Monday PE | Tuesday O&A to Fernhill Dress for wet weather! | Wednesday ART | Thursday Permission Slip Due | Friday No School |
Reading: Read newsletter Monday night and read a book of your choice the other nights. Make sure to record the book in your agenda.
Math: Check agenda or website, but daily math homework
Writing: Type up Power of the Word and Power of the Line if it's not already done. Otherwise free write or lessons on Typing Web. Record what you do in your agenda.
Important Dates
| Volunteer We are in high need of help for this Tuesday and next Tuesday's trip to Fernhill wetlands. Sign Up here if you can come! Oct.17th -- 9am-11am. Scavenger hunt and science exploration / Fernhill Oct.24th -- 9am-11am Fernhill data collection - HIGH VOLUNTEER NEED! Oct. 31st -- 8:50-2:00 All day to Hyla Woods to learn about sustainable forestry Wishlist: Jerseys to wear to play games |
Merlins continued their work as systems thinkers by looking at two new concepts: Behavior over Time Graphs and Connection Circles. BoTGs help kids track how a behavior or variable changes over time and the CC helps kids see how the change in one variable leads to a change somewhere else. We learned the skill by reading The Lorax and then applied the skill to our farms. Now, we'll be switching into looking at water systems--such as our waste water treatment facility at Fernhill Wetlands managed by Clean Water Services.
Ask, what was one BoTG in your farm and name some Connection Circles with The Lorax.
Listen to your child talk about how Life and Death in the forest mimics trophic levels and the energy pyramid.
Extend the learning by volunteering this weekend at Jackson Bottom Wetlands tree-planting! Join Erin at this volunteer event, 8:45 this Saturday in Hillsboro. Kiddos must be accompanied by adults. Trees, mud, bonus points and all the voodoo donuts you can eat - enough said! I will be away with my family this weekend, but I encourage you to join Erin for some muddy fun!
Literacy
Goal setting was a main focus for our week--both reading and writing. Kiddos and I look forward to sharing these with you in the coming weeks. Additionally, we looked at "Power of the Line" by reading and writing poetry that follow a particular structure. Tankas, haikus, cinquains, and of course the limerick. I also started the sequel to Love That Dog, which is Hate That Cat, but I am not sure we'll finish it. So, it's a good thing I've got a few copies in my classroom.
Ask, can you show me the poetry you've typed up in Google Classroom?
Listen to your kiddo talk about what Hate That Cat might be be about--Jack keeps writing pondering thoughts about people who can't hear.
Extend the learning by reading and writing poems together.
5th Grade Math
Fifth grade mathematicians faced their first test fearlessly focused (check out that alliteration!) They will be bringing their tests home this week to get them signed, by you, and correct errors they have made - feel free to help them with this step. They also have a second chance to retake those problems missed to increase their final test score! Please let them work independently to show me their skills on this part. This coming week, we'll explore place value and learn how to multiply up to a million!
Ask, what is the "rule of 10s?" How would you figure out 37x10x10x10x10? How about 37 divided by 10?
Talk about how your 5th grader did on their math test.
Extend the learning by looking at ways you use decimals in the real world!
6th Grade Math
The 6th graders jumped back into things by looking at long division. We've been taking it slow to ensure that we know all the steps and can figure out which numbers are the divisors and dividends in story problems. The two other skills we're tackling with division are dividing decimal numbers and making sure we can identify when we use multiplication or division in a story problem. We'll start the end of block test early next week, perhaps even Thursday of this week.
Ask, what is 3.4 divided by 17? Imagine you have 3.4 pounds of beans that you want to use in 17 burritos. How many pounds would be in each burrito?
Listen to your child explain how to think of the decimal when dividing?
Extend the learning by practicing situations when you need to figure out whether multiplication or division are the right operation.