Plans Week of May 11, 2015

Ms. Faucon wrapping up our last lesson on Memoir Writing.

Highlights from Last Week:

Students completed their memoirs this week. We had a lovely celebration on Friday where students shared their favorite excerpt with the class. Ms. Faucon taught this entire unit and did a marvelous job, which is clear when you read students' thoughtful, entertaining, and reflective writing. Bravo! Students had the opportunity to circulate and read one another's memoirs as well. The silence in the room as everyone was deeply engaged with another student's life story was impressive.

Our coordinates, area, and volume unit was a success. Students took an assessment on Friday and scores were very high. Some students even scored an all time high grade! We then started learning how to convert between measurement units in both the US Customary System and the Metric System. Students learned how to solve conversions using a structure that resembles fractions and ratios.

In Reading, groups are deeply engaged in book discussions. Students offer remarkable insights and questions that push even the teachers to think critically about the text. Students really know how to have respectful, thoughtful discussions.

Here is the general plan for the week:

Special:

• Monday, May 11th: Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum & Freedom Trail Field Trip
• Thursday, May 14th: Thursday Afternoon Program
• Friday, May 15th: Science MCAS session 1
  

Reading: 

• We continue guided reading book groups. Students will be reading a book that has survival and resilience as a theme.

Writing:

• We begin our unit on Opinion Essays. Students will learn how to be persuasive and more analytical, able to weigh evidence, to follow lines of logic, and draw evidence-based conclusions. We begin by analyzing the following: Should schools serve chocolate milk to students? Or should chocolate milk be banned? We will research both sides of the issue, collect evidence for our arguments, and draft a research-based argument essay. 

Math: 

• We continue our study of Measurement Conversions in both the US Customary system and the Metric system. We will solve real-world, multistep problems using these conversions.
• We practice with Algebra by analyzing patterns and relationships. We will write algebraic expressions to represent real-world situations and problems.

Social Studies:

• Due to the approaching Science MCAS, we have put Social Studies on hold and will pick it back up next week in order to allow students to study and experiment with Science concepts.

Science:

•  We are working on studying for the Science MCAS on Friday and next Monday. I made students a giant study packet that has questions organized by topic from the previous four Science MCAS tests. Students are self-guiding their study. They can set up experiments, research concepts they don't understand, and share their knowledge with the class. It's a little bit like a science study fair!

Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or feedback.