties of solids, liquids, and gases.  What Did  Students Do? This week in our Grade 5 classroom, we have been learning about matter and the differences between the states of matter, including solids, liquids, and gases. Students explored how each state has unique properties and how matter can change from one state to another through heating and cooling. Alongside our science learning, we practiced important literacy skills by reading informational texts, identifying key facts and vocabulary, and learning how to determine which information is most important. Students then used this information to take clear, organized notes, focusing on main ideas rather than full sentences. This combined focus on science and reading skills is helping students better understand scientific concepts while strengthening skills they can use across all subject areas....