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 For the past couple of weeks we have been working on dividing two digit numbers by two digit numbers. Most students have been using the standard division algorithm but some students are using partial products 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. There will be occasional evenings when your child might have to bring home their classwork to be finished. 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 We started science class this week with a friendly debate. Mr. Lynn, from Argument Centered Education, came to our classroom on Monday. He will be working with the students during this unit so that they can support claims about gravity with evidence and reasoning. Monday’s debate was a friendly debate about superheroes and which would win in a battle. This debate was conducted by Mr. Lynn so that students can get used to the debate format and terminology while using a topic that they are familiar with. Mr. Lynn will join our class several times during this unit so that he can help the students support their claims on gravity. You can read more about Mr. Lynn and his company here: https://argumentcenterededucation.com/ We watched the famous feather and hammer demonstration that was conducted on Apollo 15 and then we conducted that same demonstration here in the classroom. We discussed why the results are different here on Earth. We then conducted the same experiment with half and whole apples. Students are very interested in the force of gravity. We ended the week by finding how much we weigh on each of the other planets and why our weight is different on each of the planets. The students found that their weight is the force of gravity on them. The students also received a kit from People Gas and Commonwealth Edison. These kits were sent home with the students last week. The children will be conducting tests with these kits at home so please keep them safe until then. ELA & Social Studies Updates This week in reading and social studies we continued our unit on questioning and also continued to read Kids on Strike. We practiced two strategies that use questioning to boost comprehension. The first strategy, reading with a question in mind, supports focused reading of a text to find answers. The second strategy, stop and ask questions, helps students monitor their thinking as they read and prepare for self-directed discussions of a text. Through our reading and questioning, we learned about the terrible working conditions children faced in the 1800s and how they responded to those challenges. In writing, we launched our opinion writing unit. We began the unit by exploring the characteristics of a persuasive essay and generating ideas for our own opinion essays. We read articles with opposing views on kneeling during the national anthem and the benefits/harms of watching television. Students created lists of possible opinions they could write about, completed a quick-write in their writing journals in which they wrote about one of those opinions and reasons to support it, and they began to draft their own opinion pieces in their notebooks. Next week they will continue to explore examples of persuasive writing and learn more about planning and drafting a strong essay. This week in word study, we focused on language conventions. Students practiced proofreading for errors in verb usage, capitalization of sentences and proper nouns, punctuation, and correct use of conjunctions. They also practice recognizing the relationships in analogies. They took a quiz today in which they applied their learning from the week to a new set of sentences and analogies. We also had a wonderful trip to Open Books. The kids explored setting in their writing and composed a piece about a moment in their life when they felt proud. They got to shop for a book in the bookstore and will receive a class anthology of the work from the trip in the new year. Thank you so much to everyone who donated money to make the trip a possibility for families that were unable to pay! Friendly Reminders and Announcements
December 10 & 11 Middle of the Year (MOY) NWEA Testing December 13 Progress Reports Distributed 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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