Monday, April 7, 2014

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had restful weekends.  The students came in very energized and glad to see their friends.  This can be good and bad- I'm happy when students are eager to see one another and share about their weekends, but this morning was so loud we needed to practice classroom expectations.  I've noticed I've had to do that a lot, lately.  Please remind your child about your expectations of them while they are at school.  The end of the year is an exciting time with lots of learning left. 

Reading

This week we will be wrapping up our mystery unit.  Students will be filling out "Detective Case Reports" as a way of showing their understanding of the mysteries they've been reading.  They have learned fun vocabulary, such as: suspect, evidence, and red-herring.  I encourage you to talk with your child about their mystery book.

Writing

I will use our writing time to build schema about "Fractured Fairy Tales" or different versions of traditional fairy tales. Each day, I will be reading a different version of Cinderella.  After the read aloud, we will focus on the variations of literary elements (character, setting, problem, solution, and point of view).  All of this will help prepare students for writing their own "Fractured Fairy Tale" beginning next week.

Math

We will continue working with fractions for the following 2 or 3 weeks.  This week, will end our work at identifying fractional parts of a group, set, or number line.  Next week, will begin our work comparing and ordering fractions.  

Science and Social Studies

Today we took our Science Terra Nova Assessment.  The students worked very hard and spent a lot of time checking over their work.  I'm sure they did great!!  Classroom instruction is still focusing on the branches of government and rights/responsibility of citizens.  At the end of this unit, your child should be able to identify each of the 3 branches and explain their role in our democracy.  Also, they should be able to list the rights and responsibilities of citizens.    

Upcoming Dates

April 19th- Mercury Gymnastics Night

April 28th- School Cook-Out! (during your child's lunch time)

April 28th- Mid Terms Sent Home

April 29th- State Testing Begins

Have a great week!

-Jodi