Welcome to the weekly newsletter updates for 324 and 325. Below you will find four sections (math/science updates, reading/writing/social studies updates, friendly reminders, and upcoming dates). If you have any questions or concerns, please send us an email.
Math Updates Along with NWEA/MAP testing this week the students continued their work on division. This week students worked on three digit numbers divided by 2 digit numbers. Again most students used the standard division algorithm but some students used the partial products method to find their answers. In either case, students are using front-end estimation and rounding to get an estimate of the quotient before they begin. We also focused on dividing by powers of 10 and how to simplify problems prior to dividing if you can. There will be occasional evenings when your child might have to bring home their classwork to be completed. For extra practice in math students can go to their Khan Academy account and practice within their RIT bands for each math section on the NWEA test. They can enter their scores and get customized recommendations according to their needs. The Khan academy mapper is here: https://www.khanacademy.org/mappers If your child does not know their multiplication facts, please practice with them at home. You can purchase flash cards or print a set for free here: https://www.multiplication.com/sites/default/files/files/BWFlashcards0-12.pdf Science Updates Gravity experiments have taken over our classroom. This week the children experimented with drop and bounce height of tennis balls, rubber balls, ping pong balls, and wiffle balls. They learned about manipulated and responding variables and how to plot the results of their experiments on an x-y axis using coordinates. We studied how acceleration and air resistance affect falling objects. Mr. Lynn came to our class on Thursday during our Socratic Seminar. He helped the children formulate claims with evidence and reasoning to explain the results of their experiments. We ended the week by drawing conclusions as to why things bounce and which forces play a role. ELA & Social Studies Updates This week in reading, we wrapped up our unit on questioning. We read with a question in mind for rereadings of Kids on Strike. The students generated questions that delved deeply in the working conditions of children in the 1800s. They took an assessment on questioning Friday. We continued to read with a question in mind in social studies as well. We read from Ruby Bridges’s Through My Eyes to find examples of when Ruby or others showed courage and perseverance through the civil rights movement. In writing, we continued our opinion and persuasive writing unit. We explored the conventions of opinion writing and focused on writing strong position statements. As a class, we practiced organizing our opinions with reasons by using a graphic organizer: boxes and bullets. Students practiced writing their own position statements on a topic they feel strongly about. Finally, in word study, students worked with words related to not or opposite of (dis, mis, un, and in). Students took a word study and spelling quiz Friday after working closely with the words through word sorts and word hunts. Friendly Reminders and Announcements
December 19 Winter Concert 324 Performs at 9:45 325 Performs at 1:30 pm December 21 - January 1 Winter Break
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January 2020
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