This Week...

March 11- March 15, 2019

Reading:  We read a nonfiction book about magnetism!  Students worked on monitoring their thinking by recording their prior knowledge, questions, and facts they learned.  A lot of this information connected to the experiments we have been conducting in science.  We also read a literary nonfiction book about Newton’s Laws.  Students used the illustrations and text clues to discover scientific concepts. Reading Logs are due Monday, March 18.  (100 minutes)

Math:  We started unit 14!  This unit will focus on fraction concepts.  Students learned that fractions can represent part of a whole or part of a set.  Unit fractions and like fractions were discussed.  Students also learned important terms like “numerator” and “denominator”.  At the end of the week, we discovered that equivalent fractions are fractions that are equal.  We can find equivalent fractions by multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same number.

Science:  Students investigated magnets!  They tested out various materials to see if they were pulled by a magnetic force.  Students also investigated if magnetic forces could travel through different materials.  They learned that the donut magnets could attract objects through water, wool cloth, and paper.  We discovered that the farther the distance is between the magnet and object, the weaker the force.

Writing:  In writing, we focused on sensory details about spring.  Students brainstormed words with certain syllables.  Then, they wrote haiku poems that consisted of a 5-7-5 syllable pattern.  At the end of the week, students wrote special letters to classmates in a “Lucky to Know You” activity.

Word Study:  We worked on identifying words that started with the letter a.  Students broke up each word and used them in sentences.  They also worked with prefixes.

Miscellaneous:  It was so nice to see many of you at Family Reading Night!  The students seemed to really enjoy all the stories they heard.  Progress reports went home electronically today.  I look forward to meeting with you next week for parent-teacher conferences!  In the LMC this week, we continued our study of figurative language.  As always, please let me know if you have any questions…enjoy the sunshine and have a great weekend!