We have started a new social studies unit on government. This week students learned about how citizens elect government leaders help solve problems in communities by making laws, deciding how to spend money, and making decisions about whether or not to build new buildings. The children also are learning about the differences between the local, state, and federal levels of government.
In math, students are learning about measuring the length of of a variety of objects. This week's focus was on the customary units of inches, feet, and yards. The children worked in teams to measure "inch worms" that were hidden around the classroom. They also practiced measuring many objects in our classroom, and even measured themselves! Students also compared the sizes of objects and subtracted to find out how much longer or shorter the items were.
Students are now working in book clubs for reading. Each group voted on a novel they wanted to read and discuss. The children are putting all of the skills they have learned throughout the year to good use when they have their discussions. After each chapter, they are making connections and predictions, as well as asking and answering questions about the plot. Students are also working on summarizing the chapters during their discussions and helping each other to clarify tricky words. In addition, we read a Scholastic News about the importance of reducing waste, which helped us review what we learned about Earth Day.
We continued to try out some new forms of poetry in writing this week, including concrete (shape) poems, couplets, and diamante poems. Students are now beginning the process of finalizing all of their poems and selecting poems they would like to publish into an anthology. Each student is also recording at least one poem on Seesaw and typing at least one poem into Google Slides.
We wrapped up our science unit on plants this week. Students learned that not all plants need the same amounts of water and sunlight to survive. To learn more about these differences, they used Mystery Science to play a game called Plant Survivor to see if they could choose the correct growing conditions to keep a variety of plants alive. Our "grass heads" have stared to grow hair. We can't wait to see how they change over the long weekend!
The children have completed their unit on telling time in math. Next week, we will begin learning about measuring the length of objects. We will begin with customary lengths of inches, feet, and yards.
In preparation for the upcoming Earth Day holiday, students learned about the importance of waste reduction in protecting our planet. They learned about recycling, reusing objects, and reducing the amount of energy, water, and other products they use. Each child made a goal of something they could do to help the Earth. Then, students wrote about what they learned.
This week in writing, the students learned how to write simile and metaphor color poems, as well as acrostic poems. Many students also continued to revise and edit earlier haiku and free verse poems to make them have more precise words. In reading, students will be transitioning into guided book clubs where they will read and discuss novels.
In science, students finished their observations of radish seed roots in our root viewers. They did a wonderful job making detailed drawings of how the seeds changed over the course of a week. We also turned our cases to see if the roots grew in a different direction to seek out sunlight. Students continued to explore the importance of leaves and sunlight in helping plants grow this week. Finally, each child planted a "grass head". Hopefully the grass will grow to become the students "hair"! Students will observe the grass growing and see if it bends towards the light.
We had a guest speaker from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Mrs. Bohl taught the students how banks work and the importance of saving money. Students listened to the story Less Than Zero and learned how to make a line graph charting spending. Each child received a pencil make from recycled money!
In math, we are continuing to learn about telling time. This week's lesson focused on telling time to the quarter hour and to the nearest five minutes. Students also are learning how to solve word problems with elapsed time. We will finish the last lesson on time next week and test on the chapter on Wednesday. The children also got the Bloxels back out and are reviewing the skill of making arrays by including three different sizes of arrays in a video game world they are designing.
Students are continuing to learn techniques for writing poetry. They are working to incorporate words that convey a mood in their poem, repetition, similes, and personification. The children also learned how to write haiku poems. In reading, students focused on recording the sequence of events in a biography of Amelia Earhart. We also read a Scholastic News on rainbow plants!
