Literacy-
In Reader's Workshop, we are continuing to study characters. We have been looking for evidence to support thinking about they type of person that the character's in our books are. These ideas will help us understand the life lessons that can be learned from reading a book.
In writer's workshop, we have just begun our new unit - Writing About History. Your child was able to choose from one of three topics that are included in our social studies unit (Westward Expansion, The Underground Railroad, and Orphan Trains). This week was all about getting organized. We picked subtopics to write about and got our drafting papers organized. Next week, we will begin researching our subtopics and organizing the information that we learned into paragraphs.
Math -
In math we are continuing to learn about fractions. This is our introductory unit. Your child will learn about equal shares, equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, and decimal fractions. In a few months we will learn about how to add and subtract fractions. We will wrap up the unit at the end of next week and the BA will be right before the holiday break.
Social Studies -
This current unit is centered around immigration and migration. They will learn about how the US culture has been influenced by immigration. We will discuss reasons why people move from place to place. They were surprised to find out that many of the reasons for movement hundreds of years ago, still ring true today! Please take some time to talk with your child about your family culture and how your family members immigrated to the United States. We will finish this unit next week and the BA will be before the holiday break.
Science -
We will begin our new science unit next week - Environments. Many parents have asked me how to support their child with the science concepts. We have an amazing resource available to us from Foss (our science curriculum materials).
https://www.fossweb.com/
The Foss website has access to all of the readings that we do in class. Students can also re-watch videos that we have seen in class. Additionally, there are online activities and tutorials that go along with the curriculum. Your child has the username and password for this website on the label in their planners. It is placed in their planner on your child's birthday!
Holiday Celebration-
In room 17, your children have decided that they would like to have a POPCORN bar and watch
How the Grinch Stole Christmas on our last day before vacation (December 21st). A sign-up genius is included below for item donations! We thank you in advance for your support!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c4aa4aa229-popcorn1
SPIRIT WEEK - DECEMBER 17-21
- Monday - WLE Spirit Wear
- Tuesday - PJ/Slipper Day - We will be having a read in during Readers' Workshop, your child can bring a blanket to sit on if they wish.
- Wednesday - Holiday Best
- Thursday - Holiday Sing Along (featuring our Glee Club)
- Friday - Holiday Fun
We have been continuing to learn about environments. This week we spent a lot of time learning how organisms interact in an ecosystems. We have learned about how food chains can be combined into a food web. On Friday, we planted 4 common crops to study the effects of water and salt tolerance on early plant growth. Be sure to ask your child about our "crops".
We are continuing to work on our "Writing About History" writing projects. Your child is beginning to work on their 2nd subheading and will complete two more. Your child can access their work from home in goggle classroom. They can share with you what has been completed so far, if you are interested. In Reading, we are continuing to think deeply about the characters in their stories. Comprehension is the key to reading. We will continue to think about character traits and develop "theories" that we have about the characters. Your child will then be learning how to support the theory with evidence from the text.
We are going to finish up unit 4 this week - Multi-digit Multiplication. The children have done a really nice job using the partitioned rectangle to make sense of this idea. A review will go home with your child at the end of the week. The BA will be on Tuesday, January 29th.
