Week of 9/24

We are off to a great start in Room 41! 

Here's the learning update:

In WRITING, students have just published their first poem, uniqueness reflection, and even a letter setting goals. We are building writing stamina through a variety of quick writes and reflecting on the independent writing atmosphere. As we develop more seed ideas in our writer's notebook, students will choose a personal narrative topic by the end of the week. 

In WORD STUDY, we have finished assessing students knowledge of high frequency words and students are being introduced to the word study process. In addition, we have just started studying our first set of vocabulary words.

In MATH, students have taken a placement test in addition to finishing Topic 1: Place Value. We have practiced reading, writing, expanding, and rounding numbers through a variety of activities, videos, and quick checks. Students have learned the expectations for fluency games and continue to build their fact fluency and mental math through warm-ups. Students have also started to use ST math as well as Pearson Realize (our core online math program). We will be assessing on Topic 1 this week and starting math centers next week! 

In ELA, we continue to read aloud many different types of texts to build students' knowledge of genre and theme. We have learned about the expectations of the reader's workshop model and continue to reflect on the idea of "Reading Thinking" and the different types of thoughts we have while we read. Students are learning how to jot thinking on sticky notes and express their independent reading by writing letters. 

In SCIENCE, we have completed a few STEM activities, in addition to a scientific method experiment. Students have learned what science is, it's importance and how to conduct an experiment. We just started our first earth science unit on landforms. 

Week of 9/3

Welcome Back Students!

I am so excited (and nervous!) to meet you all tomorrow. We are going to have a great year! 


Reminders:
Sign and return beginning of year forms (Tuesday Folder) 

Week of 2/11

Good Morning! 4 1/2 days until February break and happy 100th day! 

Reminders for the Week: 
Read 25 mins. each night
Daily math sheet
*Conference Slips- ASAP
*Biography Choices- ASAP
*Begin gathering biography supplies/ideas
*Valentine's Day-Thursday 
*Early Release- Friday


Learning this Week:
Writing: Students will be using different strategies to take notes for their chosen author study. Students will be researching their author by using the VIP strategy and creating a KWL chart to learn what they want to know. Students will begin their culminating project of writing a book with their author's craft or writing a letter to their author. 

Math: Students have just finished Topic 8 (Equivalent Fractions) and have started learning how to add and subtract fractions (Topic 9). Students will test on Topic 1-8 this week, and we will have a combined Topics 8 & 9 assessment after vacation. 

ELA: Students will be analyzing their author's work by completing an organizer and having discussions in groups. Students of the same author will create a poster to share their learning with the class.

Science: Students will complete a Mystery Science that correlates with Valentine's Day, but includes learning on the human body and its structure. 

Week of 1/14

Good Morning!

Reminders for the Week:
Read 25 mins. each night
Daily math sheet
*Early Release- Friday 1/18
*MLK Day- Mon. 1/21
*Patriots Gear- Friday 1/18 (Wear your hat for a dollar!) 

Learning this Week:
Writing: Students are picking animals to research as part of our nonfiction reading and writing unit. Students are learning how to research, cite sources for a bibliography, take notes, and use different strategies for writing ideas in our own words.

Math: Students will be finishing up learning on Factors and Multiples. We will assess on Wednesday to check for student understanding. We will begin to discuss concepts for Topic 8 (Fraction Equivalence). 

ELA: Students are learning about the different genres of nonfiction. We are still focused on narrative nonfiction, but we are incorporating essential skills of main idea and text structure.

Science/ S.S: Students will be learning how to classify animals, different habitats, and read articles to strengthen their background knowledge in order to complete their slideshow on animal adaptations.   

Week of 1/7/19

Good Morning!

Reminders for the Week:

Daily math sheet

25 minutes of reading

*Early Release- Friday, 1/18

*MLK Day- Monday, 1/21

Learning this Week:

Writing: Students are setting three different goals for the new year. They are working on explaining how they will accomplish each goal. We have also started Vocab. #17. Students are using the words in quick writes and with various activities.

Math: We have just started Topic 7 (Factors & Multiples). Students will be expected to know and understand the terms: prime, composite, factor, and multiple. We will be working on these skills all week.

ELA: Students are being exposed to a variety of narrative nonfiction texts. Students are gaining knowledge of text structure, main idea, and learning about how and why authors write narrative nonfiction. 

Science/S.S: Students are continuing to learn different map skills. We will begin our unit on the U.S. Regions to answer the question, How does where you live affect how you live?