We are all starting to feel Spring Break upon on us. Spring fever is upon us! We are staying busy in the classroom though. So much to do, so little time :)
Take a look into our week: Math: We continue to work on fractions. Students are comparing the size of fractions, identifying the numerator and the denominator, as well as adding and subtracting them. We will continue fractions for the new few weeks. Then it will be on to reading graphs! Literacy: We finished up our study on characters. We started a new read aloud book this week, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and are practicing our summarizing skills as well as using evidence from the text to support our answers. Writing: We started brainstorming possible solutions so that students can write their final paragraph about how to solve the unfair procedure of the technology and library passes in the morning. The students came up with some good ideas! I am curious to see what the class will choose as the best solution! Social Studies: Students learned that not only are there regions in Oregon but there are also regions in the United States. The students used climate maps and a physical map to come up with where they thought the major regions of the U.S. might be. We settled on the following five regions: West, Southwest, Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast. Students are now learning to take notes while watching a video on each of the regions. They are gathering information on the climates, landforms, indigenous people, and natural resources found within each region. We continue to have our math facts test each Friday. We are running out weeks. Some of of your children may need to start doubling up on facts each week to ensure they are finished by the end of the year. Fourth and fifth grade teachers cannot stress how important this skill is for their fourth and fifth grade year. It is something both fourth and fifth grade teachers say that holds their students back. We will continue to take time to practice in the classroom but students NEED to be practicing nightly. We have also completed our spelling for the year. By this time of the year many students have improved significantly on their spelling. With Spring Break coming up as well as testing, I like to minimize the additional work students have. Testing is already enough work for their brains! Thanks for all who could attend the music performance. They all did such a wonderful job! Have a terrific weekend!
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I can't believe March is already here! Time is definitely flying. I am looking forward to some warmer and longer days, though. It is time for some warmth! Here is what we did this week: Math: We finished our module/unit on finding the area of shapes. Students will take their module assessment on Monday and Tuesday of this week. To wrap up our study on area, students had the opportunity to write their names in block letters on graph paper. After writing their name, they found the area of their name by counting up the total number of squares found in all the letters. They definitely had a great time with that one! Literacy: Students finished their journey through our read aloud book, Because of Winn-Dixie. Students did a great job identifying the climax of the book and how the main character worked through all of the challenges along the way. Students did a great job also identifying the climax of the book they were reading in their book clubs. To celebrate the end of the book, students watched the movie. They had to compare and contrast the movie and the book as well as explain which they liked better. Writing: This has been a fun one so far! As a class they are working to write opinion pieces on an what they think is an ongoing issue at school. However, in order to move forward, students decided they needed to gather more evidence and research regarding the issue, so they set out to interview specialist teachers, students in grades 2-5, and observe the ongoing issue. They will use this evidence to come up with a solution regarding how the library and technology passes should be distributed in the morning to make the process as fair as possible. The picture below shows students working in groups to formulate their interview questions and then collaboratively type them on a shared Google Doc. Social Studies: Students received a few more clues regarding what they think a region might be. They learned about the variety of landforms found in the world: plateau, ocean, island, mountain, valley, cave, volcano, etc. They made a landform booklet show casing some of the main landforms found in the world. They are using these clues to come up with the idea of how "We Organize Ourselves" (our PYP theme) in regions. We have the Willamette Valley, Great Basis, Cascade Range, etc. They will eventually learn about the different regions, the natural resources found in the regions, and all about the climate. But for now...they have to figure out what a region is!
Onto another 5 day week! |
Sept. 14th- First Day of Online Learning
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