Important Information
~ It's hard to believe it's almost spring break!! Don't forget, we don't have school on Friday! I hope everyone has a fun and safe spring break.
~ This week's homework will be due after spring break.
Math
We are starting unit 8 this week. We will be reviewing the concept of renaming fractions as equivalent fractions. Student's will also be introduced to algorithms for the multiplication of fraction and mixed numbers, and they will practice estimating and calculating the percent of a number.
Social Studies
This week in social studies, we will be continuing to study Lewis and Clark. We will be mapping out their journey and learning about all of the struggles they faced, as well as the interesting things they found.
Writing
We are continuing to research the pros and cons of serving chocolate milk in school. Students are learning interesting facts like, in a study of 58 elementary and middle schools, researchers determined that, when chocolate milk was removed from schools, milk consumption overall dropped by 60 %. This is forcing them to ask themselves, "Is it better to have children drink chocolate milk or no milk at all?" These are the kinds of questions students will be using to choose their side of the debate. We have also been discussing how to take notes from an article. Today we learned to importance of citing specifics when taking notes, especially when you're going to need those notes to write an essay. Later in the week, students will begin to choose a side and focus their evidence collection on that side.
Reading
Students are now nose deep in their nonfiction reading book clubs. They are having engaging discussions about their topics with their clubs and adding to their research questions. Later this week, students will be creating their interactive "thinking board." Next week, students will learn how to take all that they've learned to help them discover ideas and theories surrounding their topics. In this way, students will be pushing their own thinking about the topic.
Homework
~ It's hard to believe it's almost spring break!! Don't forget, we don't have school on Friday! I hope everyone has a fun and safe spring break.
~ This week's homework will be due after spring break.
Math
We are starting unit 8 this week. We will be reviewing the concept of renaming fractions as equivalent fractions. Student's will also be introduced to algorithms for the multiplication of fraction and mixed numbers, and they will practice estimating and calculating the percent of a number.
Social Studies
This week in social studies, we will be continuing to study Lewis and Clark. We will be mapping out their journey and learning about all of the struggles they faced, as well as the interesting things they found.
Writing
We are continuing to research the pros and cons of serving chocolate milk in school. Students are learning interesting facts like, in a study of 58 elementary and middle schools, researchers determined that, when chocolate milk was removed from schools, milk consumption overall dropped by 60 %. This is forcing them to ask themselves, "Is it better to have children drink chocolate milk or no milk at all?" These are the kinds of questions students will be using to choose their side of the debate. We have also been discussing how to take notes from an article. Today we learned to importance of citing specifics when taking notes, especially when you're going to need those notes to write an essay. Later in the week, students will begin to choose a side and focus their evidence collection on that side.
Reading
Students are now nose deep in their nonfiction reading book clubs. They are having engaging discussions about their topics with their clubs and adding to their research questions. Later this week, students will be creating their interactive "thinking board." Next week, students will learn how to take all that they've learned to help them discover ideas and theories surrounding their topics. In this way, students will be pushing their own thinking about the topic.
Homework
- Reading Comprehension: "Getting Around"
- Writing: Students have two assignments for this week: 1) Students must choose one WPP to revise. They should be using the tips at the bottom to strengthen their essay. As we discussed in class, when the tip at the bottom is written as a question; for example, "Do you have a strong conclusion that supports your essay?" What it's really saying is, "You don't have a strong conclusion that supports your essay. Make it stronger!!" :) Assignment 2) I have given every student a copy of the poem "Our Generation", written by a 14 year old boy. Students have two options: they may write a one page response to the poem or try to write one in the same style. Here is a copy of the poem. Our Generation
- POW
- Vocab quiz Thursday. Here is the Quizlet link: http://quizlet.com/_m0ghp