This Week...

January 8- January 10, 2014

Reading:  Making journeys was our weekly theme!  Students read nonfiction and fiction pieces about people traveling in different ways.  Our main skill this week was making inferences based on clues we found in the text, as well as our own experiences.  Differentiating between different homophones was also practiced in a variety of activities.  Students are continuing to work hard on figuring out the differences between words that sound the same, but have different spelling and meanings.  Reading Logs are due Monday, January 13. (100 minutes)

Math:  We began unit 6!  A family letter went home this week outlining the major concepts.  Rays, lines, and line segments were a main focus this week.  Students practiced labeling them, as well as finding examples in the real world.  Intersecting lines and parallel line segments were also discovered.  Students practiced drawing and manipulating various angles with straws!  They learned that a square corner is also called a right angle.  We will be having a mini quiz over the first part of unit 6 on Wednesday, January 15.  A review guide will be going home on Monday. Xtra Math practice is due Monday, January 10. (3 sessions)

Science:  Students were very excited to begin the first of many new lessons on light!  In lesson 1, they explored how light moves by experimenting with flashlights and mirrors.  Some of the lessons in this unit will have homelinks (homework) that will need to be returned the next day…thanks for your support at home.

Writing:  Students worked on a New Year’s Resolution writing project!  They developed various resolutions based on four aspects of their lives: home, school, personal, and character.  Students received their January writing words list.  At the end of the month, they will have a test over October, November, and January words.  A list containing all of the words went home today.  Students also participated in a close reading activity with our WEX novel My Name is Maria Isabel.  Students analyzed the text to discover the importance of the main character’s name.   In grammar, students identified the future tense of various verbs and applied quotation marks.

Cursive/Spelling:  Today, we had our week 16 test.

Miscellaneous:  Happy New Year and welcome back!  I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing break with family and friends.  January book orders went home today.  They will be due on January 24.  Have a wonderful weekend…stay warm!