Dear Cerrito families,

The last four days are upon us. We had a spelling bee today, said goodbye and appreciated our 1/2 buddies, and look forward to more closing activities in the days to come. We are still even trying to publish one more Chanterelle literary magazine. Crunch time! In this email are some recommendations for the summer…

First and foremost, attend to the social and emotional well being of your family. Get outside as much as possible, find and embrace expansive vistas, drink cold drinks, and play in the water. Enjoy each other. Summer brings balance.

If you’re a fifth grader going into six, ignore what I’ve written below and look for emails/handouts from middle school teachers.

Reading: Always have a book on hand! One of the best things you can do is to visit the library (or a bookstore) in the first few days after school and stock up for the summer. Create habits for summer right off the bat, and it will be easier to keep pace than to start up after a month or two with no reading. Here’s the required reading for incoming fifth graders. The can read one or both of the following books:

Historical fiction that takes place on Alcatraz. My recommendation is to visit Alcatraz before, while, or after your child reads the book. It will help them connect with the various settings, and it’s a beautiful day with your child. We will go to Angel Island as a class next year as we study Chinese immigration, but we won’t also go to Alcatraz. The author visited the school last year, it’s really well written, and it’s a good level.

You’ve probably heard of this one, and the movie is coming out in November, so it’s a great time to read it. The blurb from Goodreads: “August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He’s about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you’ve ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie’s just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite appearances?”

Writing: Keep a journal! I still do! The writer’s notebook they will bring home is a great one for them to continue using over the summer. If they’re into tech, show them how to blog (privately), especially if you’re traveling and taking lots of photos. Writing develops through practice, no surprise, so encourage/require a little bit of writing each day and it will pay dividends. Even if you have to bribe them with one of those beautiful Moleskine notebooks.

Math: I have set up every incoming fifth grader with a Khan Academy account and assigned them the “Fifth Grade Mission.” They can start learning and practicing all the skills we will cover next year on Khan this summer. I will furthermore be plugging their MAP scores into Khan, because there is a tool that uses the MAP data to customize the Khan instruction. Amazing!

I also will be sending home a packet called Show Me 1/2, which is all about fractions. Your child will need Cuisenaire rods to complete the packet, but what a jump they will get on next year if they do! Here’s link to the rods. I will also let you sign some out for the summer, if you don’t want to buy them and promise to return them. Fractions are the hardest work of fifth grade math, so get ahead.

 

Maybe that sounds like a lot, but I want you to have resources. The only thing that is truly required is the reading, but the rest of this is there for you. Let me know if you have any questions. The students will have all this information by end of week, and will likely be able to answer most of your questions.

No homework this week, unless you’re a fifth grader and need to finish the stock market project.