Posted by kavery508 | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on January 8, 2018
Well that was a short week! I hope you’re faring well in this cold and snowy winter. Monday we will take our math fact quiz from last week, and we’ll take another this Friday.
This week we revisit Author’s Message with the purpose of developing critical thinking skills at a deeper level. We will learn common Themes from children’s literature (lessons like Believe in yourself; Always tell the truth; etc.) and apply them using fiction texts. Then we will learn to read closely and find evidence from the text to support our claims, and compare themes within and among texts. When your child uses a piece of fiction for reading homework, ask him/her to think about the themes that emerge over several pages or chapters of a book. And Scholastichas some great ideas on finding themes in books, movies, and songs at home:http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2011/02/helping-students-grasp-themes-in-literature
Our writing focus switches back to opinion writing. The eventual goal on the road to college and career readiness is for students to synthesize knowledge and present arguments that are supported with evidence. At this time, our kids are learning to write an introductory sentence on a topic; state an opinion; list 3 reasons that support it; write 1 or more explanations for each reason; and write a concluding sentence. Students will begin by writing opinions on any topic, then research and write opinion pieces on famous Americans. Speaking of which…
Our Term 2 Social Studies focus is on learning character traits and applying that knowledge to understand famous U.S. and world figures and their contributions. What makes these historical leaders worth remembering? How did Lincoln’s honesty, Cesar Chavez’ determination, Harriet Tubman’s bravery, and Susan B. Anthony’s patriotism affect the lives of others and forever change our understanding of America? These are the kinds of questions we will attempt to answer by analyzing biographical texts and media.
This week, we will analyze the life and achievements of Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) and learn to assign character traits to him based on evidence from biographical texts and video. Check out this great video from Brainpop (an awesome and highly engaging resource that I use a lot!) and keep the learning going at home: https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/martinlutherkingjr/. Then consider these traits: determined; hardworking; patriotic; creative; honest; responsible; brave. Which words best apply to MLK? What is your evidence?
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This week we begin chapter 7 of Math in Focus, the goal of which is to make students proficient with linear measurement (especially meters and centimeters). To begin, students will learn the importance of standard units of measurement and be introduced to content-specific vocabulary (width; height; length; meter; etc.). They will next develop a sense of how big meters and centimeters are. Then they will learn correct methods for estimating and accurately measuring and talking about measurement (more than, less than, about, exactly). And as always, they will be asked to solve real-world problems that require analysis and application of skills learned. Consider the following problem from this week’s lessons. Notice how it requires students to think about space, length, multiplication/repeated addition, and subtraction to solve it:
