I cannot believe how quickly this semester has flown by! I am loving watching each and every student blossom and grow. They are making huge strides and I am so proud of them.
This week is a short week- with no school on Friday. As we will not have school Friday, students will only receive math homework on Monday, which will be due Wednesday as usual. This week in Math we will begin by briefly reviewing perimeter. We will then discuss time - specifically elapsed time. Students are expected to read an analog clock to the minute. In Reading we will be wrapping up our novel study. Each student is reading either The Chocolate Touch, Chocolate Fever, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It has been so much fun hearing the students thoughts on each of their novels. We will culminate the unit on Thursday by writing a summary of our novels and end the day with a Chocolate Party! During Writing students are finalizing their personal narratives. Students will spend this week revising, editing and publishing their small moment. We have placed a lot of emphasis on figurative language and sensory details. It is amazing to see how far they have come as writers. In Social Studies students will continue working on developing their understanding of financial literacy. Students will work with adding and subtracting money, as well as determining the importance of wise spending and saving. During Science we will continue to develop our knowledge of ecosystems through plant adaptations. Students will end the week with their unit assessment. It is sure to be whirl wind of a week - with lots of learning and lots of fun!
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Thank you so much wonderful families for the amazing birthday treats and gift. I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate my birthday than surrounded by my favorite young people!
This week in Math students will be using number lines to model equivalent fractions. They will then move into comparing fractions using area models , fraction strips and number lines. During Reading students will begin their novel study book club. Each student will work on activities reviewing character traits and making inferences throughout their assigned book. In Writing this week students will draft their personal narratives. They will then go back to their drafts to add strong leads and specific details. During Social Studies we will continue focusing on financial literacy. Students will discuss supply, demand, scarcity and savings. In Science students will discuss how one change in an ecosystem can change based on natural events such as floods and droughts. They will also build food chains and learn about how organisms within a food chain are related. Below is the Math Homework Schedule:
Monday 4/1 (Due Wednesday) Series 1 Pages 1-4 Wednesday 4/3 (Due Friday) Series 1 Pages 5-7 Monday 4/8 (Due Wednesday) Series 2 Pages 1-4 Wednesday 4/10 (Due Friday) Series 2 Pages 5-7 Monday 4/15 (Due Wednesday) Series 3 Pages 1-4 Wednesday 4/17 No Homework - Short Week Monday 4/22 (Due Wednesday) Series 3 Pages 5-7 Wednesday 4/24 (Due Friday) Series 4 Pages 1-4 Monday 4/29 (Due Wednesday) Series 4 Pages 5-7 Wednesday 5/1 (Due Friday) Series 5 Pages 1-4 Monday 5/6 (Due Wednesday) Series 5 Pages 5-7 Happy STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) Week! This week we will spend each day after lunch focusing on a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE we will be making possible! More about this below. This week I will not be on campus on Monday or Tuesday (I am going with a team of teachers to a training on Restorative Practices). Mrs. Arni, a fantastic sub, will be her with the students both days. If you have any changes in how your child goes home, or something arises in the middle of the day please call the front office at 512-464-5500 and have them relay the message to her. I look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday!
In Math this week we will be reviewing our past 2 units in preparation for our end of unit assessment that will come at the end of the week. Your child will bring home their review on Monday - please help him/her study for our test! We will also spend a brief amount of time this week on perimeter while we are reviewing area for our District assessment. During Reading students will be continuing to focus on inferring, cause and effect as well as identifying the main idea and theme of a variety of passages. In Writing students will be revising, editing and publishing their brochures based on the country they have been researching. During our typical Social Studies and Science time we will be tackling out STEAM CHALLENGE! Students will be presented a challenge of designing and constructing a bridge that can withstand the shake of an Earthquake! Students will be working in groups or pairs and given mini marshmallows and toothpicks to construct a bridge that will hold 2 toy cars and an earthquake (jello that will jiggle when the bridge sits on top!). We will be going through the entire engineering process of asking/addressing questions - imagine - plan - create - improve. We will be testing structures on Thursday and the students will be given Thursday and Friday to re-design and address any issues their structures had. It is important that students understand that failure is how we learn and make something better! I look forward to seeing everyone Wednesday. Please let me know if you have any questions! This is the final week of the 4th nine weeks. I cannot believe how fast this year is going! As the year continues please make sure your child is practicing their multiplication facts nightly - this will help them immensely when it comes to the multi-step problem solving we are getting in to.
This week in Math we will be working on combining multiplication and division as well as using fact families to help us solve division problems. Students will be working on word problems and identifying whether to multiply or divide based on key words in the problem. In Reading students will continue to practice using text evidence to support and answer comprehension questions including inference, main idea, theme, and summary. During Writing we will finalize our country research. Students will revise, edit and publish their writing in brochures about the country they selected. In Science we will continue working on weather. Students will review reading thermometers early in the week. We will identify temperature, precipitation, wind direction and wind speed in a variety of locations around the world and then, using the data collected, identify and compare information. During Social Studies we are continuing our study of maps and Geography. Students will identify different features on a variety of maps and cement their knowledge of cardinal direction. Toward the end of the week students will be assessed on their knowledge of cardinal and intermediate direction by identifying the direction traveled on a map to a variety of locations. This weekend is Caraway City Limits - an adult only fund raiser for the school. If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, make sure you do - it frequently sells out!
In Math we will return to multiplication and division. Students will review their 0s. 1s. 2s. 4s. 5s. 8s. and 10s times tables and we will begin focusing on 3s, 6s, 7s, and 9s. It is imperitive that your child knows their multiplication facts so please practice these each night at home. During Reading the students will continue working on comprehension features including main idea, cause and effect as well as inferencing. At home please have your child work on pointing out his/her text evidence when you ask a question abou their reading. In Writing we will begin finalizing our paragraphs about the country we are researching. Students will write drafts, edit and revise their pieces prior to publishing in their brochure. During Social Studies we are beginning our unit on Geography. Students will learn about the cardinal directions as well key features of a variety of maps. In Science we will begin a new unit about weather and changes in the environment. Students will be working on identifying wind direction, as well as collecting data about weather from a variety of places around the world. I hope everyone has had an amazing extra long weekend! Last week was a blast with both Valentine's Day (Thank you so much for the goodies! and I loved reading all of the kids' notes) and the Field Trip! As this is a short week we will not be sending home Tuesday folders until Next Tuesday.
This week we will be wrapping up several of our units. In Math we will complete our area and geometry unit and have our assessment toward the end of the week. Our next unit in math involves deeper understanding of all of the multiplication facts 0 through 9 (I'm asking the students to learn through 12s). So please work on these at home! During Reading we will continue focusing on expository nonfiction and look at cause and effect. Students will work on identifying cause and effect in a variety of texts. In Writing students will continue their research on the country of their choice. We are continuing to work on using the 4Rs of paraphrasing (reword, rearrange, realize all things cannot be changed, and recheck that the meaning remains the same). During Science we are finalizing our space unit. Students will be expected to know the order of the planets in our solar system as well as be able to identify the orbital path of the earth and moon in relation to the sun. We will have a test on this at the end of the week. In Social Studies students will read a passage on Abraham Lincoln and reflect on his role in the abolishment of slavery. Please continue working on Math and Reading at home each night and focus on memorizing multiplication facts. This is going to be a very busy and exciting week. This week on Monday and Tuesday the students' schedule will be a bit different than usual. Our primary difference is our lunch time, which will be 11:05, rather than 12:35, which means we will be eating snack in the afternoon rather than the morning. Also, 3 students have already sent in their Valentine's boxes (they are very cute!). As soon as your child has completed his/her box, please feel free to send it in!
This week in Math we will continue focusing on area. Students will be focusing on using multiplication to find the area of a rectangle. As the week progresses the students will be breaking non-standard shapes into rectangles to find the area. In Reading we are coming back to expository text. Students are reading nonfiction passages and practicing identifying the main idea as well as supporting details. During Writing students are wrapping up their pourquois and completing the publishing process. Students will then begin the research process in writing their own travel brochure for a country of their choosing. In Social Studies students will continue focusing on Black History Month and we will be reading a play together about Ayanna the Brave - a second grader who knew segregation was wrong and how she and a group of kids fought against it and won. During Science students will review the planets in our solar system in order. As the week progresses they will be creating their own models of the Sun, Moon and Earth and their relationships with each other. This Friday will be our Field Trip to Inner Space Caverns. The students and I are very excited (I have never been; however, hear amazing things!). For this event please make sure your child brings a completely disposable lunch and water bottle - we will be eating lunch there. Also, if possible have your child wear a Caraway shirt or a Blue shirt of some kind. I cannot believe it is already February! Where has the time gone?! This week we will have picture day on Tuesday. Our time is scheduled for 11am for the class photo and individual portraits will be taken shortly after. Also, thank you everyone who has said they will volunteer on the field trip. It is sure to be a lot of fun!
This week in Math we will continue focusing on geometry, specifically 2d shapes - polygons and quadrilaterals. As the week progresses we will move on to learning about area and reviewing the rows and columns we learned when working with arrays in multiplication to help us find area quickly. During Reading we are focusing on inferring theme, main idea as well as ensuring we have a firm grasp on summary. We will also have the opportunity to work on some readers theater - which is sure to be hilarious and fun! In Writing we are wrapping up our Pourquois. Students will begin the week revising and editing and by the end of the week we will be publishing. They are so cute, and we cannot wait to share them. During Social Studies we are focusing on learning about important African American leaders in honor of Black History Month. This week we will focus on Rosa Parks and George Washington Carver. In Science we will continue to focus on the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus). We will also be working on memorizing the order of the planets using the acronym: My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nachos. Hello Wonderful Families! Last week we completed units in almost every subject. This week we are beginning to learn about some of my favorite units.
In Math we will be focusing on 2 and 3d shapes. Students will be expected to identify face shape, number of edges and vertices. During Reading we will be learning about myths and identifying the difference between fairy tales, folktales, fables, myths and legends. Students will also identify protagonists, antagonists and morals of different readings. In Writing last week students began learning about Pourquoi tales (for example: why does cheetah have spots). This week students will begin writing their own tales based on something they selected. During Social Studies we will be focusing on regions. At the beginning of the week we will focus on the different regions of the United States. Toward the end of the week we will be learning about the different regions of Texas. In Science we will begin our Space unit. Students will be focusing on the sun as a star, as well as the order of planets in our solar system. If you are interested in volunteering for the field trip, please let me know and I will send you additional information. Thank you so much and I look forward to a wonderful week! |