Last week was a great week in level 3. We are getting to a point in which many of our first units are coming to a close. This has led level 3 students to come up to some deadlines or larger projects, share and reflect on these projects and celebrate all of the learning that occurred throughout the unit. As we approach Thanksgiving break, we will be continuing to tie up loose ends with our first units. Keep reading for level 3 announcements, an overview of our learning from last week and a preview of next week!
Announcements
- On Friday, the school board voted about whether or not the two days before Thanksgiving break (November 22nd and 23rd) would continue to be student contact days. The school board voted that these will continue to be student days, so we will have school the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week.
- Spelling homework will begin this week! For the spelling program, students will be in leveled groups. Groups will meet with the teacher on Monday to get their words for the week, then they will practice these as homework throughout the week for a spelling test that will occur on the last day of the week. For homework, students can make flashcards, or practice writing and spelling the words in whatever way works best for them. We would really appreciate families taking some time this week to discuss a plan for supporting students in practicing their spelling words throughout the week.
Project
In project last week, students completed online research as well as hands-on research related to their inquiry questions. See the photos attached to this email (or on our class website) taken by a student photographer of students in the backyard garden completing their inquiry research on the out and about. Also, in project, our dream farm simulation continued. On Monday, groups paid their expenses for the week (costs of running their farms) and made purchases. On Friday at our Merlin Valley town hall meeting, we had a sustainability audit and crows (*secret word*) affected the crops of some of our farms.
Ask your student about how sustainable their farm is- what does/ does not make it sustainable? Did the crows affect their farm? Why or why not?
Next week in project, students will continue to work on their inquiry research. They will do this in the backyard garden at our out and about on Tuesday. Additionally, inquiry groups will begin working on a presentation and visual representation of their findings to share at our symposium the day before Thanksgiving break.
Literacy
Last week, we launched writing about reading in our reader’s notebooks. We added in the character webs that we had done previously with our good fit books, and made a one pager about a good fit book we have read before. We also continued reading the book Pax by Sarah Pennypacker for read aloud.
Ask your student what they think is going to happen as we reach the tipping point of Pax.
Next week in literacy we will be launching our spelling program. We will also be setting reading goals, making a plan for achieving these goals and continuing to think about what makes strong writing about reading by setting up quote pages in our reader’s journals.
5th Grade Math
Last week in fifth grade math, we worked on review of our decimal unit. Then, we took an end of unit assessment. To celebrate, Friday was a math game day.
Ask your student about what they have learned about decimals. What are some real world situations that involve decimal math?
Next week we will begin a new unit that looks at multi-digit whole number and decimal fraction operations.
6th Grade Math
Last week in 6th grade math, we learned how to turn ratios into rates and explored the difference between a unit rate (a rate for one of something) and a rate unit (the unit words we use to describe a unit rate and compare two unit rates to each other). An example of these two working together that your student is likely very familiar with after last week is “52 miles per hour”. In this example, “52” is the unit rate and “miles per hour” is the rate unit. Learning the terminology around rates felt tedious to some of us last week, but please encourage your student about these terms; understanding them will help us immensely when we begin to compare rates with different units.
Ask your student if they can think of any other unit rates that we use regularly.
This week in 6th grade math, we will use division to find unit rates from ratios and compare unit rates in terms of the cost of items, measurements, speed, and work.
SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)
This week in SEL, we continued to talk about microaggressions. As a class we came up with sentence frames for how to let someone know if their words or actions are hurting someone in a way that is kind. Next week we will continue this conversation.