Thank you to all the families who came to conferences. The students really enjoyed showing you what they have been doing in class. :)
March is Reading Month is in full swing! Students should have brought home a calendar of events. Make special note of the reading reward days and other special days.
Spring Break is coming up. It is March 30-April 3.
Boots: Please keep sending students with boots. The playground is muddy and will probably get worse as the weather warms. Also, students should always bring a coat to school. It is not that warm when students go out to recess at 11:15.
What We've Been Up To...
Math: Since my last post, Geometry tests came home (the students did well with an over 90% proficiency rate) and we began Topic 11: Fraction Equivalence and Ordering. Miss Butler is taking the lead on our fraction unit with my guidance. The students have been hard at work learning about the following...
*Factors and Multiples
*Prime and Composite Numbers
*Equivalent fractions using pictures
*Equivalent fractions using number lines
*Equivalent fractions by dividing and/or multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same number
Comparing and Ordering Fractions
The Topic 11 test will be on Tuesday, March 10.
Coming up... Topic 12 focuses on fractions as well. Students are expected to be able to add and subtract fractions, convert improper fractions and mixed numbers, as well as, add and subtract mixed numbers.
ReadyGen ELA: Since my last post, we finished our text structure mini unit. You were able to see their text structure organizers at conferences. We are currently working on Unit 3B. This is a nonfiction focused unit. Students are reading about natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes. The main focus is on reading strategies readers use when reading nonfiction texts including inferencing and context clues. As always there is also a focus on text evidence and supporting reading comprehension using text based evidence.
Writers are just beginning their main writing for the unit. Students will be researching a natural disaster and then writing a news report detailing how the natural disaster affected the earth and the people living in that area. Like previous units, students are working with a writing packet that holds everything they need to complete the writing task. These are a work in progress and final copies will be uploaded to Seesaw once complete. (The unit continues for a couple more weeks.) We are also looking into fun ways to showcase our reports. More information to come.
Our grammar lessons have focused on pronouns and adverbs. Students learned that adverbs can tell where, when or how. Many times adverbs end in -ly, but not always.
Science: We are a couple lessons in to our new science unit. So far we have discussed the six main types of weathering and erosion. This week we dive deeper into these types of erosion before turning our attention to fossils, and rock layers.
Social Studies: We are 3 lessons in to our current SS unit. The Big Ideas we have discussed so far...
- People use resources to produce goods and services.
- Scarcity results because resources are limited and human wants are unlimited.
- Because of scarcity, people make choices about what goods and services to produce, how goods and services will be produced and who will get the goods and services.
- The economic system in the U.S. is called a market economy.
- A market economy is based on the interactions of buyers and sellers.
- Interactions in a market economy can be described with a circular flow model.
- Circular flow describes the pattern in which goods and services and resources flow in the marketplace.
- Circular flow includes a market for resources and a market for goods and services.
Thank you!!