<p>Dear Students and Parents,</p><p>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:</p><p>Theme: How the World Works</p><p>Title: Earth and Its Neighbors</p><p>Central Idea: Our universe, and our understanding of it, is ever-changing.</p><p>Lines of Inquiry:</p><p> Historical and cultural understanding;</p><p> Exploration and discovery;</p><p> Development of theories and laws.</p><p>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.</p><p>1. Why do we feel the need to explore our solar system?</p><p>2. How has space exploration changed our world?</p><p>3. What ideas were formerly believed to be true about our solar system?</p><p>4. Who changed our knowledge of the universe?</p><p>5. How has technology affected our understanding of the universe?</p><p>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.</p><p>Thanks so much and we look forward to a fabulous year.</p><p>Sincerely,</p><p>The Fifth Grade Team</p>