​Highlights from Last Week:

On Thursday we had an inspiring visit from the CEO of Edesia, a non-profit that makes ready-to-use food for children suffering from malnutrition. Students learned how regular people can make a difference in the lives of others around the world.
 
Students are very engaged in their informational writing projects. They have chosen a wide range of topics, from how the US Government works to how penguins survive in the arctic. This past week we worked on note-taking techniques that allow students to avoid plagiarism, as well as organization techniques that enable students to keep their information sorted under categories. Although progress in this phase has been somewhat slow, we are setting the foundation for engaging, high-quality student-written informational texts.
 
Based on student feedback, I decided to try a new instructional approach in math class: lesson groups. Students can choose their own group, and each group goes through new material at different paces. So far, students seem to be enjoying this format.  
 
To wrap up our study of Colonial America, students wrote from the perspective of a colonist, creating their own primary sources. They got to choose their format and topic, and when they shared their piece, the rest of the class had to guess what it was about and who could have written it. Students loved hearing each other’s work, especially those that researched a lot about life in colonial times.

 
What we didn't get to:

• Students are still conducting research on their informational writing topic, so we have only gotten as far as making a table of contents.

This Week's Plan
 
Special:

• Thursday: Pennies for Patients Presentation –The 5th grade learns about how this initiative benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

  

Math: 
Addition and Subtraction of Fractions. Assessment.

• Comparing and Ordering Fractions –Students will learn how to compare fractions using their knowledge of benchmarks and unit fractions.
• Review for an Assessment –Students will review all of the fraction concepts we’ve studied so far. Here is a Study Guide which just lists the concepts.
• Fraction Open Response –We will look at some fraction multi-step word problems and practice explaining how we solve problems with fractions.

 
Writing:  
Informational Writing Project.

• Writing with a Purpose –Students will learn how keep their writing purposeful by asking themselves, “So What?” and making sure to answer that question within each section of their project.
• Planning for an Audience and Setting the Tone –Students will think about who their audience is and how they want to appeal to them. They will also practice writing with a variety of tones to see which one they like best.
• Developing a Topic –Students will learn how to develop each section of their writing by including facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

 

Reading:
Book Groups. Informational Texts and Determining Importance.

• Key Ideas and Details in Informational Texts –We will look at informational texts from previous MCASes to analyze key ideas and how they are supported with details.
• Craft and Structure in Informational Texts –Again using previous MCAS texts, we will analyze the author’s craft and the text structure.
• Book Groups –Groups continue to meet using Reading Reports to prepare for insightful discussions.
• Read Aloud –The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. A moving short novel about a 12-year old boy in the painful grip of grief and how an audacious girl and a caged tiger help him find release.

 
Social Studies:
The American Revolution.

• The Causes of the American Revolution –We watch segments from the engaging “Liberty” series from PBS to learn about the major causes of the American Revolution. This week, we will focus on:
• The Stamp Act and how taxes angered the colonists.
• The Boston Massacre and how propaganda is used to sway public opinion.

 
Homework:
Please visit the Homework Page for more details.

• Homework Project: Global Citizenship Project: Part 1. See the handout for details. Due Wednesday, March 2nd.
• Math: There will be a page or two of math practice each night.
• Reading: 25 minutes of daily independent reading is expected. Students should log it in their Planners. 
• Reading Response Blog: Students must respond to my comment and to another student’s post by Friday.
• Other: Later in the week, students may have some homework related to informational reading and writing.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback. 

Welcome back from the break!
I hope everyone had an enjoyable time off. I enjoyed my week in the British Virgin Islands strolling the beaches. What a great way to rejuvenate and return to teaching with renewed energy!
 
Highlights from Last Week:

To kick off the break, the entire school witnessed an amazing performance from Flame the Band. This group of musicians with disabilities really rocked the auditorium and got students singing and dancing along.

Students had a blast beginning their research for their informational writing project. We did a fun group activity to learn about organizing information into categories. 
 
We took a diversion in math to practice making equivalent fractions through a fun Kimball-created game called “Bet on Equivalence.” This will definitely help us as we move to add and subtract fractions.
 
Students enjoyed their historical fiction writing activity. They wrote from the perspective of someone in colonial America and did some research to create a piece of writing –an advertisement, a journal, a letter, a pamphlet, or similar– that brings together what they learned in a realistic way.
 

 
What we didn't get to:
I do this every year –create an ambitious plan for the week before a break. Someday I’ll learn my lesson!

• In Math, we still didn’t make it to fraction addition or subtraction from the previous week.
• In Writing, we still have some work to do on note-taking and research categories.

This Week's Plan
 
Special:

• Wednesday Early Release

  

Math: 
Fraction Basics. Addition and Subtraction of Fractions.

• Addition of Fractions –Using those handy-dandy equivalent fractions, we’ll add fractions with unlike denominators and learn how to reduce them to simplest form.
• Subtracting Fractions –Just like addition, only we’ll take away fractions.
• Subtracting Fractions using Borrowing –Students will learn how to borrow from the whole when they don’t have enough fraction to subtract from.

 
Writing:  
Informational Writing Project.

• Categories of Research –Students will learn how to organize their research into categories that describe the topic so they can better search for information and take notes.
• Effective Note-taking –We will practice a couple of different note-taking strategies, all with the goal of having students process information rather than copy it.
• Table of Contents –Students will create a table of contents for their informational writing project based on their categories that will serve as the backbone of their project.
• Writing with a Purpose –Students will learn how keep their writing purposeful by asking themselves, “So What?” and making sure to answer that question within each section of their project.

Reading:
Book Groups. Informational Texts and Determining Importance.

• Book Groups –Groups continue to meet using Reading Reports to prepare for insightful discussions.
• Exploring Informational Text Structures –We will analyze the structures of informational texts, such as comparing/contrasting, topic with details, chronological sequence, question with answer, and more.
• What is Important? –To help us comprehend informational texts, we will identify parts of texts and concepts that are important and learn how to build main ideas from those parts.
• Read Aloud –The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. A moving short novel about a 12-year old boy in the painful grip of grief and how an audacious girl and a caged tiger help him find release.

 
Social Studies:
Finish Colonial America. Begin American Revolution.

• RAFT Writing –We will finish our Colonial America writing using the RAFT format (Role, Audience, Format, Topic). Students will share them and the class will try to guess the role, format, and topic of each piece.
• Setting the Stage for The American Revolution –We will explore how Colonial Americans began their journey to independence from Great Britain.

 
 
Homework:
Please visit the Homework Page for more details.

• Homework Project: Global Citizenship Project: Part 1. See the handout for details. Due Wednesday, March 2nd.
• Math: There will be a page or two of math practice each night.
• Reading: 25 minutes of daily independent reading is expected. Students should log it in their Planners. 
• Reading Response Blog: There is a new Reading Response Blog #12 due by Friday.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback. 
 
 

​Highlights from Last Week:

​I hope everyone enjoyed the first snow day of the year! I sure did, curled up on the couch reading a great book (in between rounds of shoveling, of course).
 
Last week we launched our informational writing unit. Students chose a sample topic to research and write an informational text on –solely for me to assess their research skills and informational writing techniques. I have a lot of teaching to do in this unit!
 
After learning about students’ research habits, I realized that I needed to teach them about quality sources for research. We chose a class research topic (pandas) and began exploring our school’s very own search tool: Destiny. Students were able to find kid-friendly, educational websites loaded with informational videos, images, and reading.
 
In Math, we worked on Fraction Basics. We learned about fractions as division, fractions of sets, and fractions as a combination of wholes and parts.
 
 
What we didn't get to:
We didn’t make great progress in the plan this week –the snow day didn’t help– but we did some very important foundational work that will set us up for success in more complex future projects. Much of last week’s plan is moved to this week.

• We didn’t get to equivalent fractions, or fraction addition or subtraction.
• We took a detour with Writing to learn about how to conduct research before we even get into note-taking.
• In Social Studies, we didn’t get to conduct short research or write journal entries.
• In Reading, we didn’t get to compare fiction and informational texts, nor is our work done with determining importance.

This Week's Plan
 
Special:

• Flame the Band will be performing at a special All School Meeting on Friday. To accommodate their schedule, ASM will be held at 1:45pm.

 

Math: 
Fraction Basics. Addition and Subtraction of Fractions.

• Finding Equivalent Fractions –We’ll use our understanding of multiplying and dividing by “1” to make equivalent fractions.
• Fractions in Simplest Form –We will learn how to test if a fraction is in simplest form and report fractions so that they have no hidden wholes and the smallest denominator possible.
• Addition of Fractions –Using those handy-dandy equivalent fractions, we’ll add fractions with unlike denominators and learn how to reduce them to simplest form.
• Subtracting Fractions –Just like addition, only we’ll take away fractions.

 
 Writing:   
Informational Writing.

• Research Resource Exploration –To help students do better research, we will learn about all of the free resources available to Pine Hill students.
• Categories of Research –Students will learn how to organize their research into categories that describe the topic so they can better search for information and take notes.
• Effective Note-taking –We will practice a couple of different note-taking strategies, all with the goal of having students process information rather than copy it.
• Learning about Informational Texts –To guide our own informational writing projects, we will look at other informational texts and their structures and features for inspiration.

 
Reading:
Book Groups. Informational Texts and Determining Importance.

• Book Groups –Groups continue to meet using Reading Reports to prepare for insightful discussions.
• Exploring Informational Texts –We will notice features of informational texts and how they help us as readers. We will compare them to fictional texts.
• What is Important? –To help us comprehend informational texts, we will identify parts of texts and concepts that are important and learn how to build main ideas from those parts.
• Read Aloud –The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. A moving short novel about a 12-year old boy in the painful grip of grief and how an audacious girl and a caged tiger help him find release.

 
Social Studies:
Colonial America.

• Culture in Colonial America –We’ll read about culture, medicine, law, recreation, and more in Colonial America through a fun book called, “Your Travel Guide to Colonial America”. As we read, we’ll be learning about informational text features and techniques.
• Short Research on Colonial Culture –Students will choose a topic they were interested in from the book, “Your Travel Guide to Colonial America,” and research it further. We will explore how to use online resources and check our sources for credibility.
• Journal Writing –We will take what we learned from our Colonial America reading and write from the perspective of an American Colonist.

 
 
Homework:
Please visit the Homework Page for more details.

• Homework Project: None.
• Math: There will be a page or two of math practice each night.
• Reading: 25 minutes of daily independent reading is expected. Students should log it in their Planners. 
• Reading Response Blog: Students must reply to my comment and respond to another student’s comment by Friday.
• Other –Students may have some research assignments and writing assignments in conjunction with our informational writing unit.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback.