March 2, 2014

Last week was a very busy week! We took a test on chapter 8 in math and started chapter 12, Time. We continued experimenting with electricity and started final drafts of our informational books. We had a great time at the Valentine's Day Pancake Breakfast.

Here are a few pictures...

This week...

Reading
We will continue our book clubs. At this point, students should be reading the last section of their books. Most groups have 2-3 chapters left and should finish these by next Monday. We will continue our Beverly Cleary read aloud, Mitch and Amy. We are also preparing for the New York State ELA test by reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction passages and answering multiple choice and short answer questions. You may see some of these types of assignments as homework over the next few weeks.

Writing
We will finish our informational books this week. Students have researched, written chapters, revised and edited. They are writing final drafts and adding diagrams, tables of contents and glossaries. We will also start preparing for the ELA test by practicing writing long responses to a reading passage.

Math
We are working on Chapter 12, Time. Some kids are still struggling with the idea of "elapsed time". This is something that can easily be reinforced at home! We will finish that up this week and start fractions. Also, each day students are doing multiplication drills to gain fluency. They are required to successfully complete a fact group (2s, then 3s, etc.) before moving on. Kids are at different levels-some are still on 2s and some are already up to the 5s. The idea is to improve fluency on an individual basis.

Science/Social Studies
We are working on electricity by creating circuits in science. The class is really enjoying the experiments. In social studies, we are learning about economy in the United States.