This Week...

May 8-May 12, 2017

Reading:  We read a variety of poems and worked on finding the “big idea”.  As we read each stanza, we annotated our thoughts in the margins.  Students also determined the mood of the poem by looking for clues.  Many of these clues included sensory details.  Students made their thinking visible by recording words, phrases, and/or pictures while reading a variety of poems.  Reading Logs are due Monday, May 15.  (100 minutes)

Math:  We began unit 10!  In the beginning of the week, we reviewed units of length from the U.S. Customary System and the Metric System.  Students practiced converting one unit of length to another.  We also talked about weight and how scales have a weight capacity.  Students learned which scales would be appropriate to measure the weight of various objects.  Volume was another topic this week.  Students learned that volume is the amount of space inside a 3-D object and that it is measured using cubic units. **If applicable: for students still on addition and subtraction, fact tests and graphs are due Monday, May 15.

Science:  Students were excited to start our weather unit!  We had a science talk about what weather is, how it affects us, and why it’s important.  We learned that weather is how the sky looks and how the air feels.  We also learned that weather takes place in the troposphere.  At the end of the week, students learned about the information a weather forecast provides.  They chose an activity and researched a place that would have ideal weather conditions.

Writing:  Students continued working on their short fiction pieces.  They created both rising actions and the climax.  They shared their stories with partners to receive important feedback.  In grammar, we focused on adjectives and articles.

Spelling:  We had our week 31 review test.

Miscellaneous:  Our South states and capitals test will be on May 17.  This will be the last capitals test for the year.  Please let me know if you need any additional practice sheets.  May book orders also went home this week…they are due May 19.  This will be the last book order of the year.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  I hope you all have a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend…enjoy the sunshine!