Plans Week of May 19, 2014

Here is the plan for this supposedly rainy week:

Writing: Last week students read an excerpt from The Black Stallion by Walter Farley and found figurative language and powerful descriptions from the text. We'll spend another day having students try using the language they chose themselves in either a poem or narrative from the perspective of the black stallion. Then we'll share our work.

Reading: I will continue to meet with students in their Book Groups this week and we'll engage in thoughtful discussions of our books and their themes. 

As a class, we will begin with a discussion of last week's reading of The Black Stallion . We'll hopefully answer the following question by finding multiple pieces of evidence from the text: How did the relationship between Alec and the black stallion change from the beginning to the end of the text?

For our next reading and writing endeavor, which will last about a week, we'll read a magazine article called, "Animals on the Move," about animal behaviors and adaptations. Here are the activities surrounding the reading that students will engage in: 

• Take notes on interesting facts, questions, and responses to the reading. 
  
• Chose one animal from the article to do additional research on and conduct research using a variety of sources.
  
• In a partnership, create a poster to visually display the information learned.
• Write song lyrics that tell about the animal's ways.
  
• (Extra) Prepare a presentation to the class that includes a skit with the animal as a character, modeling some of the behaviors in a creative way.
  

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Math: This week in math we'll launch a study of fraction division. Here is what we'll be focusing on: 

• Modeling fraction division using a number line and fraction sticks.
  
• Drawing a diagram to show dividing whole numbers into fractions.

• Using multiplication of fractions to solve division.
  
• Playing a game to reinforce fraction multiplication and division concepts.

So that's the general plan! Thanks for reading!

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