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.
