Happy Friday!

The month of April is really flying by and students have been working hard to show what they know! This week we finished the last of our IAR testing, and next week we move on to MAP testing. The Math MAP test will take place on Wednesday May 1, and the reading MAP test will occur on Thursday May 2. Both of these assessments will be used as part of the placement process for 6th grade. Please remind your student to get a good night's rest, eat a hearty breakfast, and bring a healthy snack. Also... don't forget to charge those iPads!

Literacy

Last week we began a new unit in literacy with a theme of exploring the universe. We began our unit with a new novel titled “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” by Lucy and Stephen Hawking. In this book, George’s  neighbor has a superintelligent, superpowered computer that can transport them into space on great adventures! As we have been reading we have continued to practice literacy skills such as comparing and contrasting characters and settings, analyzing themes and using quoted evidence from a text to support responses.

Writing

Within writing, the students have been working on writing their own science fiction stories. After learning and reviewing the main components of a science fiction story students brainstormed ideas for stories and then chose one to use for their story. Students planned their story with an i-planner to identify the characters, setting, problem, solution, and map out the beginning, middle and end of their story. Students have really enjoyed the creativity of this writing task.

Math

Students have wrapped up their work with the hierarchy of polygons and have been multiplying and dividing fractions, including mixed numbers. Students have been working on breaking up the mixed numbers when multiplying and multiplying each of the pieces (4 total multiplication problems) and then adding all 4 solutions together to get the final answer. Arrays have been used as a visual model of this strategy. On Friday students will take the unit 6 post assessment for math and next week we will begin unit 7 which includes skills such as long division, and decimal multiplication and division.

Social Studies

We are continuing to work on our economics unit. We have studied how goods and services work in a market economy, and including the ideas of supply and demand. Next we will study how people of the past were positively and negatively impacted by cultural exchanges.

Science

We have continued to work on our unit on Changes in Matter, which encompasses the three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). We will be engaging in a fun investigation where students identified various powders such as baking powder, talc powder, salt, and sugar, by their attributes and reactions to substances such as iodine, water, and vinegar.

Upcoming Events

Friday, April 26 -- Half Day // Dismissal @ 11:45

Tuesday, April 30 -- Variety Show

Wednesday, May 1 -- Math MAP test

Thursday, May 2 -- Reading MAP test

Friday, May 3 -- Trip to Twin Groves for musical performance (morning)

Friday, May 10 -- All library books due