Week of October 12, 2015

Students observing hot and cold water interact during our science experiment.

Highlights from Last Week:

• Two monarch butterflies hatched from their chrysalises, one right before our very eyes! Watch our video and see pictures here. We released them outside at the end of the day on Friday.
• In an effort to engage in inquiry-based learning, I had students come up with their own experiment to explore how hot and cold interact. Their first attempt yielded nothing remarkable. After coming up with improvements, such as using food coloring, making a lowering handle for a container, and getting very hot water and very cold water, students witnessed an amazing interaction! Ask them about it!
• Thanks to Liana's persuasive argument as to why we should have choice time in school, students had the opportunity to choose a fun activity during reading on Friday. Some started comic strips. Some collaborated on writing scripts. Others spent their time reading and looking for great descriptions. We'll have more choice time throughout the year.
• In writing, students learned how to be more persuasive in writing an opinion essay by thinking about their audience. We argued as a class as to whether we should keep our round tables or replace them with desks. Students came up with some pretty powerful reasons that were targeted at who they needed to convince --their peers and the custodian.

 
What we didn't get to:

• We didn't have any new reading skills lessons this week because I am trying to complete formal reading assessments. 
• We haven't modeled decimals yet.

This Week's Plan

Special:
Monday: Columbus Day. No School.


Reading:
Routines of readers' workshop and fall reading assessments.

• Teacher Read Aloud  –There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar. As I read, students turn and talk to share their analyses and evaluations of the characters and plot developments.
• Formal reading assessments  –I continue to assess students' reading levels. I hope to finish this week!

Writing:
Opinion writing.

• Main Arguments and Supporting Arguments  –Students will come up with a main argument that they want to write about. They will learn how to clearly state 3-4 supporting arguments, or reasons, that support their main argument.
• Details and Examples  –Students will learn how to gather details and examples that back up each of their supporting arguments.
• Organization  –Students will learn how to logically organize their opinion essay and use transitional words and phrases, such as for example, as a result, and despite, to link their arguments and details within the essay.
• Introductions and Conclusions  –Students will learn how to frame their essay with a creative, enticing introduction and a powerful, summarizing conclusion.

Math: 
Estimation and computation.​

• Partial Products Multiplication –Students will multiply 2-3 digit numbers in parts to learn the concepts behind multiplication.
• Standard Algorithm –We'll learn the US multiplication shortcut that makes multi-digit number multiplication much more efficient.
• Decimal Models –We will learn about the first three decimal place values and draw models using base-10 blocks to help up visualize decimal numbers.
• Comparing Decimals –Students will learn how to order decimals from least to greatest.
• Adding and Subtracting Decimals –Students will learn how to add and subtract decimals using models and two different algorithms, partial sums and the standard algorithm.

Science:
Weather and Climate.

• Convection Currents –Students will investigate how convection currents, the movement of hot and cold air, causes weather.
• The Water Cycle -We will investigate how water cycles through the earth and its atmosphere to cause weather.

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Homework:
Please visit the Homework Page for full details.

• Students don't have a new Reading Response Blog to respond to, but they must reply to another student by Wednesday and reply to me by Friday.
• There is a new homework project that will be due Monday, October 19.
• We will work on an experiment report in class, but if students don't finish in the time given, they must finish for homework.

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