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https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094BAEAD2FA0FD0-20182019 This week we are beginning an exciting new unit (and one of my personal favorites) in Math Over the course of the Data Analysis Unit, students will be using frequency tables, bar graphs, pictographs and dot plotting to represent data. This week we will pay careful attention to the parts of a graph as well as all the different information we can obtain. During Reader's Workshop students will be focusing on Cause and Effect. Students will identify the cause - reason, as well as effect - response, in a variety of texts as well as real life. In Writer's Workshop we will be taking a closer look at how to draw our personal narratives to a close. Students will practice concluding their writing by looking forward, looking back or making a statement from the heart. Social Studies has captured the attention of a lot of the students. We are very passionate about government in our class and have lots of opinions. This week we will be taking a closer look at state and local government as well as the different things each level of government helps to finance. The week will begin with a unit review and assessment in Science. We will then move on to our next unit: Forms of Energy. Sound and Light energy will be our primary focus over the course of this week. Please remember to help your child practice their vocabulary words - they should be able to spell them as well as define and use them in a sentence. Also, please make sure you remember to sign your child's homework folder - they should be practicing reading 20 minutes EVERY night and practicing math 10 minutes EVERY night - that is a great opportunity to work on math fluency with both addition and subtraction facts.
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This week we will be very busy wrapping up several units of study.
In Math we will be wrapping up subtraction and spending a day focusing on strip diagrams. A Unit Review will be coming home on Monday - and is due back THURSDAY (it says Wednesday on top, but Thursday is the real date they need it - as we will be going over it IN CLASS). As we will be learning about strip diagrams this week, your child can wait to complete that portion of the review until we have studied it. Friday we will have our Unit Assessment which will focus on Place Value, Addition and Subtraction. During Reader's Workshop students will focus on sequencing stories. We will practice sequencing a variety of stories over the course of the week, placing an emphasis on key moments rather than small details. In Writer's Workshop students will continue to develop their personal narrative. Students will continue working on showing, not telling. We will also focus on creating a hook, or lead, to our narratives that engage the reader and encourage them to read on. We will continue our study of government during Social Studies. The week will begin with the students simulating each branch of government: judicial, legislative, and executive. We will wrap up the week with a more in depth look at the three branches of government at the national level. During Science we will also be culminating our unit of study. Students will compare and contrast mixtures and solutions. We will review heating and cooling and the impact each has on states of matter, as well as mixtures and solutions. On Friday we will have our end of unit assessment. Please help your child study his/her vocabulary words - placing an emphasis on proper spelling as well as appropriate usage in a sentence of 7 or more words. This Week we have several exciting things happening.
In Math we will be wrapping up our three-digit addition unit and begin focusing on three-digit subtraction. Students will learn a variety of strategies to check their work. During Reader's Workshop students will be focusing on Character Traits while reading a whole class story: Destiny's Gift. We will also continue to work on Vocabulary. Please make sure you have your child practice his/her vocabulary each night so they are able to spell the words as well as define them and use them in a sentence. In Writer's Workshop we will continue focusing on Personal Narratives and exploding small moments. Students will have the opportunity to practice incorporating emotion in their writing as well as showing, not telling their stories. We will have a lot of fun in Social Studies this week. Students will be given time at the beginning of the week to complete their research project and have the opportunity to present their citizen to the whole class! We will then move on to the next unit which will focus on the branches of government. Students will learn about the executive, legislative and judicial branches by acting out a simulation over the course of three days - so each student will have the opportunity to experience each branch of government. During Science we will be continuing our unit on the impact of heating and cooling on states of matter as well as begin focusing on mixtures and solutions. Students will be given the opportunity to see ice melt into a liquid and then boil into water vapor. Students will also be creating their own mixture (chex mix) and solution (lemonade). This Friday we will also begin our 8 week Fall Academies! This week is sure to be very busy and lots of fun! This week we are officially beginning our vocabulary words. Students will be bringing home their Vocabulary folder, in addition to their homework folder. It is expected that students write down the definition of each of the words and they are expected to also write a sentence using each word that has proper capitalization, punctuation, and containing a minimum of 7 words. Our vocabulary words can be found on the vocabulary page of our website each week.
This week in math we will be focusing on addition. Students will work on identifying the key words in a word problem that help them identify the problem as an addition problem. Some of these words include: altogether, increase, total, join, in all, sum, both, combine, plus, together, add. In reading we will be focusing on retelling stories using story elements: character, setting, problem, key events, solution. Students will practice using the five finger retell method when retelling a fictional story. During Writer's Workshop students will work on small moments when writing personal narratives. Students will think of stories that have a strong emotion - joy, excitement, fear - and rather than writing about an entire day they will narrow it down to one small moment. We will use the analogy of a watermelon is that big idea, and a watermelon seed makes the small moment. There may be several "seed" moments in one exciting day. In social studies students will work on a team research project. Students will be given the opportunity to research good citizens and identify how these citizens have helped their communities and what characteristics make them valuable members of the community. During science students will review Unit 1: Classify Matter. Students will take their assessment for Unit one on Tuesday. Beginning Wednesday we will begin learning about the effects heating and cooling have on the state of matter. This week will be an exciting one in many subject areas!
In math we will culminate our place value unit with an exciting rounding game - learning to round, not only to the nearest 10s place, but the nearest hundreds place as well! We will also begin exploring different strategies for addition (including decomposing numbers, using the number line, stacking the numbers, and creating models to solve problems). During Reader's Workshop we will continue to focus on reflecting on what we read as well as making connections with the stories. Students will practice making text to text, text to self and text to world connections. In Writer's Workshop students will continue to focus on nouns, and discover and create mentor sentences using common, proper, and plural nouns. Students will also begin focusing on the importance of showing, not telling in their writing as we begin learning about personal narratives. In Social Studies students will work to further develop their text connection skills. Students will answer questions about passages from an article, and practice underlining and finding the source for their answers. In Science we will be completing the end of our Classifying Matter unit through a study in the states of matter. Students will model the different states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) through whole body movement, creating a drawn representation as well as through a real world experiment (SHHHHH... it's a surprise - we will be making Root beer Floats! icecream - solid, root beer - liquid, the foam - evidence of gas). This Friday, September 7, will be our Picture Day! We will also have PE, so if your child comes in special shoes, please make sure to also send tennis shoes to change into so his/her fancy shoes do not get messed up! |