What a busy week we have had! Some of our first Flat Stanleys have come back home from their travels. They visited Louisiana, Utah, and Columbia, MO. Students were able to enjoy an amazing Madco dance performance by the 5th graders, and each child went to their first Spark family day where they each were able to participate in an activity of their interest. Children from our room did a variety of activities, including sports, crocheting for charity, building with Legos, learning how to save endangered animals, cooking, and much more!
We have started Chapter 2 in math, which focuses on number patterns. Students are learning how to skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s, as well as learning how to add equal groups together quickly by skip counting.
In reading, lessons are focusing on how to make predictions about texts both before reading and during reading. The students are learning the importance of making predictions based on evidence from the text and pictures. Children are also enjoying reading books on EPIC, an online digital library for kids, on the iPads.
The children continued to revise and edit their narratives in writing. They learned strategies for writing a strong ending, worked to add transition words to each page, and edited their writing for correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Finally, they participated in peer conferences to give each other feedback.
In science, students continued to work on their dinosaur models by adding modeling clay to demonstrate how the creatures looked from the outside. We also closely studied the tools scientists use and learned that tools have changed and improved over time. Pairs worked together to compare and contrast older and new versions of tools and infer what their functions might be. For the last part of our unit, students will be using a given set of materials to design their own tool that could help paleontologists dig for bones. More to come on this next week!
This week, our school celebrated International Dot Day, inspired by the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. After listening to the story, which encourages children to try new things and enjoy being creative, each child decorated their own "dot" with pictures or words that incorporated one or more dots. The book also teaches how important it is to have encouragement from others, so after decorating the front of their dots, they passed them around to their friends who added kind words on the back. Now, each student can read their dot when they need some encouraging words in the future!
In math, we have finished up the first chapter. Students have been working on solving a variety of word problems that use addition and subtraction, including two-step word problems. We also reviewed fact families and worked to find missing addends in number sentences. If your child is unsure of their basic facts through 20 in addition or subtraction, studying those facts at home would be beneficial.
In reading, the students are learning a variety of strategies to help them decode tricky words, as well as determine the meaning of unknown words. Students are also writing about the connections they are having to their reading group books.
The children are finishing up their rough drafts of their personal narratives in writing, and are beginning to revise their writing to make it stronger. They learned several strategies to make a strong beginning that hooks the reader's attention, including using dialogue, asking a question, and describing the setting.
It's been a busy week in science. The students have been paleontologists all week! First, they dug up dinosaur bones. Then, they drew pictures of their bones and tried to infer what part of the dinosaur it came from. Children measured the bones and sorted them in groups based on size. Finally, they worked in teams to put all of the bones together to make a skeleton. They are learning the importance of observing, asking questions, and writing detailed notes and drawings to learn more about new things.
A few Lego creations from our STEM bins!
