Fifth+Grade+Plus

= Welcome to 5th Grade PLUS! = = = = ~PATTERNS AND STRUCTURES~ = The PLUS portion of ELO provides an interdisciplinary approach to study, as viewed through a yearlong theme and underlying construct. Each semester, one discipline will be the central organizing discipline, with identified learning goals guiding the explorations. In 5th grade, the overarching theme is "Patterns and Structures." This lens shall be a thread throughout the year, woven through three disciplines.

5th Grade PLUS meets two times a week for an hour. Generally, no homework is assigned is class, however, some students may choose to engage in additional research or projects related to the topics. Higher order thinking problems and questions are also provided during class as warm-ups and challenges, as the kids frequently request these activities.

Fall Semester: Language Arts ~ "Patterns in Literature" Winter Semester: Science ~ "Disease Patterns"

= Fall Semester: Language Arts ~ "Patterns in Literature" =

OUR GLOG FOR "PATTERNS IN LITERATURE" STUDY [|Patterns in Literature GLOG]


 * 1) ====== critique, analyze, and evaluate pieces of literature to identify how literary patterns change based upon genre, audience, and purpose. ======
 * 2) ====== create an original piece of work exemplifying an understanding of patterns and structures in literature. ======
 * 3) ====== actively look for patterns in data and other sources. ======
 * 4) ====== engage in a GPS driven problem solving scavenger hunt exploring analyzing patterns and structures in literature while creating and posting solutions on a district-wide collaborative website. ======

= Winter Semester: Science ~ "Disease Patterns" = == A MYSTERY DISEASE has apparently hit a local community. As a member of the local scientific research team, your child will engage on a problem-based learning scenario to search for patterns,identify the problem, and evaluate solutions. ==

2. Enhance students’ ability to analyze & solve complex problems 3. Sensitize students to good public health practices 4. Analyze patterns of disease based on: person, place, & time || 2. Health & disease are not distributed haphazardly in a population. There are patterns to their occurrences. These patterns can be identified through the surveillance of a population. 3. Analysis of these patterns can help formulate hypotheses about the possible causes of health & disease. 4. A hypothesis can be tested by comparing the frequency of disease in selected groups of people w/ & w/out an exposure to determine if the exposure & the disease are associated. || How does disease affect the population of the world? How are problems dynamic in the history of disease? How can assumptions be ongoing & changing? || 2. improve problem-solving & decision making abilities || [|Center for Disease Control~ BAM! Site: Body and Mind]
 * **Unit Goals** || 1. Improve students’ reasoning & research skills
 * ** Enduring Understandings ** || 1. The causes of health & disease are discoverable by systematically & rigorously identifying their patterns in populations, formulating causal hypotheses, & testing those hypotheses by comparing groups. These methods lie at the core of the science of public health, a discipline responsible for improving health & preventing disease in populations.
 * ** Guiding Questions ** || When can generalizations be helpful vs. harmful in discovering causality?
 * ** Knowledge and Skills ** || 1. develop inductive and deductive reasoning

= Spring Semester: Social Studies ~ = = "Structures and Patterns in North American Governments" =

A. Explain why people institute governments, how they influence governments, and how governments interact with each other. People and Societies: A. Compare practices and products of North American groups. 1 .Explain how regions in North America become interdependent when they specialize in what they produce best and then trade with other regions inside and outside North America to increase the amount and variety of goods and services available. || 3..Explain the ways that countries interact with each other including diplomacy, treaties, international meetings and exchanges, e.g., United Nations; and military conflict ||
 * Government:
 * 2. Explain reasons for the creation of governments such as protecting lives, liberty, and property; providing services that individuals cannot provide for themselves

== To participate with your district peers in creating your wiki associated with this unit, click onto the link below and go to the page dedicated to the North American country you selected to research. ==

District 5th Grade Wiki Link