Class Update 11/21/15

Important Reminders:

Six Flags Read to Succeed Program forms went home last week. If your child completes six hours of extra reading at home, they can earn a free ticket to Six Flags! The reading must be done at home, and it must be done in addition to reading done for homework. That means reading log minutes do not count. Please make sure to fill out the reading log on the form and initial it. Students can turn in completed forms any time between now and February 26th.

Thanksgiving Break - School will be closed from November 25-27th.

SIS - We are past the mid-quarter point for second quarter already! This is a friendly reminder that you can check SIS at any time to view your child's grades.

Class Updates:

Thank you so much to all of the parent volunteers who joined us on our field trip to Cahokia Mounds! The kids had a great time climbing the 156 steps to the top of Monk's Mound. The view from the top was pretty amazing! They also watched an informational video and were able to tour the museum to explore artifacts and displays related to the Mound Builders.

In math, we have spent the past several weeks learning division concepts. Students have learned the steps to long division with problems that contain both one and two-digit divisors. They have also practiced estimating quotients for similar problems. Being able to analyze division word problems has been another focus in class. Students need to be able to interpret whether the remainder in a quotient should be used, ignored, or rounded according the the information in the problem. We will be having a combined test on chapters 3 and 4 on Tuesday. A study guide was sent home last week and students who get the study guide signed for studying at home can earn an extra point on the test. Here are a few videos that may help students study:
Long Division with One-Digit Divisors
Long Division with Two-Digit Divisors
Math Antics Long Division
Students have been using Post It notes to share their thinking and learning about math topics using our "Post It to Prove It" board.

Students are immersed in the study of non-fiction in both reading and writing. In reading, we have been reviewing a variety of text features and learning how they can help a reader understand more about a text. Children are also learning how the structure of a non-fiction text can help teach new information. So far, we have taken a closer look at description and sequence text structures. Coming up, we will also explore, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and problem and solution.



The skills students are learning in reading are also being applied in writing. We are well into our informational report writing. Students are all writing about various topics related to our study of Native Americans. The children have been researching Native American homes, food, clothing, and artwork, among other topics. Students have been learning how to craft an engaging lead, include their own inferences and thinking in addition to the facts they have researched, and make references to how geography impacted Native Americans in their reports. We are also learning how timelines can be an excellent resource for informational writing.

Our study of Native Americans continues across subjects into social studies as well. The children are working in groups of 2 or 3 to create digital story books about Native Americans using a website called Story Jumper. Each group picked either a region of the United States, or an ancient empire of the Incas, Mayans, or Aztecs to study. They have finished gathering their research and are currently designing their books. I am impressed at how creative the children are being at combining photographs, graphics, and texts to create their stories! When groups are finished they will present their digital books to each other.