3/20-3/24

Happy Friday! We had a wonderful week back from break, and I have enjoyed hearing stories about the fun activities that everyone did.  Please take a look at what we've been learning this week in our classroom...

Reading
This week in our Views, Values, and Culture unit, students focused heavily on identifying multiple points of view within a text.  After practice with that, we then shifted our thinking to comparing differing points of view within the same text to each other and our own!  We ended the week with role playing multiple points of view by placing ourselves in an unfamiliar role for a discussion.

Please remember to make sure that your child is reading 30 minutes nightly!

Writing
We ended our Short Story unit this week! Students worked hard to revise and edit their pieces.  Take a look at what we've accomplished:

• We revised our introductions to hook in our readers and give them clues about the coming problem in our piece.
• We learned good practices of peer revision.
• We reviewed and edited our pieces for compound sentences and dialogue

Math
In our Rational Numbers unit, students learned how to...

• add and subtract fractions with like denominators.
• add and subtract mixed numbers.

Please remember to have your child practice their multiplication facts nightly!  Students are also assigned an Online Practice Buddy.  Although the Practice Buddy is optional, it is highly encouraged and a great way for parents to see the problem types their children are working with!

Social Studies
It was a fun week in our Slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction unit!  Students learned about...

• the Dred Scott Decision and how that impacted slaves and social issues leading up the the Civil War.
• the political, social, and economic causes of the Civil War.  This includes the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Border Wars.
• Students also have the wonderful opportunity to have a Civil War Storyteller come in and perform for them!  Our soldier was a Union soldier fighting in Missouri.  Be sure to ask your child about the performance and what they learned!

Students also are working on an Underground Railroad Webquest.  Students have access to this Webquest through their Google Classroom accounts.  This Webquest is due April 7.  A rubric is located at the bottom of their document.  Students are able to work on this at home!

Upcoming Dates

• 3/31: Spring Pictures
• 4/5: Late Start; 11:05 start
• 4/7: Underground Railroad Webquest due
• 4/14: No School

3/6-3/10

Good morning!  I very much enjoyed meeting and conferencing with everyone, and the students did a great job! We had a busy week with the book fair, conferences, and getting ready for spring break.  Take a look at what we've been learning.

Reading
In our Views, Values, and Culture unit, students focused on identifying their personal "cultural lens" and comparing it to others.  We also looked for different perspectives in articles.

Please remember to read 30 minutes nightly, especially since we're on break next week!

Writing
In our short story unit, writers...

• revised their conclusions to include a big idea
• learned when they should make a new paragraph
• revised their pieces for word choice

Math
In our rational numbers unit, mathematicians...

• compared fractions using benchmark fractions
• generated equivalent fractions using various strategies

Please remember to practice math facts nightly.  Please also have your students log on and complete the Online Practice Buddies!

Social Studies
In our Slavery and Civil War unit we...

• discussed the economies of the North and South
• discussed slavery and read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
• investigated the Underground Railroad by beginning a Webquest

Upcoming Dates

• 3/10-3/19: Spring Break
• 3/20: School Resumes
• 3/31: Spring Pictures
• 4/5: Late Start; 11:05 start

2/27-3/3

We had a very busy week prepping for our conferences, leading our conferences, going on our field trip, and visiting the book fair!  Take a look at what we've been working on...

Reading
This week we began a new unit of study, Views Values and Culture.  We kicked off our unit by examining and comparing different perspectives around a common event.  We also discussed "cultural lenses" and how a person's culture and background affects perspective.

Please remember to read 30 minutes nightly!

Writing
In our short story unit this week, we really focused on different elaboration techniques to use in our writing.  Our techniques included...

• elaborating on characters' gestures, movements, and facial expressions
• cracking open dull verbs
• show, don't tell emotions

Math
In our rational numbers unit this week we focused on generating equivalent fractions by using an area model, number line, and multiplication.

Please remember to practice math facts nightly.  In addition, students are assigned Online Practice Buddies.  Although they are optional, the Online Practice Buddies are highly encouraged.

Social Studies
This week we used part of our social studies time to prepare for our student-led conferences.  We also started our new unit over slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.  We started our unit by brainstorming around the question, "What causes war?"

Upcoming Dates

• 3/6-3/7: Book Fair
• 3/7: Student-Led Conferences
• 3/8: Mrs. Nagy out
• 3/10: Spring Break starts

2/21-2/24

Good morning.  An additional note to our weekly update, students will be tie dying shirts for their musical performance in art class.  We will do this on Tuesday, February 28.  Please make sure students wear older clothes they don't mind if a little dye gets on them.  Take a look at what we've been working on this week...

Reading
We wrapped up our historical fiction unit by...

• growing powerful conversations with our book clubs
• identified themes across texts and learned that themes are universal ideas that authors get from real like

Please remember to read 30 minutes nightly!

Writing
In our realistic short story unit we...

• used purposeful and powerful dialogue to reveal more about the characters in our stories
• elaborated upon the characters, setting, and moments
• included transitions in our writing

Math
This week we kicked off our rational numbers unit by...

• learning that the size of the whole matters when dealing with fractions
• the greater the denominator is in the fraction, the smaller the piece is
• when naming the piece (1/2, 1/3), the whole matters

Please practice your multiplication facts nightly!  Students are also assigned Online Practice Buddies.  Although they are optional, they are highly encouraged!

Social Studies
We have taken the time during social studies to prepare for our student led conferences, which start next week!

Upcoming Dates

• 2/28: Firehouse Field Trip
• 2/28: Progress Reports go live
• 3/1: Late Start; 11:05 start
• 3/2 & 3/7: Student-Led Conferences
• 3/2-3/7: Book Fair (school days)
• 3/3: PTO Grand Event from 8:00-9:00
• 3/8: Mrs. Nagy out
• 3/10: Spring Break

2/13-2/16

We had a productive week.  Check out what we've been working on...

Reading

This week in our historical fiction unit we...

• finished reading Number the Stars and used it to examine different forms of power within our book club books

Please remember to read 30 minutes nightly!

Writing

In our realistic short story unit we...

• learned how to correctly punctuate dialogue and start new paragraphs with new speakers
• drafted our short stories
• revised our introductions

Math

We wrapped up our multiplication and division unit by...

• reviewing factors, multiples, prime, and composite numbers

Our next unit of study is rational numbers.  The Family Letter went home this past week!

Please remember to practice math facts nightly.  Online Practice Buddies are assigned.  These are optional homework, but they are highly encouraged.  

Science

We wrapped up our electricity unit by...

• investigating magnets
• reviewing electricity concepts

Upcoming Dates

• 2/17 & 2/20: No School
• 2/24: Abilities Awareness Day
• 2/28: Firehouse Field Trip (Please make sure permission slips are signed and returned!)
• 3/1: Late Start; 11:05 start
• 3/2-3/7: Book Fair
• 3/2 & 3/7: Student Led Conferences
• 3/8: Mrs. Nagy out
• 3/10: Spring Break

2/6-2/10

Happy Friday!  Take a look at what we've been working on this week...

Reading
This week in our Historical fiction unit...

• readers participated in book clubs around a similar texts discussing theme and minor characters

Please remember to read 30 minutes nightly!

Writing
In our Short Story unit...

• writers developed problems, characters, and plans for their short stories

Math
In our Multiplication and Division unit...

• mathematicians used multiplication, division, and addition to solve comparisons among quantities
• mathematicians solved multi-step word problems involving all operations

Please remember to practice math facts nightly!  Online Practice Buddies are also assigned as optional homework, but the extra practice at home is highly encouraged!

Science
In our Electricity unit we...

• used our knowledge of batteries and light bulbs to build a circuit
• explored how to troubleshoot circuits
• investigated conductors and insulators
• built series and parallel circuits

Please note that our Electricity Assessment will be on Thursday, February 16.

Upcoming Dates

• 2/13: Library Checkout
• 2/14: Valentines Parties; 2:40 *please not that any Valentines students bring in will need to be consumed at home*
• 2/15: Mrs. Nagy out
• 2/16: Electricity Assessment
• 2/17 & 2/20: No School; Teacher Work Day & Presidents Day
• 2/24: Abilities Awareness Day
• 2/28: Firehouse Field Trip
• The field trip does not need any chaperones, please ignore the bottom of the field trip form 
• 3/1: Late Start; 11:05 start
• 3/2 & 3/7: Student Led Spring Conferences

1/30-2/3

Happy Friday!  Please be on the look out for your child's Leadership Binder.  They will ask you to sign their Westward Expansion and Behavior Reflections.  Our latest math benchmark scores are also in our binders. Take a look at what we've been up to this week...

Writing
We started out Short Story unit!  Students will be writing realistic short stories.  We kicked off our unit by...

• identifying the characteristics of short stories
• brainstorming ideas for our stories
• starting to develop believable characters for our stories

Reading
Our historical fiction book clubs are up and running!  Check in with your child to see what book they are reading, and ask them what they've learned so far!  This week we...

• noticed how characters' perspectives are shaped by the times
• looked for small objects or phrases in our books that might be a symbol for something more meaningful

Please remember to read 30 minutes nightly!

Math
In our Multiplication and Division unit we...

• divided 4 digit dividends by using partial products
• solved multi-step problems that included division

Please remember to practice math facts nightly!  They are one of the keys to success in this unit!  Also, your child is assigned daily Practice Buddies to be completed as optional homework.  Although they are optional, the extra practice is encouraged!

Science
We started our Electricity unit this week!  Students were eager to start exploring and investigation.  This week we...

• investigated static electricity
• explored what electricity can do and how to build circuits with a light bulb, battery, and wire
• learned how to complete a circuit

Upcoming Dates

• 2/14: Valentines Day Party; 2:40-3:40
• 2/15: Mrs. Nagy out
• 2/17: No School (Teacher Work Day)

Valentines Day Note:

Any and all exchanged Valentines at school must be consumed at home.  Teachers are not allowed to let students consume exchanged treats at school.  Thank you for your understanding.