Math Updates
This week in math we worked to understand what the coordinate plane is and how it functions. Students worked to develop the coordinate plane by understanding that the x and y axes can be thought of as number lines. When you put these two number lines together they help to identify a point on a plane and it’s exact location. We also looked at several different types of word problems that involve finding points on the coordinate plane. In addition, we worked on classifying 2-dimensional shapes and understanding how attributes can define a shape to belong in categories and subcategories. We also discovered as many different kinds of quadrilaterals as we could on a really fun Geoboard website! We also reviewed quite a bit of Geometry vocabulary that students learned in previous grades. Fluency and NWEA practice continue on a daily basis. Please talk with your student about engagement and work ethic. Reading/Writing Updates This week in reading we continued to work on determining the important ideas in a story and the details that support them. Students heard and practiced this skill with two different texts. The first was a short story called “Mrs. Buell” by Jean Little and the second was a biographical article called “Malala’s Dream”. We also talked about distinguishing between ideas that are important and the details that support them. This second skill was challenging for many students, but we will continue to practice next week before moving on to using the important ideas of a story to write a comprehensive summary. In writing, we launched our poetry unit by considering the question, what makes a poem a poem? Through the exploration of several poems, including “September,” “Porch Light,” and “The Sea,” we saw that sensory details are are very important in making a poem a poem, but other things like rhyming or having short lines and stanzas are a characteristic of some, but not all poems. We also explored how poets use personification, talking about a non-human things as if it were human, in their writing. Students worked to generate ideas for their own poems about months of the year and objects. We continue to learn and practice Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes daily. Knowledge of these word parts will serve them well on the NWEA and beyond. As an aside, please talk to your child about perseverance and work ethic. We need their very best daily to move forward. Many of the skills being worked on now will help them not only on their spring test, but also as they continue on into 6th grade. Science/Social Studies Updates Friendly Reminders
Upcoming Dates May 27 - Memorial Day (No school) June 4 - NWEA Testing June 5 - NWEA Testing June 6 - NWEA Testing
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