Dear Students and Parents s1

Dear Students and Parents,

Welcome to Fifth Grade! We are excited about the year ahead and have planned a full year of new learning experiences. We want to share with you the plans for our next IB unit of inquiry:

Theme: How the World Works

Title: Earth and Its Neighbors

Central Idea: Our universe, and our understanding of it, is ever-changing.

Lines of Inquiry:

 Historical and cultural understanding;

 Exploration and discovery;

 Development of theories and laws.

As we progress through this unit of inquiry, here are some questions which might foster some good dinner-time conversation with your child. We encourage you to use them throughout this six-week unit.

1. Why do we feel the need to explore our solar system?

2. How has space exploration changed our world?

3. What ideas were formerly believed to be true about our solar system?

4. Who changed our knowledge of the universe?

5. How has technology affected our understanding of the universe?

If any of you have a particular interest or specialty related to this topic and you would be willing to present to our classes, we would love to have you share. Please let us know.

Thanks so much and we look forward to a fabulous year.

Sincerely,

The Fifth Grade Team