We've had a busy two weeks, and its so hard to believe that we only have 3 weeks of school until spring break! The year is just flying by!
In language arts, we spent a few days on a district-wide assessment where students had to write a personal narrative. These will be compared to their writing from the beginning of the year, so that we can see areas of growth, or areas where we still need to focus our instruction. We have spent a lot of time watching videos, reading books, and doing some online research in reading as we learn about our PBL project on conservation. Most students are choosing to focus on endangered animals so I am sure you will be hearing about that a lot in the coming weeks! During the project, we will be focusing on non-fiction reading and writing skills such as using text features, note-taking, cause and effect, using context clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words, and expository writing.
In math, we have continued our unit on multiplication and division, with a focus on the 6s and 9s facts. Please have your students practice these at home! We teach them strategies such as building up from the 5s to the 6s, or building down from the 10s to the 9s, but the more they practice this, they more fluent they will become in the facts. Next week we will discuss multiplicative comparisons (three times as many for example), and then end the week with a unit assessment. I will send home a review early in the week that they can work on at home to prepare for the test.
In science, we have continued our unit on weather and will have a test on Monday that will cover weather tools and how to read charts that show weather data. Students are well prepared, and we will of course review just before the test with a Kahoot game. Our next unit is outer space, which is always a fun one!
Ms. Na has been teaching social studies and we have been learning about spending, savings, and advertising. We will continue studying advertising over the next 2 weeks, so that students will be prepared to design their own advertisements for the Economics Fair. They are all looking forward to the Economics Fair on Tuesday March 12, and are hopefully working on their products at home.
Friday, February 22, 2019
Friday, February 8, 2019
Week in Review: February 4-8
This week in language arts, we finished up our imaginative stories, publishing and illustrating our final copies. We also ended our reading unit over traditional literature by performing Reader's Theater plays of folktales. The students really enjoyed this activity!
We started the week in math with a quiz over geometry, you can see how well your child did by checking grades in Home Access Center. Then we moved onto a unit of multiplication and division, beginning with the easier 0s and 1s facts, then jumping right into the 9s facts! We learned how to use our 10s facts to help us recall the 9s. Here is an example of what I mean:
5 X 9 ....think that 5 X 10 is 50, so 5 X 9 must be one group of 5 less than 50. So 50 - 5 is 45.
In science, we began the week with a test over soil and natural resources. The students have been really excited to learn about our next unit, weather. We've been tracking forecasts in Austin and El Paso, and they are especially interested in the big weather changes we've had today! We will continue our weather unit for the next two weeks.
In social studies, our student teacher, Ms.Na, has taken over the economics unit as students learn about supply and demand. The kids are looking forward to the economics fair on March 12 to culminate our unit!
We started the week in math with a quiz over geometry, you can see how well your child did by checking grades in Home Access Center. Then we moved onto a unit of multiplication and division, beginning with the easier 0s and 1s facts, then jumping right into the 9s facts! We learned how to use our 10s facts to help us recall the 9s. Here is an example of what I mean:
5 X 9 ....think that 5 X 10 is 50, so 5 X 9 must be one group of 5 less than 50. So 50 - 5 is 45.
In science, we began the week with a test over soil and natural resources. The students have been really excited to learn about our next unit, weather. We've been tracking forecasts in Austin and El Paso, and they are especially interested in the big weather changes we've had today! We will continue our weather unit for the next two weeks.
In social studies, our student teacher, Ms.Na, has taken over the economics unit as students learn about supply and demand. The kids are looking forward to the economics fair on March 12 to culminate our unit!
Friday, February 1, 2019
Week in Review: January 28 - February 1
This week we wrapped up our language arts unit on traditional literature. Students did two STAAR practice passages, and those were sent home on Thursday. You may want to take some time to look over those with your child and ask them about the strategies they are SUPPOSED to be using! :) If they did not do as well as you would hope, please encourage them to follow the steps they have been taught in class:
1. Preview the passage and the questions.
2. Read the passage, and while reading, stop and jot a quick summary of each paragraph.
3. Answer each question, finding proof in the passage to support each answer.
Students are still in the process of writing their imaginative stories. Ms. Na and I were able to hold a mini-conference with each student this week, so they will be ready to write their final copies next week. We will begin our next unit over non-fiction and research skills in reading on Monday.
In math, we wrapped up our study of area, and spent a few days on reviewing 3-dimensional shapes. Students learned the differences between pyramids and prisms, as well as what a polyhedron is. We move back into another unit of multiplication and division next week.
We finished our unit on natural resources in science, and will move onto weather on Monday. We had a great introduction to weather on Tuesday morning, when we had a meteorologist visit and talk to the students about her work and the kinds of tools that she uses. Hopefully, you got a chance to see our grade level on the 6 o'clock news!
And finally, we are still in the middle of our economics unit in social studies. Don't forget, your child should be working on their Economics Fair products in their spare time. They shouldn't wait until the last minute...the fair is on March 12.
1. Preview the passage and the questions.
2. Read the passage, and while reading, stop and jot a quick summary of each paragraph.
3. Answer each question, finding proof in the passage to support each answer.
Students are still in the process of writing their imaginative stories. Ms. Na and I were able to hold a mini-conference with each student this week, so they will be ready to write their final copies next week. We will begin our next unit over non-fiction and research skills in reading on Monday.
In math, we wrapped up our study of area, and spent a few days on reviewing 3-dimensional shapes. Students learned the differences between pyramids and prisms, as well as what a polyhedron is. We move back into another unit of multiplication and division next week.
We finished our unit on natural resources in science, and will move onto weather on Monday. We had a great introduction to weather on Tuesday morning, when we had a meteorologist visit and talk to the students about her work and the kinds of tools that she uses. Hopefully, you got a chance to see our grade level on the 6 o'clock news!
And finally, we are still in the middle of our economics unit in social studies. Don't forget, your child should be working on their Economics Fair products in their spare time. They shouldn't wait until the last minute...the fair is on March 12.
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