This Week...

October 5- October 8, 2015

Reading:  Students learned that good readers use the words in a story to create visualizations in their mind.  Creating these visualizations helps readers better understand the story.  We reread portions of Patricia Polacco’s The Bee Tree to practice this useful strategy.  Students also reviewed the key elements of fiction.  They used a story map to outline the main characters, setting, problem/conflict, plot, resolution, and theme.  They learned that thinking through a story map can help them monitor their understanding of a fiction story by focusing on the most important parts. Reading Logs are due Tuesday, October 13.  (100 minutes)

Math:  The partial sums addition method was practiced, in addition to the trade-first and counting up method.  We also worked on number stories with multiple addends.  Today, students completed a review guide.  The unit 2 test will be Wednesday, October 14.

Science:  Students learned that scientists use mental, pictorial, and physical models to represent ideas.  They made their own physical models of favorite animals using clay.  Students also had the opportunity to create their own science experiments based on an “I Wonder” statement.  They created questions, made a plan, and took observations.  Through this process, the students learned that they are scientists!  At the end of the week, we discussed how organisms have basic needs for survival.

Writing:  Students completed their first RA, or revision assignment, which asked them to turn one of their telling sentences into a showing sentence.  They also worked on a new skill: showing!  Students learned how to differentiate between telling and showing sentences.  They wrote about a time when they were excited using various showing details.  In grammar, we worked on combining sentences to form compound sentences, which included a connecting word and a comma.

Spelling:  We took our week 5 spelling test.  Next week will be a review week for spelling.  We will not have spelling homework and the test will be multiple-choice.

Miscellaneous:  Thank you to everyone who participated in Walk to School Day this week!  On Monday in the LMC, students worked on the skill of documenting by learning how to fill in a web for habitat research.  We will continue working on more note-taking organizers over the next few weeks.  Just a reminder, there will be no school for students on Friday (School Improvement Day) or Monday (Columbus Day).  Enjoy the long weekend!  As always, please let me know if you have any questions!