Anna Witt - 5th/6th Grade Teacher

Welcome to 5th and 6th Grades!!

In Room 201 we have the best of both worlds, 5th and 6th graders!!  The students in 5th and 6th grades participate in a departmentalized program that consists of 3 areas: Math, Reading, and Social Studies.

Math curriculum for the 5th grade is Everyday Math. The 6th grade uses 2 math programs, the Everyday Math Curriculum and the Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley, Middle School Math Book, Course 2.  The Everyday Math curriculum in both 5th and 6th grade focuses on number sense, shapes, space, measurement, and chance and data handling. The Middle School curriculum focuses on numbers, computation & estimation, patterns & functions, algebra, statistics & probability, geometry, and measurement. 

Students participate in many activities tailored to their needs, including....

• Math Enrichment Groups
• Flex Groups to Reinforce Skills
• Math Games Groups

Mrs. Meuwissen works with the 6th graders and her homeroom for math.  Mrs. Grobe is teaching the 5th grade math section of Ms. Witt's homeroom.

The core curriculum for Social Science is American History in 5th grade and ancient civilizations in 6th grade. The students at both grade levels also study physical, political, and cultural geography.  While the focus of this curriculum is the adopted standards, students at both grade levels will also examine civics, current events, political science, and market economics.  This year, units taught will alternate between the curriculum of both grade levels.

Writing is so important in our lives.  It allows us to communicate and compose our ideas and thoughts.  Writing helps us understand ourselves and the world around us.  Our Writing program is based on balanced literacy methods that are presented through the use of the school district adopted Language Arts Program and the Six Traits of Writing components.  A main goal of the program is to help students make strong connections between literature and writing.  The six traits we learn about are:  ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions.  Concrete lessons and writing activities spark students' imagination and interest to write.  When students arrive in class they're eager to start writing!

This year, Mrs. Ronnei is teaching doing writing with the 6th grade class.  Students have already completed descriptive essays about their favorite rooms. Ms. Witt is doing writing with her 5th grade homeroom students.

In September, we completed a narrative in which we imagined waking up one morning as an adult! The focus was on writing well-constructed paragraphs that used introductory and concluding sentences, supporting details, and descriptive language.

In October, we will be writing MYSTERIES, to coincide with our study of the same genre in Reading. We will focus on developing characters, writing dialogue, and using suspense to engage the reader. 

Reading groups are in 5/6 have begun. Students in all classes are reading a Mystery novel in their groups.  Novels include, The Westing Game, A Wrinkle In Time, The Egypt Game, novels by Jonathon Bellairs, and many more. 

We are focusing on learning the roles and responsibilties of Book Clubs and will begin to focus on the author's craft in mystery writing, character development, and making predictions through revealing details.

As you can see...there's a lot going on in 5th & 6th grade at Mann!

Anna Witt- 5th/6th Grade Teacher