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This week, we are back to the usual Level 3 homework lineup:
Writing, we will have spelling Monday - Thursday.
Reading, we will have the newsletter on Monday, and a book of choice Tuesday - Thursday. As always, your student will come home with their reading packet and lit circle book if they do not finish the day’s work in class.
Math, we will send home a worksheet that students should spend 15-20 minutes on.
Project
Last week in project, colonies loaded up their ships and began sailing to the New World! Some colony groups sailed successfully across the 3,500 miles of treacherous seas, and some colonies are still making their way over. This week, colonies will continue to sail across the ocean blue. Once all colonies arrive safely, we will begin landing and purchasing parcels of land. Colonies will get a glimpse of what it may have been like for colonists attempting to claim land, and for Native Americans who were already living there. Stay tuned!
Ask: What kind of challenges did colonists face as they made the trip over to the New World?
Extend the Learning: Check out this website and explore the different kinds of ships that were used during colonial times.
Literacy
Last week, we started by celebrating each other’s work by sharing what we found while conducting some colonial setting research. We took notes on each other’s research to build a deeper understanding of our focus text Chains and our lives as colonists during our simulations. We also worked through our second literature circle meetings, where we shared predictions about what might happen later on in our own books. We also did a short historical fiction reading called Baseball Saved Us and started thinking about how setting, characters, plot, and historical events are used in a historical fiction. We will use this as one of several mentor texts, drawing inspiration and ideas from other pieces we read in the same genre as we write.
Ask: Why is research important to writing historical fiction? How is historical fiction different than other types of fiction (general, realistic, science, nature adventure)?
5th Grade Math
Last week in 5th grade math, students continued multiplying and dividing whole numbers and decimals. Students built on their understanding of ratio tables, and we brought the array model back! We reviewed the double and half rule - we can halve one side of the multiplication as long as we double the other - and the answer remains the same, and applied it to solving multi-digit multiplication and division problems. We ended the short week by playing “Battle Multiplication” as a class, and students used their skills and strategies to beat Bree. Then students had the choice to play the product game or the battle multiplication game in partners. This week, we will move into solving multiplication problems using relationships fractions, decimals, and whole numbers. Students are focused on building their understanding of multiplication before moving on to the standard algorithm.
Ask: What is the double and half rule? How does it help us solve multiplication problems?
Extend the Learning: Mathplayground has great games for math learning. Find a game that focused on multiplying multi-digit numbers and play a few rounds together.
6th Grade Math
Last week in 6th Grade Math, we practiced two different methods for multiplying and dividing fractions: a model and an algorithm. Although many of the students prefer to use the algorithm, models can help us out if we forget the algorithm during a test. This week we will continue to use models and algorithms to find area with mixed numbers and fractions.
Ask: How are the products and quotients of fraction expressions different from those of whole number expressions?