Monday, February 22, 2016

February 22-26

Reminders;
Book projects due Fri. Feb 26
AR points due March 10 (end of quarter)
Character Awards assembly will be next Tuesday, March 1 at 2:15


In reading this week, we will continue our study of summarizing. We will switch to summarizing non-fiction and practice strategies for doing so. We will also present book projects at the end of the week.

In writing, we will begin working on our Famous Missourian Wax Museum project. We will do a small amount of research today so that each student can come up with a list of their top 3 choices. They will also have tonight to come home and brainstorm with parents/siblings on which Missourian they could choose. The Wax Museum date is set for April 1st from 1:45-2:45 in the Multi-Purpose Room.

In Social studies, we will finish up our unit on Becoming a State with a test on Wednesday. Students will be able to use packets and books on this test. We will then move into a new Science unit where will we study motion and energy.

In Spelling, we will continue working on learning rules and practicing cursive with our list this week. The test will be Friday.

In math we will continue working with fractions, ordering and comparing them. We will do several hands on activities and show different strategies to help them be successful with this.

Have a good week!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

February 16-19

Reminders:
Book projects due February 26th
100% of AR goal due March 10 (End of 3rd quarter)

In spelling this week, our list focuses on homophones (pear, pair). It will be important that they listen to the sentences we use to decide which homophone is the correct choice on their test. We will do some hands on review of the words as well as work with other homophones this week.

In math this week, we will continue working with fractions. Last week we focused on equivalent fractions. We will do the same this week, but also learn how to simplify fractions using a couple different strategies.

In social studies we will continue our study on how Missouri became a state. The test for this unit is set for next Thursday, February 25. Students have a packet to help them prepare for this test and they will be able to use it for a portion.

In reading we are beginning to discuss summarizing. We will begin this study by learning the difference between summarizing a story and retelling it. We will do several activities throughout the week that will focus on practicing this skill. Our literature circles will continue this week and we will integrate summarizing instruction into them as well.

Last week in writing, we finished up watching and taking notes on the movies. This week we will work on our first and final drafts of the opinion paper for them. Students had to identify the theme or opinion that their movie had and take notes on the evidence that supports that opinion. This is what their paper will focus on as well.

Have a wonderful week!

Monday, February 8, 2016

February 8- 12

Reminders:
If you haven't already, please sign and return progress reports.
Friday at 2:00 will be our Friendship parties.
Wednesday is a half day.


This week in Reading, we will continue reading our Mr. Tucket book. The students are really enjoying this story about a boy traveling west in the 1800's. They are able to make connections to the information we've previously discussed in social studies. We are also doing vocabulary and comprehension questions after reading each day.

In writing this week, we will get deeper into opinion writing. We will do a few examples together before we begin our next paper. The next big writing assignment will be an opinion movie review. The students will watch different movies (depending on which of the 3 they selected) and will be taking notes as they watch. They will then write an opinion paper in class, supporting their opinion with evidence/facts.

In math this week, we are slowly moving into working with fractions. We will use a lot of visuals and hands-on manipulatives to get them familiar with this concept.

In science, we will finish up the Adaptations unit with a test on Tuesday. Students will be able to use their packets so they've been encouraged to correct any incorrect answers. We will begin Social Studies on Wednesday. Our unit will cover the process of Missouri becoming a state.

Spelling this week will focus on the prefixes "dis," "im," and "in." We will study the different word parts and discuss how this can help you to understand and spell unknown words.

Have a wonderful week!

Monday, February 1, 2016

February 1-5

Reminders:
1/2 AR points are due this Thursday, Feb. 4th. Progress reports will also come home this day. Please sign and return those as soon as possible.

In reading this week, we will begin reading Mr. Tucket. Each day we will do a new activity with the chapters we've read to help build our comprehension skills.
We will also introduce this month's book project (due Feb 26th). This month they will use what they learned about poetry to write poems about their story. See their sheet for more information.

In writing this week, we will finish up with MLK quotations and begin discussing and practicing voice and opinion writing.

In spelling this week, the rule we are focusing on is the -igh pattern. Test will be Friday.

In math we are going to finish up this division unit with a test on Thursday. We will spend this week reviewing and practicing this skill.

In science, we will continue studying animal adaptations and threats to animals existence. The test for this unit is scheduled for Feb. 9th pending weather.

Have a good week!

Monday, January 25, 2016

January 25-29

This week in reading, we will wrap up point of view by looking at several books and comparing their points of view. We will then move to a genre study. Don't forget book projects are due Thursday the 28th!

In writing this week, we will begin with a poetry share to celebrate the hard work they put into their poetry books. We will then move to a short study on how to use quotation marks correctly. We will do this with a fun MLK quotations project using macaroni noodles.

In math this week, we will continue working on division. We are really slowing this unit down as we see our students are needing a lot of repetition and reteaching for this skill. The more repetition they get at home with division, the better!

In spelling this week, we will continue with last week's spelling list since it was such a short week. We decided we would push the test to Friday for last week's words. This will give us more time to study the rule and to practice spelling these words.

We are beginning our new science unit this week on animal adaptations. We will begin the week with a science experiment (Using "blubber"). This will also help us practice the different parts of the scientific method. There will be a quiz over the scientific method on Friday. Students will need to know what the different parts we have studied so far are (Question, Hypothesis, Materials, Procedures, Results, Conclusion) and be able to identify them in an example experiment.

Have a great week!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

January 99-22

We hope you had a great weekend!

This week in math we will get back to practicing division. We will move to division with remainders. We will learn what remainders mean and how to interpret them depending on what the problem is asking for.

In spelling, we will get a new list on Tuesday and test over it on Friday. Remember, the tests are now ALL in cursive so the more practice they have writing the words that way, the better!

In writing this week we will finish our poetry books and continue reviewing different types of figurative language. Each day we are writing a new type of poem. Our poetry share is tentatively set for this Friday.

In reading this week, we will begin studying point of view. We will look at 1st and 3rd person point of view in depth. We will read several examples in books and shorter readings.

In social studies, we will finish up our Lewis and Clark projects. Students have been having a great time "discovering" new plants, animals, and tribes while also map making just like Lewis and Clark!

We will begin a new science unit later this week. This unit will be on animal adaptations that help them survive in their environment. We will begin the unit with an experiment using "whale blubber" to study how it is an adaptation that helps whales. We will use this experiment to continue learning and reviewing the scientific method.

Reminder: AR tests for book projects need to be passed this Friday the 22nd!

Have a great week!

Monday, January 11, 2016

January 11-15

Reminders for this week:

Wednesday is a noon dismissal
Friday is courtwarming on the HS end

This week in reading and writing, we will continue learning about poetry. We will discuss different types of figurative language and begin writing our own poetry. We will cover a lot of poetry vocabulary and practice using those words as we read a variety of poems.

In math, we are going to continue working on division. We will slow down and focus on basic division facts for the first couple days. We will practice in stations and small groups to give them a lot of repetition before moving on to multi-digit division.

In spelling this week we will have a new list on Monday which focuses on the /ow/ spelling pattern. The test for this list will be Friday. The spelling tests will now consist of all cursive writing.

In Social Studies this week we will begin taking a closer look at Lewis and Clark. We will start an in class project to study their exploration through research and map making.

Have a great week!