Monday No School | Tuesday In & About *Before school studyhall | Wednesday ART *Before school studyhall *OBOB 3:30-4:15 | Thursday Play *Before school studyhall | Friday ART *Before school studyhall |
1/21--Wizard of Oz performance, please bring $5 to school
1/22-- Weekly reflection due
1/22--Lunch orders due for Feb.
1/28 & 1/29 -- No School-- for teachers to work on report cards
2/4--Geography Bee @ the Library at 10:00
News of the Week
*If possible, please send $5 along with your child to pay for our theatre tickets to Wizard of Oz.
Literacy
- Writing homework this week is Spelling City.
Our literacy time focused on a variety of concepts last week. But, our main focus will center on reading and writing small moment stories and reading and writing about colonial America. I encourage you to read Eleven with your child and the other narrative biography your child chose to read. Talk about the writing techniques you found and what made the piece beautiful. Another project we’ll be working on as we have time is writing a book for our ELC buddy. Students are using Storybird and are welcome to work on this whenever they want or have the time. In the future, some weeks students will use Storybird as the writing homework.
Ask your child what small moment stories they read last week.
Listen to your child explain what story he/she planned for their ELC buddy.
Extend the learning by writing a small moment story as a family.
Project
Students have formed groups and will soon set sail for the New World. Groups are being sponsored by a company, the English government or are setting sail privately seeking religious freedom. This week they’ll “pack” their ships and will learn their sailing fate. To get to this point, students learned what started sea exploration and read different informational passages to learn more about the time period.
Ask your child where Columbus thought he landed when he arrived at the Bahamas?
Listen to your child explain our colonial simulation thus far.
Extend the learning by researching more information about Colonial America.
6th Grade Math
Wow, what a block it’s been! We wrapped our block with inequalities (knowing how to write statements that include more than, less than, at least, and more/less than or equal to. We reviewed last week and started a math challenge on knowing how many tables a person would need for a wedding. I want to put a little more time into this challenge and Kerry, our student teacher will be leading a math activity on Tuesday too. So, some of the test will be homework. Please check your child’s agenda / website for exact homework expectations for this week.
Ask your child to write an inequality for James has at least $5 in his pocket.
Listen to your child explain the math challenge about how many people can sit at each table.
Extend the learning by writing inequalities that relate to your life.
5th Grade Math
Last week, 5th grade mathematicians worked hard to learn the standard algorithm for multi-digit multiplication, and to understand the mathematical reasoning behind this short cut. We will spend time during our warm-up this week to solidify this understanding for all students. Last week, students also got back their scored fraction block one unit test. All students were asked to complete a short reflection, review their test with family members and have parents sign the test, and correct all missed problems before returning the test to me. This is DUE tomorrow. 5th graders who did not earn a score of 80% or higher will retake the test this coming week. This will be a take-home test. Please help your child complete the retest on his or her own, with no additional resources.
This week we turn our attention to decimals. Over this week and into next, mathematicians will learn the definition of finite decimals, be able to convert decimal fractions to finite decimals, rewrite whole numbers as finite decimals, and work to memorize conversion of some fractions to finite decimals. Homework this week will include decimals work and practice with the standard algorithm for multiplication.
ASK YOUR CHILD: to explain the definition of a finite decimal and give you an example of one.
LISTEN TO YOUR CHILD: explain rewriting the finite decimal 5.394 as a decimal fraction.
EXTEND THE LEARNING: Practice finite decimal conversions for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and apply while shopping together.