Happy Friday Families!
How can it be the last day of January already? Hopefully February will bring some sunshine! Please read below to find out the specifics of what we've been working on!
Reading:
We've been very busy in literacy! Almost all of the kids have presented their current events slide show presentations. We have a few more to squeeze in on Monday. Here, the students were evaluated on integrating three or more sources in order to create a powerpoint presentation about a current topic. It was a great way to practice our oral communication skills as well! This week students also finished reading a book called "Real-Life Superheroes". This nonfiction book taught students about the amazing lives of four "superheroes": Raoul Wallenberg, Richard Martin, Thomas Barnardo, and Rosa Parks. As we have read this book we have been practicing various nonfiction targets such as finding main idea, summarizing, identifying an author's point of view and the evidence they use to support their points, and comparing and contrasting. Today we played a "four corners" game to share our ideas and feeling about the book as well. We even discussed which real life hero we'd like to have over for dinner! Next week we will work on nonfiction targets as we read "The Great Migration by Jacob Lawrence.
Writing: Along with reading "Real-Life Superheroes", students have been writing about a real life superhero of their choice! Students have selected an individual in history who they feel has made an outstanding contribution to society--someone who they feel portrays the characteristics of a real-life superhero. After researching about this individual's life, students have been writing an essay which highlights the important biographical info, as well as the reasons this person should be considered a hero. Upon completion, students will share their essays with each other so that we can all hear about the amazing accomplishments of these remarkable people!
Math: We recently wrapped up our unit on multi-digit whole number multiplication and have shifted our focus back to fractions. Last week students learned how to multiply a fraction by a whole number. Students learned that when you multiply a fraction by a whole number, the answer is smaller than the whole number in the problem because when you multiply you are finding a fractional piece of that whole number. Students played the workplace game "Target One Fractions" where they used number cards to create whole number times fraction problems that had products, as close to 1 as possible. We are now moving into multiplying a fraction by another fraction. Students will learn how to create models to represent the product of these fraction times fraction problems.
Social Studies: Students are currently learning about probable causes and effects of events and developments in U.S. history, with a focus on exploration of the Arctic. Students will be reading articles and watching videos about arctic exploration to continue to hone their research skills and their use of multiple sources to support their thinking. We practiced techniques to use in order to narrow the focus of internet searches and improve the quality of the sites we find.
Science: We have continued to work on our unit on the Earth, Moon and Stars. We recently completed a section of this unit on the perceived movement of stars in the night sky. Students learned that the stars in the sky seem to move because the Earth is moving. We modeled this movement with students in a circle with various pictures of constellations, a globe, and a person representing the sun. Students saw that in different times of the year different stars and constellations are visible due to the position of the Earth in relation to the sun. In the final section of this unit, students will be learning about the different tools scientists use to observe space.
Important Dates
Feb 3 - Author Visit, Book Fair Preview for our class at 10:00
Feb 4-6 Book Fair
Feb 6 - Ivy Hall Celebrates Giving Back 6:30-8:00pm
Feb 14 - Valentine's Day! Parties at 2:00. Bring your Valentines to school this day!
Feb 17 - No School
Friendly Reminders
**Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack. Nothing feeds the brain better than something healthy!
**Please continue to have your child practice his or her multiplication facts up to 12.
**If students want to play in the snow outside, they must have the appropriate snow gear in order to do so. Please make sure to send your student with snow pants, snow boots, jacket, gloves, and hat.
**Band and orchestra students should remember to be prepared with their instruments and music books on the days that lessons take place.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
