Every week this page will be updated with information for all subject areas (math, language arts, writing, science, and social studies). This will provide you with a litte insight into our classroom.
“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.”-Dr. Suess, Oh the Places You'll Go
Week of April 29-May 3
Math: We were very impressed with the students ability to show their understanding of fractions during that unit. We will continue to practice fractions and their meaning throughout the rest of the year as review and through some of this week's work. This week our unit focuses on different types of measurement. We will start off by learning about customary units (inches, feet, and yards). We will be doing a scavenger hunt around our room to help us measure objects to the nearest inch! We will then move on to measuring to the nearest half inch and quarter inch. Again this will reinforce our understanding of fractional parts, particularly the parts on our rulers. We we will be able to make appropriate estimates, before measuring. We will also learn about capacity and how we use different size containers to determine how much water an object can hold (ounces, pints, quartz, gallons, etc.). After this, we will move on to types of weight measurement and be using balances and weights to determine esitmates and nearest ounces, pounds, and tons. Finally, we will end the week by comparing different units of measurement and converting measurements. Our Study Island assignment for this week will reinforce review of patterns. It is due on Monday, May 6th! Please remember to have your child complete the math study island assignments. These assignments are review assignments that help practice and show understanding of previously taught skills. Like our reading assignments, they will be due every Monday. Thank you for your cooperation; pelase feel free to e-mail us if you have any questions!
Literacy: In literacy the last few weeks we have focused mainly on different types of informational texts. This week, we will continue to read mostly informational passages and articles and learn more strategies that will help us with our comprehension and vocabulary. We will start off by underlining clue words to determine the author's point of view from passages or persuasive pieces. In this case, author's view point means...what is the author's opionion/argument?Also we will read a few letters, some friendly and some primary sources. We will be able to focus on why the author writes the letter, what is their purpose, and tone. In the middle of the week, we will be comparing primary and secondary sources and articles writtten about the same topics. A primary source is one that comes from history, such as a letter, journal entry, photograph, scrapbook, etc. A secondary source is not a true account, but comes from a different viewpoint, not the actual person. These include, narrative stories and textbooks. Finally later in the week, we will be lookly more closely at how different passages are organized. We know that authors write for different purposes and using different techniques. We will learn ways to identify these different types of text organization. They include: description, cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem and solution, question and answer; chronological order. We have been very impressed with how the students are independently using the strategies! Not only will these be helpful during testing, but we have seen them use these strategies to build their comprehension and become life-long readers and writers! Let's keep it up! :)
Writing: Last week, we spent a lot of time in the library working on the computers to write our procedural compositions, "how-tos". We will be meeting with students throughout this week to add the final publishing touches, so that we can share these awesome pieces with our peers and the rest of the school! This week, we will be looking more closely at expositiory compositions. Just like we have done with speculative prompts, we will be doing different mini lessons each day to strengthen our writing in this unit. We will start the week off by learning that an expositiory composition is an essay that asks us to write about an experience or topic and give our opinion. Students will be reminded to give specific reasons and supporting details, use voice (questions, commands, etc.), and end with a lesson learned or extension (some kind of connection). Just like we learned when writing speculative pieces...organization and content are the key to success! We will learn how to plan by using an outline (main idea, reasons, details). After this, we will begin to learn how to add in specific, sensory details. We will end the week by focusing on strong conclusions and practice writing an expositiory composition in one period. We've talked about how the students will only get 30 minutes on the NJASK per writing sample. About five minutes should be planning, twenty minutes should be writing, and the last five should be focused on revising. We are very proud of the work that the students have done so far and the improvements that they continue to make each day! We are confident they will all do their best! :)
Science: Science tests from last week, will be going home sometime this week. Please remember to sign and return them. This week, we will learn about how light switches work, their purpose, and even will create our own! Remember to have your child bring in a shoebox and decorating materials by Wednesday! We will be making a mini apartment, building electric circuits, next week to end our electricity unit. After that, we will "go back and time" and become paleontologists and study fossils!
Social Studies: We have completed another region and will be moving on to the Wild, Wild West starting next week! This week, we will mainly focus on our country's democracy and citizenship. We will review what it means to be a responsible citizen and why it is important to follow the rules. Later in the week, we will be working groups and together explore more about citizenship by completing an online assignment and class book!
Other: Like many other students at River Plaza, our classroom is full of Bucket Fillers and role models who earn tickets. Keep up the great work!
We are available for extra morning help on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays (unless otherwise noted in your child's planner). Extra help starts at 8:15 am. Please drop your child off at the front door entrance and have them go to the office first.