Welcome to Week 23! Thanks for all the visits at Open House on Thursday. It was great to see everyone. Also, a big thank you to our parents who volunteered to run the Ice Cream Social (all proceeds go towards the 5th graders trip to 6th grade camp) and to the parents who volunteered for our Art Docent project on Friday.
Here's the week:
This week in reading we are going to continue to work on synthesis using a mystery. We are reading The Schwa Was Here. Students are working on identifying the characteristics of a mystery: detectives, witnesses, suspects, clues and red herrings. We are spending a lot of time discussing how the characters change and how those changes impact the story and the outcome of the mystery. By verbalizing how the story is changing, students are learning how to synthesize. Students will not any additional reading homework beyond their reading logs.
In writing this week we are going to revise and edit our personal narratives. Students have an editing check list they will be using to revise and edit. Students also have a rubric to use while they are revising and editing. The final draft will be due on Thursday this week. With the final draft, students must turn in the three separate paragraph worksheets, the rough draft, and the revising and editing check list signed at the bottom.
In math students will be finishing up their studies on integers. This week they will be looking at graphing of equations and working backwards within story problems. We will be testing on this chapter on Thursday after a review and some peer instruction. Coming after Mid-Winter Break is fractions. Should be an eye opener for some of our kids.
In science we are continuing our work with environments. Thus far students have observed plants within a terrarium, setup an investigation to determine what amount of water would be optimum for our plant life, written an investigation on the optimum amount of light a plant needs, and observed the optimum amount of salt for our brine shrimp to hatch. This week students will be concluding their bring shrimp investigation while creating a new investigation of there own. Students will be asked to find one variable to use while growing plants. For instance...my example will be the use of salt water on plant growth. So I will create four environments that are exactly the same except for the amount of salt in the water that I use to water the plants. Should be fun!
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Allyn and Alaina
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Week 22: Understanding Integers, Mysteries, and Environments Continued
Welcome to week 22! Remember that Thursday is Open House. Please come check out what your students have been doing in class, stop by a buy a book or two from the Book Fair in the library, and buy some ice cream (all proceeds go to sending our 5th graders to 6th grade camp next year!) Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday.
Here's the week:
In math we will be concluding our second algebra chapter with a topic test on Tuesday. Students will have some peer instruction time to review the chapter. On Wednesday we will begin our next unit on integers. This week we will be learning about integers, working with ordered pairs, and finding distances on number lines and coordinate planes. This should be a nice breather from the stresses of algebra.
In reading this week we are going to start a new unit! We are going to be starting our unit on Mysteries. In this unit, we will be learning about the characteristics of mysteries: characters, setting, plot, clues, and red herrings. We are also going to be working with a new reading strategy: synthesis. Students will learn that synthesis is adapting ones understanding based on new information from a text. Mystery is the perfect genre to use in this case because clues are constantly changing our understanding of the story. Students will be using comprehension packets again to practice and demonstrate their understanding. Students will not receive these packets for another couple of weeks. However, when they do, they will be expected to read 1-2 chapters a night and come prepared to participate with their group. If they have not done the reading, they will not be allowed to work with their group.
In writing we are going to put together the personal narratives that students have been writing. Students have written, and received feedback from Mrs. Therriault on an introduction, body and concluding paragraph. This week they will be asked to put all three of the paragraphs together to create a rough draft of their personal narrative. They will also be asked to start revising their personal narratives using a revising checklist and rubric. The rubric will make it even more clear how they will be graded and what they need to do to receive a 3. Be sure to ask your students to see the rubric so that you can see how they will be graded.
On Friday we will be starting a new Social Studies unit. We are going to start exploring why people left England to colonize America. One of the reasons the Separatists left England was because the Church of England was the only church who was allowed to practice their religion. Because of persecution, they left for America for a better life. We will have a hands on activity to help the students understand this idea. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be working closely with Ms. Freeman, the librarian, to learn more about colonization using primary sources. This will lead into a longer project of a colonial fair. This long term project will blend social studies, research skills and writing into one large project. More information will be coming home about this as we get closer to the event.
In science we will be conducting an investigation on Brine Shrimp. Students will be given brine shrimp eggs and they will be put in charge of finding the optimum environment for the brine shrimp eggs to hatch. Through this investigation we are continuing to learn about distinctive environments, how to write up questions and hypotheses, and how to put together an investigation. Should be fun!
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns,
Allyn and Alaina
Here's the week:
In math we will be concluding our second algebra chapter with a topic test on Tuesday. Students will have some peer instruction time to review the chapter. On Wednesday we will begin our next unit on integers. This week we will be learning about integers, working with ordered pairs, and finding distances on number lines and coordinate planes. This should be a nice breather from the stresses of algebra.
In reading this week we are going to start a new unit! We are going to be starting our unit on Mysteries. In this unit, we will be learning about the characteristics of mysteries: characters, setting, plot, clues, and red herrings. We are also going to be working with a new reading strategy: synthesis. Students will learn that synthesis is adapting ones understanding based on new information from a text. Mystery is the perfect genre to use in this case because clues are constantly changing our understanding of the story. Students will be using comprehension packets again to practice and demonstrate their understanding. Students will not receive these packets for another couple of weeks. However, when they do, they will be expected to read 1-2 chapters a night and come prepared to participate with their group. If they have not done the reading, they will not be allowed to work with their group.
In writing we are going to put together the personal narratives that students have been writing. Students have written, and received feedback from Mrs. Therriault on an introduction, body and concluding paragraph. This week they will be asked to put all three of the paragraphs together to create a rough draft of their personal narrative. They will also be asked to start revising their personal narratives using a revising checklist and rubric. The rubric will make it even more clear how they will be graded and what they need to do to receive a 3. Be sure to ask your students to see the rubric so that you can see how they will be graded.
On Friday we will be starting a new Social Studies unit. We are going to start exploring why people left England to colonize America. One of the reasons the Separatists left England was because the Church of England was the only church who was allowed to practice their religion. Because of persecution, they left for America for a better life. We will have a hands on activity to help the students understand this idea. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be working closely with Ms. Freeman, the librarian, to learn more about colonization using primary sources. This will lead into a longer project of a colonial fair. This long term project will blend social studies, research skills and writing into one large project. More information will be coming home about this as we get closer to the event.
In science we will be conducting an investigation on Brine Shrimp. Students will be given brine shrimp eggs and they will be put in charge of finding the optimum environment for the brine shrimp eggs to hatch. Through this investigation we are continuing to learn about distinctive environments, how to write up questions and hypotheses, and how to put together an investigation. Should be fun!
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns,
Allyn and Alaina
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