Week of October 19, 2015

Our demonstration of how to navigate the formatting of informational texts. Technology is the best!

Highlights from Last Week:

• Students enjoyed our experiment on convection currents where we used hot and cold water, clear jars, and food coloring to demonstrate that hot air rises and cold air sinks. Students also worked diligently on their experiment reports to show how this experiment relates to wind.
• We learned how to multiply 3-digit by 3-digit numbers using the standard algorithm. Students agreed that it gets a lot easier once you practice it a bunch of times.
• In a spontaneous moment, I decided to let students create a tutoring video demonstrating the standard algorithm. I dove into it a little unprepared, so this week I will show students exactly what I am expecting and some video examples for inspiration. I hope that once they learn how to plan, film, and edit this video, they can create similar videos for all sorts of concepts throughout the year.
• We reached a big turning point in our class read aloud of There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. We discovered through deep inferencing that the belligerent main character, Bradley, secretly does want to have friends and be liked others. Students watched me as I stopped to trace some of Bradley's development through the story using evidence from the text.
• In an effort to integrate Science and Reading, we learned some strategies for tackling informational texts. Students learned how to navigate the layout of our Weather books along with a fun partner reading strategy called, "Stop, Think, and Talk."

 
What we didn't get to:
I had a few spontaneous ideas for lessons and activities this week that caused my original plan to be pushed back.

• We still haven't modeled decimals yet in Math. I got an idea for a fun math  project and had to run with it. I have decided to move straight to division with whole numbers instead of jumping to decimals in this unit.
• We didn't get to the water cycle investigation in Science.
• I still need to teach students how to write effective introductions and conclusions.

This Week's Plan

Special:
Wednesday: Early Release. Parent Teacher Conferences. Students are invited and encouraged to attend!


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

• Reading Action Verbs Practice –Students will continue to practice writing about their reading using our list of Reading Action Verbs. I will model how to effectively do this with our class read aloud.
• Reading Choice Time –We will discuss how to make Choice Time accountable and productive so that I am more likely to give students the opportunity to choose the project that they work on.
• Formal reading assessments  –I only have 2 more to do! These assessments guide my instruction and grouping this semester.
• 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.

Writing:
We finish opinion writing this week.

• Introductions and Conclusions  –Students will learn how to frame their essay with a creative, enticing introduction and a powerful, summarizing conclusion.
• Including Quotes for Support –Students will learn that they can back up their supporting arguments with the words and ideas of someone important. I will show them how to use quotation marks and transition phrases to set up the quote.
• Argument Forum –Students will engage in a debate-like presentation of their opinion essays, during which those who want to will read their essays to the class. I will model how students can react with "expressed support" (clapping and cheering) for powerful, well-supported arguments.

Math: 
Estimation and computation.​

• Math Movie –As a fun, spontaneous project, students are going to plan, direct, and edit a tutoring movie teaching next year's incoming 5th graders how to multiply with the standard US algorithm.
• Division through Multiplication –Students will learn how to break apart numbers into "friendly numbers" to the divisor so that they can divide mentally using multiplication facts that they know.
• Estimating Division Quotients –Students will learn how to estimate the answer to a division problem by rounding the dividend to a "friendly number" to the divisor and using their understanding of powers of 10 to place the quotient in the right place value.
• Division with 1-digit Divisors –Using the intuitive Partial Quotients algorithm, students will use their multiplication skills to divide up to 5-digit dividends by 1-digit divisors. (DIVIDEND divided by DIVISOR equals QUOTIENT)

Science:
Weather and Climate.

• The Water Cycle -We will investigate how water cycles through the earth and its atmosphere to cause weather.
• Cloud Formations –We will examine how clouds form how the different types of clouds cause our weather.

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Homework:
Please visit the Homework Page for full details.

• Students have a new Reading Response Blog to respond to.
• The Propose a Perk Project is due Thursday, October 22nd.
• Students will need to finish their Opinion Essay by Thursday night. If they don't finish in class, they will need to finish for homework.
• There will be a math page or two each night.

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