Happy Friday Families! I hope everyone is staying warm during this November cold! But as we deal with the weather, our students continue to work hard, starting the second grading period. Here's What's Happening in Class: Literacy We are currently reading a shared text titled Washed Up, are story about three families who encounter various challenges while trying to win a survival reality show. Within the text, students are working hard to look at the text to help them locate the best evidence to support their thinking. In the coming weeks, we will explore various texts to help our students practice summarizing (Literary text) as well as analyzing multiple accounts of the same event, while noting similarities and differences in the points of view each party represents (Informational text). Writing Our students recently finished their first analytical paper, discussing whether or not students should be allowed to bring and use cellphones during the school day. Their focus was to write engaging introductory and concluding paragraphs, as well as working to add evidence to support their key ideas. Be sure to ask your child to share it with you! They made quite the compelling arguments! Currently, our students are creating and defending an argument whether or not video games have a positive or negative effect on children. They should be interesting read! Math Our students are continuing their work with decimals. They are currently refining their skills in the area of using expanded decimal notation, comparing decimals, adding and subtracting decimals, and rounding decimals. Yesterday we took a checkpoint which came home for you to review with some other assessments. Kindly sign and return them on Monday. Social Studies Our students wrapped up their discussions about the various responsibilities and powers of different types of governments, which revolved around the pros and cons of a democracy, a parliamentary government, a monarchy, and a dictatorship. In the coming weeks, we will learn about probable causes and effects of events and developments in U.S. history, with a focus on Westward Expansion and on the California Gold Rush. Based on what we learn about Westward Expansion, students will construct and defend an argument of whether or not they would have traveled West. Science We are currently learning about earth systems in science. The unit discusses the four main systems of Earth: the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. In addition to learning about their attributes and characteristics, we are also identifying interactions that occur between the systems. Our most recent investigation involved "mining" chocolate chips, while preserving as much of the land (cookie) as possible. Our students were rewarded with their own chocolate chip cookie to eat for their valiant efforts! Upcoming Events **Wednesday, November 24th - Friday, November 26th: No School (Thanksgiving Break)