Update on in-class projects for May

Dear Parents,

We have so many fun projects coming up (in addition to other 5^th grade activities) that I wanted to send a specific email, solely about the projects:

1. The Math project will be due on Tuesday, May 15^th. This involved your student planning a “fake” end of the year party. They were given measurements of tables, a budget, an opportunity to buy food, etc.  This is strictly an in-class project and everything they need to make the proper calculations is included in the project packet. This will be considered a test grade for Math.
2. The Nations Project, also known as, “It’s a Small, Small World” is coming up as well.  I will attach a rubric and exemplar PowerPoint. This will be a test grade for Literacy Centers.  Students have been placed into small groups and they are researching one country. All work is due May 15^th and the students will present their information on May 15^th, 16^th, 17^th.  Each group will present at one table and pretend that they are travel agents representing their country. Each group should have 1 flag taped to the front of their table. This could be a flag that is drawn on poster board or the actual flag. Also, I have encouraged them to be as creative as possible. Some have decided to wear matching “uniforms” and have a welcome name tag and a fictitious name that is popular in that country.  Some have decided to create a commercial and have that ready to present when guests come by their table.  One thing to note is that we do not have access to technology in class right now. We should have our tablets back next week, but, in case we don’t, students may need to do a good amount of research AT HOME, which means you might need to coordinate with the parents of your students’ groups so that they can get together in the evenings and on weekends.  I will also attach a list with the groups and countries that each student have been assigned.  While we don’t have technology, the students are being encouraged to work on their script, work on the flag, basically work on any aspect that they don’t need to look something up to complete. It might help if they do some research and print out things to bring in and work on.  The final item that they’re turning in is a “travel guide” with all of the components on the rubric. I told them that it could be done by stapling paper together, placing all of the components on poster board, or by creating a power point. The only issue with making a power point is that we don’t know what the technology situation will be like on those days. They may be safer to actually make a booklet to turn in. There will not be any supplies provided by the classroom. Please buy everything that you would like your student to have included at their travel table.
3. The students have alsao been assigned a Civil War project. They are allowed to work alone or in a group of up to 4. They may pick any topic within the Civil War and present it in any way that they would like (small skit, poster board, power point, song). It should fully explain whatever topic they pick, for example, if they choose “Lincoln-Douglas Debates”, the audience should know what those are, what they entailed, and why they connect to the Civil War, by the end of their presentations. The presentations should be 5 minutes or less and we will start presenting them on Friday, May 11. These will count as a test grade.

This concludes the presentations for the rest of the year.  Please email if you have any questions.