Important Announcements
~ Our field trip to the Temple is this Wednesday. We will be leaving school around 9:15 and returning before lunch. This is a fascinating trip and I know the students will learn a lot.
~ Next Thursday, 10/31, is Fall Festival. Is is a noon dismissal. Students are invited to wear their Halloween costumes to school that day as long as the costume is school appropriate and won't scare the kindergarteners. If you are unsure if your child's costume is appropriate for school, have him or her bring in a picture wearing it and we can ask Mrs. Houghton for her thoughts. Tennis shoes are require regardless of your child's costume.
Math
We will be starting Unit 4 this week. Unit 4 focuses entirely on division. PLEASE make sure that your child continues to work with their multiplication facts (flashcards!) often. If they struggle with basic multiplication facts, division is going to be INCREDIBLY difficult for them. It would be helpful if they continue to practice these facts daily. This week, we will review the partial quotients algorithm, and then we will begin our transition to the traditional method.
~ Our field trip to the Temple is this Wednesday. We will be leaving school around 9:15 and returning before lunch. This is a fascinating trip and I know the students will learn a lot.
~ Next Thursday, 10/31, is Fall Festival. Is is a noon dismissal. Students are invited to wear their Halloween costumes to school that day as long as the costume is school appropriate and won't scare the kindergarteners. If you are unsure if your child's costume is appropriate for school, have him or her bring in a picture wearing it and we can ask Mrs. Houghton for her thoughts. Tennis shoes are require regardless of your child's costume.
Math
We will be starting Unit 4 this week. Unit 4 focuses entirely on division. PLEASE make sure that your child continues to work with their multiplication facts (flashcards!) often. If they struggle with basic multiplication facts, division is going to be INCREDIBLY difficult for them. It would be helpful if they continue to practice these facts daily. This week, we will review the partial quotients algorithm, and then we will begin our transition to the traditional method.
Social Studies
This week, we will be completing our study of the French and Indian War. It's a confusing war, but lays the foundation for the American Revolution. Encourage your student to talk about it with you- not only from a content standpoint- but also by discussing what the effect of this war had. So much of studying history is recognizing cause and effect, an essential reading skill for students to understand! Next week, students will work in small groups to discover the variety of taxes imposed on colonists to help the British pay off their war debts. No taxation without representation!
Reading
Students are working hard to critically analyze the characters in their stories, focusing on how their actions tell us more about the character as a person, and how complicated our characters can be as they act one way and follow it up by acting completely differently. Next week, we will work on taking all of the information on our characters and developing/recognizing themes or patterns across our thoughts. This is difficult work, and will take awhile to sink in!
Writing
For the last few weeks, we have been discussing what makes a strong thesis essay. We have been going through all of the different elements; introductory paragraph (with thesis and supporting reasons), body paragraphs that line up with the supporting reasons and provide specific details, and the conclusion that restates everything and wraps up the essay. We have been studying this by revising our on-demand essays about the necessity of homework. I can't wait for you all to see the growth in just the last few weeks. It's truly amazing! Next week, we will be putting all of our new essay writing skills into developing and essay about our book characters.
We will also be focusing this week on developing strong sentences. This will be an ongoing study, beginning with recognizing essential elements of a sentence (subject/predicate), then moving into independent and dependent clauses, and finally taking a closer look at developing our sentences into compound and complex sentences.
Homework
~ POW due Monday
~ Reading Comprehension: "El Nino Brings Weird Weather"
~ Writing: "Reading to Gather Evidence"