Thank you for your time and presence at the family conferences last week. What a gift to be able to sit with each of you to celebrate your children and look ahead to our future learning.
Language Arts The Traveling Notebooks are coming together beautifully! This week we have all been working on polishing our writing pieces for publication and beginning the process of assembly. In all classes we have (or will be sending home this weekend) an assignment via Google Classroom for students to input the contact names, addresses, and emails of recipients for this grand project. Thank you for helping your students determine the best order of mailing. As we look ahead, know that we will help your children address the envelope of their first recipient and we will also be responsible for mailing the notebooks on the first “leg”of their voyage. Our goal is to have these mailed or hand delivered before Thanksgiving to allow the notebooks plenty of time to make their journey. Math Rachel’s math class explored decimals in a variety of ways. We looked at visual representations using grids, ordered decimals on number lines, made a human number line, and looked at comparing decimals. We then transitioned into finding fraction and decimal equivalents. During our academic lab time, we had fun solving number puzzles prior to conferences. Now we are building strategies to solve multi-digit multiplication. Students will be bringing home a “Drops in the Bucket” homework sheet each Thursday. This is a review of all math concepts that will be studied this year and from years past. In Julie’s and Lynn’s math classes we continue to work on division of 1 and 2 digit decimal numerals. Have your child show you how to visually represent long division using place value tables and dots. We continue to use the division and multiplication algorithms and visual representations, including “tape diagram models,” to solve real world (aka “word”) problems. This math curriculum provides a rich vocabulary and deeper understanding of decimals and place value. However, we recognize that this may not reflect the methods we learned as younger people. We appreciate your support and your questions. By the way, the end of Module 5.1 Assessment will occur in the coming week. In Peter’s math class, students are exploring two main areas. One group is investigating positive and negative integers, improper fractions, opposites, and absolute value. In addition, they are developing a sense of decimal and fraction benchmarks. Another group is using proportional reasoning strategies in a consumer math context using ratios, proportions, unit rates, rate tables, and algebraic equations. In Lauren’s math class, students have been working again on understanding common multiples, factors and ways to use prime factorization to find the LCM and GCF. Science Our study of water has lead us into a broader study of weather, climate, and climate change. Students explored climate zones and the differences between climate and weather. Some of our activities in the next few days They are learning how to analyze graphs to determine trends about climate and working to justify their claims based on evidence. Social Studies You say you want a revolution?! After our introductory units on geography and time/chronology and our study of Africa and the Arab world, we are verb one of our main themes and essential questions of our social studies learning this year--What is a revolution? What is revolutionary thinking? What factors might lead to a revolution in thinking, technology, belief systems, economics, artistic expression, written expression, and world-view. Small groups read and summarized a reading on the Scientific Revolution then viewed films on Galileo and Newton to gain some background knowledge. Next week, we will demonstrate Newton’s Four Laws of Motion and introduce our hands-on Scientific Revolution performance based assessment. Students will get to choose between creating a science kit for your students to demonstrate Newton’s Law of Motion; a student-written drama about Galileo; and models of the various views of universe. Spanish 1A with Lynn After a week of celebrating and exploring the cultural tradition of Día de los Muertos, we are now settling into the reading of our first novela completely in Spanish. The novela we are reading is called Tumba by Mira Canión. It has been written especially for students in their first year of Spanish language learning and incorporates grammatical concepts and vocabulary we have been and will be learning. It is set in Mante, México during a Days of the Dead celebration in which a mystery needs to be solved. Although your child does not every word or structure in the novela, studies show that one of the best ways to learn a target (new) language is to read in that target language with scaffolding (helpful support) to help them along the way. We will be reading in class each day working on building fluency and pronunciation along with comprehensible input. Spanish with Xandra In Spanish class we've explored basic parts of conversation leading us into a more in-depth exploration of Como estas? We've written and drawn emotions so that we can express how we feel beyond just good and bad. This past week was devoted to learning more about Dias de Los Muertos. We watched some informative videos and a short artistic film (see links below!) and had conversations about holidays in different countries. We shared some holidays that we celebrate and discussed the cultural significance of these holidays. It's been wonderful exploring Spanish with your children. Thank you! Short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCQnUuq-TEE Informative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsbr_Tkn08w |
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