Week of: April 25

 Upcoming Dates:

April 25-28: In-person Book Fair! 3-6pm Mon/Tues, 3-8pm Wed, and 3-4pm Thurs 
May 19: Field Trip to Chicago Children's Theater
May 30: Memorial Day - No School
June 7: Last Day of School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: We will continue with our reading unit: "Series Book Clubs". In this unit, students will work together in small groups to read books in a series.  The students will be assigned books at their appropriate reading levels. They will work on comprehension strategies together with their groups. This week we will learn that readers think about how their characters respond to problems. They will also learn to look closely at their characters to determine how they "usually" feel and what they "always" do. Finally, we will use what we know about our series characters to make predictions about their next steps. 

Writing: We will start an exciting new writing unit: "Poetry: Big Thoughts in Small Packages". This unit is all about writing poetry and focusing on line breaks, rhythm, and meaningful phrases. Making sure our words rhyme is completely optional (poetry is so much more than that!).This week the kids will learn that poets see the world through special lenses.  They will see with both their hearts and minds, writing about the world in fresh, unusual ways. We will also work on listening for line breaks.

Math:  We will continue our work with Module 8: "Time, Shapes, and Fractions".  We will relate the square to a cube and describe a cube based on its attributes. This week we will begin to learn about fractions!  The kids will combine different shapes to create a composite shape.  We will use these composite shapes to learn about equal shares and halves, thirds, and fourths. 

Social Studies/Science:  We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long.  This week we will begin our last science unit: "Plants and Insects".  We will study the life cycle of mealworms as well as plants.  Each student will have their own worm and seed to study and plant in class! We will start with planting seeds this week and will move on to the mealworms the following week. It will be very exciting! We have also learned some new states on our US maps: Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. 
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Week of: April 18th

  Upcoming Dates:

April 25-28: In-person Book Fair! 3-6pm Mon/Tues, 3-8pm Wed, and 3-4pm Thurs 
May 19: Field Trip to Chicago Children's Theater
May 30: Memorial Day - No School
June 7: Last Day of School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: We will continue with our reading unit: "Series Book Clubs". In this unit, students will work together in small groups to read books in a series.  The students will be assigned books at their appropriate reading levels. They will work on comprehension strategies together with their groups. We will learn to preview the first book in a series by paying close attention to the main characters. Then the kids will learn that readers think about how their characters respond to problems. They will also learn to look closely at their characters to determine how they "usually" feel and what they "always" do. 

Writing: We will be continuing our writing unit: "Writing About Reading".  This is actually a unit on opinion writing and using evidence to support our opinions.  Next week we will learn that writers make comparisons to support their opinions.  We will also learn to use mid-sentence punctuation to help highlight ideas for our readers.  Finally, we will be working on our introductions and conclusions. 

Math:  We will continue our work with Module 8: "Time, Shapes, and Fractions".  We will build, identify, and analyze two-dimensional shapes with specified attributes.  We will be using attributes to draw different polygons including triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons. The kids will learn about all the different quadrilaterals, including: rectangles, rhombuses, parallelograms, and trapezoids.  Finally, we will relate the square to a cube and describe a cube based on its attributes. 

Social Studies/Science:  We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long.  We will be continuing our earth science unit: "Pebbles, Sand, and Silt". This week we will be exploring what happens when unwashed sand mixes with water and we will discover that there is a rock-type that is smaller than sand: silt!  We have also learned some new states on our maps: North Carolina and South Carolina! 
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Week of: April 11

 Upcoming Dates:

April 15: No School Today!
May 19: Field Trip to Chicago Children's Theater
May 30 - Memorial Day - No School
June 7 - Last Day of School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: We will be wrapping up our current reading unit with an assessment and then starting our next reading unit. Our next unit is called: "Series Book Clubs". In this unit, students will work together in small groups to read books in a series.  The students will be assigned books at their appropriate reading levels. They will work on comprehension strategies together with their groups. We will start by learning to preview the first book in a series by paying close attention to the main characters. Then the kids will learn that readers think about how their characters respond to problems. They will also learn to look closely at their characters to determine how they "usually" feel and what they "always" do. 

Writing: We will be continuing our writing unit: "Writing About Reading".  This is actually a unit on opinion writing and using evidence to support our opinions.  Next week we will that writers make comparisons to support their opinions. When writing about books, they compare characters, series, or kinds of books to explain why they think one is better or best. 

Math:  This week we will wrap up our work with module 7 by having a review day and an assessment. We will also start Module 8: "Time, Shapes, and Fractions".  This week we will learn to describe two-dimensional shapes based on attributes.  We will also build, identify, and analyze two-dimensional shapes with specified attributes.

Social Studies/Science:  We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long.  We will be continuing our earth science unit: "Pebbles, Sand, and Silt". This week we will be exploring what happens when unwashed sand mixes with water and we will discover that there is a rock-type that is smaller than sand: silt!  We have also learned some new states on our maps: Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. 
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