Hello parents,
I hope you all had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving break with your friends and family. The kids came back full of fun tales of food, fun and video games 🙂 and were ready to get back to work, despite being a bit tired. Periodically we reassess how our classroom is running, and set new goals for ourselves as a team. Some previous goals of “Collaboration”, “Organization” and “Using Time Wisely” were set, practiced, and determined to no longer be necessary as goals as a whole class. Over the past few weeks, our classroom goals have switched and include 1. Produce quality work and 2. Practice self control. This week we will continue to earn points on our class behavior chart when we make progress towards the new goals we set for ourselves. I am extremely proud of how dedicated they are to focusing on and achieving the goals we set together as a class. I saw some really great work being done on “quality work” before vacation. With only a short time before report cards come out, the kids are focusing on completing unfinished work, revising current work, and making our end of the trimester work reflects all we have worked hard on the past few months!
Reading: We are wrapping up our Non-fiction reading unit this week, focusing on chronological/sequential texts, compare/contrast and determining the purpose of text structures in texts. We are continuing to work on locating and using specific information to support our answers/claim in writing about our reading.
Writing: This week we present our first Convince the Class, non-fiction writing assignment. Students are using descriptive language and researched facts to convince us of their claim. We have worked on developing interesting/attention grabbing leads, taking notes and paraphrasing, determining the reliability and usefulness of a resource, writing an effective and strong concluding paragraph, and grouping ideas together to make well organized middle paragraphs. This week we will begin our second project, researching interesting/important inventions. We continue learning, practicing and reviewing common grammar rules and proofreading for spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Spelling: Thank you for your help practicing the Spelling words each week with your child at home. Please note that there is a tab on this page with the entire year’s spelling lists if your child has forgotten their list at home.
Science: We are wrapping up our Ecosystems unit in Science. This week the kids combine what they have learned about plants, animals, and decomposers to see how they interact in an ecosystem. They will play a game called the “Big Fish Game” where they compete to create a balanced pond ecosystem with enough plants, decomposers, and animals to create an environment with a healthy carbon dioxide level. They are also collaborating on a mini-slideshow presentation on various ecosystems, applying what they have learned throughout the unit. After this unit, we will be starting our Native American unit in Social Studies!!
Math: This week we begin Unit 4, multiplying decimals. In this unit, students learn to use models and algorithms to multiply decimals by a power of 10, whole numbers by a decimal, and a decimal by a decimal. There have been a few changes in classroom placement, and some kids moved to a different class today based on their test scores and classroom performance. We are always aiming to provide the best learning situation for each individual learner throughout the year.
Before vacation, we made Holiday cards for our Military professionals stationed overseas. The kids made thoughtful, beautiful cards they can be proud to send to our honored military.
This month, be on the lookout for our holiday party guidelines and signup!! 4 more weeks until Winter Vacation!!
As always, please contact me with any questions, concerns or celebrations!
Have a great week,
Lisa
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