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What a fun week. We celebrated "No Name Calling Week," this week, focusing on ways that we can be positive classmates to one another. Today, students worked together to make "Positive Posters" in teams, with inspiring phrases. They look great!
In math this week, we wrapped up multiplication. Students learned how to do 3 x 2 multiplication, and solved word problems using a strategy of their choice. Ask your child which one they like! After a few days of review, students took their multiplication post test. We will move onto Division next week!
As writers this week, we began generating ideas for personal essays. Each child was told to bring in a book they love, and one they have a lot to say about. We talked about how literary essayists generate ideas by thinking about elements of the book like the characters, problem/solution, theme/author's purpose, symbolism, etc. We read some texts together and generated ideas based on those elements by writing opinion statements, with supporting reasons. Today, we thought about which one of those types of thesis statements resonated the most with us, and started drafting possible statements.
Our literary essay thesis statements followed these criteria:
In reading this week, we continued Determining Importance in Non-Fiction texts. We learned about the different kinds of text structures in non-fiction: compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect, and sequential. Students read an article and took notes on their article based on what type of structure it had. Then, we shared with one another to compare the structures with one another. In our guided reading groups, we have been inferring in non-fiction text. We have been using "Think-Trackers" to write down the author's words, our "background knowledge," and the inferences that we formed using the two. Ask your child what the "inferring equation" is.
In science, we learned about food chains and food webs. Students worked in groups to create a food chain or food web that started with the sun, then to a producer, then to various consumers. They wrote about how the whole ecosystem would be impacted if one element of the food chain was removed.
Have a great weekend!
In math this week, we wrapped up multiplication. Students learned how to do 3 x 2 multiplication, and solved word problems using a strategy of their choice. Ask your child which one they like! After a few days of review, students took their multiplication post test. We will move onto Division next week!
As writers this week, we began generating ideas for personal essays. Each child was told to bring in a book they love, and one they have a lot to say about. We talked about how literary essayists generate ideas by thinking about elements of the book like the characters, problem/solution, theme/author's purpose, symbolism, etc. We read some texts together and generated ideas based on those elements by writing opinion statements, with supporting reasons. Today, we thought about which one of those types of thesis statements resonated the most with us, and started drafting possible statements.
Our literary essay thesis statements followed these criteria:
In reading this week, we continued Determining Importance in Non-Fiction texts. We learned about the different kinds of text structures in non-fiction: compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect, and sequential. Students read an article and took notes on their article based on what type of structure it had. Then, we shared with one another to compare the structures with one another. In our guided reading groups, we have been inferring in non-fiction text. We have been using "Think-Trackers" to write down the author's words, our "background knowledge," and the inferences that we formed using the two. Ask your child what the "inferring equation" is.
In science, we learned about food chains and food webs. Students worked in groups to create a food chain or food web that started with the sun, then to a producer, then to various consumers. They wrote about how the whole ecosystem would be impacted if one element of the food chain was removed.
Have a great weekend!