Reminders:
3/30 - Good Friday (No School)
4/10 - Field Trip to River Oaks Country Club for Men's Clay Court Tennis Championship
4/18 - Field Trip to Main Street Theater
4/27 - Progress Reports go Home
5/9 - Bike to School Day
5/10 - Gallery Night @ 5:00
5/14 - Math STAAR
5/15 - Reading STAAR
5/22 - Publishers' Picnic
5/24 - Chariot Races @ 8:30
5/25 - Winds of Time Parade
5/28 - Memorial Day (No School)
Math: During math this week, we will continue in our fractions unit. On Monday, we will use cuisenaire rods to identify and compare fractions.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we will learn to use a place a fraction on a number line and then use the number line to compare fractions. Reference the video to understand how we will be teaching this concept to your child: Video for Fractions on a Number Line. Due to our shortened week, we will only have a worksheet on Monday and Tuesday night. The fast facts quiz will be moved to Thursday. Science: This week during science, we will learn how to read a thermometer to measure temperature. We will practice reading thermometers using scales of 1, 2, 5, and 10. These are the most common scales for a thermometer. On Wednesday, we will begin using technology to research temperatures of cities in different regions of the United States to understand the variety of seasons and temperatures we have in the US. By the end of the week, your child should understand how to identify the scale of a thermometer to determine the temperature.
Week 27: March 19 - 23 Reminders:
3/20 - Third Nine Weeks Recognition Ceremony @9:00 in the cafeteria 3/30 - Good Friday (No School) Reading: This week in reading students will dig into the data from their Practice Reading STAAR and set personal goals. Reflection and goal setting are key components to our learning. We will dive deeper into expository reading and learn about a variety of topics including- marine animals, cultural holidays, animal adaptations, how things are made and the solar system. Writing: Students will finish up lessons on craft elements they could use while revising one of their expository essays. We will also try out this week was to add details, anecdotes and thoughtful reasoning to support our claims in writing.
Social Studies: The fourth 9 weeks brings us to our study of Economics. This week students will discuss needs and wants. You can watch BRAIN POP JR. videos at home to further learning and discussion at home. Math: This week in math, we will begin our unit on fractions. On Monday, we will introduce fractions and the vocabulary that goes along with this unit. On Tuesday, we will talk about unit fractions where the numerator is always one. On Wednesday, we will go beyond unit fractions and talk about non-unit fractions. On Thursday and Friday, we will use unifix cubes to create fractions and understanding the numerator and denominator.
For homework this week, we will have a worksheet come home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We will also have a problem of the week come home and it will be due on Friday. Our fast facts quiz will also be on Friday. Science:Before spring break, your child came home with a Solar System review sheet and vocabulary cards. The solar system test will be on Friday, March 23rd. During our science time this week, we will discuss the relationship between the sun, Earth, and moon. We will notice the limitations of the models of the solar system that we see. On Monday and Tuesday, we will learn the order of the planets. In groups, your child will make a mnemonic device to help them remember the order of the planets. On Wednesday, we will create planet bracelets. These bracelets will have beads that represent each of the planets. On Thursday, we will review for the solar system test playing our Jeopardy game.
Reminders:
9 - Report Cards go home
12-16 Spring Break (No School)
20 - Third Nine Weeks Recognition Ceremony at 9:00 in the cafeteria
23 - Solar System Test
30 - Good Friday (No School)
Reading: Our students worked hard last week and showed amazing effort and skill on the READING practice STAAR test. Please look for an email from your child's reading teacher by Friday, March 9th to tell you more about your child's reading strengths and areas for growth. Mostly, know we are PROUD of their reading accomplishments thus far and it is only MARCH!
Narrative NonFiction will continue to be our genre focus for this week. Above you can see some of the titles we have been reading and discussing in class. Specifically, this week, we will teach students a silly song that can serve as an EXCELLENT strategy for writing summaries or answering STAAR like questions about summary with narrative. For a sneak peak, or simply to keep the fun going at home, check out this clip.
Writing: Essays will continue to be our genre of focus. This week we will look at how to write a strong lead. We will look at many styles and try them out with our first drafts to see which style might be most effective. Below is a sample anchor chart. Something like this will be built together in our classroom this week as we write. Social Studies: Students will finish up their work with map skills. We hope that maybe a few students have gotten excited and talked to you about how we learned to play BATTLESHIP using our grid map skills. This week, we will also look the cultural traditions associated with St. Patrick's Day. Math: During our math block this week, we will continue to look at division strategies and how we can apply these strategies to word problems. Your child will work to create division word problems to help with their understanding of the parts of division word problems. On Wednesday and Friday, we will learn about area (Area Video). We have taught area models during our multiplication unit and we will make the connection between area and the area models we have already studied. On Thursday, we plan to complete a reflection paper from the practice STAAR that was taken last Monday. This tool helps your child zone in on the concepts they really understand and helps us to identify areas of need. We will send this paper home with your child so that you can use this as a discussion tool at home.
For homework this week, we will have a worksheet come home on Monday - Wednesday. We will not have a problem of the week this week. We will take a fast facts quiz on Friday. If you plan to be out of school on Friday, please let your child's teacher know so that they can take their fast facts quiz before the break. Science: This week during science, we will continue talking about the relationship between the sun, moon, and Earth and our other planets. On Monday, we will work on the next set of vocabulary cards for the solar system unit. We will send home these cards and review sheet so that your child will be able to study nightly for our test. The date of the test Friday, March 23rd. During the rest of the week, we will be studying the planets.
