Plans Week of February 10, 2014

Here is the plan for this week before the February Break:

Math: We'll be finishing decimal multiplication this week and starting decimal division. I emphasize modeling the operations with drawings so students get a more concrete understanding of what they are doing when they multiply and divide decimals. I also focus a lot on estimating.

Writing: Informational Writing. We will finish our Inca Empire reports early this week. Students should have collected facts about their scientific research topic at home, so we'll be working on writing a research report as well as creating a presentation of the information later in the week. 

Reading: We'll begin reading about the Early American colonies from a variety of articles in preparation for our Colonies Project.

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Sneak Peak at the Upcoming In-Class Project

Early American Colonies

After the Age of Exploration, Europeans discovered the existence of a vast continent that we now call North America. This "New World" held many promises. Endless land! Freedom to do want you want! Adventure! Sounds like the perfect place to move to, right?

Well that's just what our early American ancestors did. But it certainly was no easy feat. They survived the perilous journey across the Atlantic, braved harsh winters and scorching heat, faced numerous confrontations with the natives, and battled sickness and disease. These early American settlers were tough, determined, and hard working people! 

So what was daily life really like as an early American colonist?

Students will research aspects of early American colonization. Here are some of the activities we'll be doing:

• Read about travel, location, housing, transportation, fashion, food, activities, and more
  
• Collect interesting and meaningful facts to include in a class trivia game
  
• Research one of the 13 American colonies
  
• Create an informational poster that includes a map, important dates and historical figures, and special features of the colony
  
• Plan a sales pitch to folks back over in Europe persuading them to move to your colony and present to the class
  

Students will be working in cooperative groups and will be graded on: Amount of information, research quality, creativity, presentation quality, and teamwork.

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