Week 20: January 22nd-26th

Week 20:  January 22nd-26th

Reading:  Last week was cut extra short because of our school holiday and ice days.  We were not able to get to everything we needed to because of this, so we're continuing with last week's plan for a portion of this week.  Your reader will continue to navigate detailed maps, diagrams, tables, photographs, and captions within nonfiction articles.  We will discuss how these features support their understanding of the text topic.  As we move forward in the week, we will introduce main idea.  Main idea is the central idea of a text.  Comprehending the main idea is important in order to understand the purpose for writing.  We will be learning tricks and tools to help aid your reader in identifying what an article is mostly, or mainly, about.  

Writing:  We will officially wrap up our poetry unit this week!  Your writers have been hard at work drafting a variety of poems since returning to school in 2018.  We will choose some of our favorites to revise and edit and then publish an anthology using Google Docs.  Our week will end with a celebration of our published work!  

Social Studies:  We will continue using maps as every day tools.  Utilizing map scales will be our focus for this week.  Students will practice using a map scale to calculate distances between cities.    

Math: We will continue to solve addition and subtraction problems regarding time intervals in minutes using pictorial models and/or tools. It is important to remember the danger zone. This is when the minute hand reaches the 50 and 55 minute mark and the hour hand looks like it has reached the next hour. The students will continue to manipulate clocks to deepen their understanding of time. Later in the week, students will be introduced to multiplication. We will be learning specific multiplication strategies such as the array and number line strategies. An array is a group of objects that shows numbers in equal rows or columns.

                     

Homework: Students will be given homework Monday - Wednesday. Also, please make sure your mathematician is on DreamBox and SumDog at home.

               
Science: We will continue to observe forces such as magnetism, friction, and gravity acting on objects. Also, we will be learning about specific tools that make work easier such as pulleys. We will then have our Force and Motion quiz on Wednesday, January 24th. Later in the week, we will begin investigating how rocks can break down to form soil. Please make sure your scientist is studying the study guide and vocabulary cards every day.

Week 19: January 15th-19th

Week 19:  January 15th- 19th 
Reminders: 
1/15:  School Holiday We hope you all had a fabulous three day weekend!
Force and Motion Science Quiz is on Wednesday, January 24th!

Reading:  Your readers will continue to dive deeper into nonfiction text features.  We will learn how to navigate detailed maps, diagrams, tables, photographs, and captions and discuss how these features support our understanding of the text topic.  As nonfiction readers, we access information from these various features and tools within the text in a different way than fiction stories and poems we read.  It takes practice!  We will continue to model and think through informational articles about Earth's resources, a tsunami warning system, and sea turtles.

Writing:  We will begin the final stages of our poetry writing unit this week.  Your writers have been hard at work drafting a variety of poems since returning to school in 2018.  We will end our week choosing some of our favorites to revise and edit.  We will prepare some of our best as well as favorite poems to publish using Google Docs.  We will celebrate our hard work within our writing community early next week. 

Social Studies:  We worked our way through academic language associated with maps and map skills last week and will apply what we learned this week.  We will practice interpreting maps of places and regions in order to identify and locate information related to the area.  For example, identifying mountain ranges and rivers in the region or explaining directions from one city to another using a compass rose or other piece of information from the map.  

Math: We will continue to solve addition and subtraction problems regarding time intervals in minutes using pictorial models and/or tools. It is important to remember the danger zone. This is when the minute hand reaches to the 50 and 55 minute mark and the hour hand looks like it has reached the next hour. The students will continue to manipulate clocks to deepen their understanding of time.  

The Danger Zone

Later in the week, students will be introduced to multiplication. Please make sure your mathematicians are on DreamBox and SumDog

Example problem: Melissa has a ballet class at 3:10. Her jazz class starts 45 minutes later. Does Melissa need to add or subtract to find the start time for her jazz class? How do you know?

Science: We will observe forces such as magnetism, friction, and gravity acting on objects. The students will be engaged in activities such as demonstrating how magnets attract and repel as well as using pulleys. We will then have our Force and Motion quiz is on Wednesday, January 24th. Students should be studying the yellow vocabulary cards and information sheet daily for homework until the test. Important concepts to remember:

• Compass needles point north because of magnetism.
• Like poles repel and opposite poles attract.
• Attract is a pull.
• Repel is a push.