Week of December 5, 2016

Students working hard on their fictional narratives.

Highlights from Last Week:

​In Science last week, we conducted another fun experiment to explore how the earth's surface heats up and cools down unevenly. Students used heat lamps and thermometers to explore which substances heated up and cooled down the fastest: sand, dirt, rocks, or water. They found that sand and rocks heated up and cooled down the fastest while water heated up and cooled down the slowest. We analyzed how this connects to the sun heating up the earth and how that can affect air and weather.

​In Writing, students shared excerpts of their personal narratives with the class. Their stories were very well-crafted! We've now moved on to writing realistic fiction and explored how to develop realistic characters with believable traits and character flaws. Students seem to be enjoying this creative endeavor!

We are just about to the end of There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom. Students have been loving this read aloud about Bradley Chalkers and his struggle to make friends and do well in school. Throughout the story, students have been analyzing the deeper meaning of important details and characters' actions.

Our second Newsletter is compiled, copied, and ready for distribution! Students took feedback from survey sent out last month to influence the topics they chose to write about. We hope you enjoy the December issue of th 5K Newsletter! Find it here.

What We Didn't Get To:​

• In Writing: Narrative Assessment.
• In Reading: We didn't get to discuss "Stray" yet.

This Week's Plan


Upcoming Special Events: ​​

• Superintendent candidate visits --Monday, Wednesday, & Thursday
• Early Release --Wednesday
• Reception for Illustrator Kevin Barry --Thursday 3-4pm
• Shrek the Musical at the Middle School --Thursday, Friday, & Saturday

Special Activities:

• The Kimball Class Newsletter --The December issue is published. Students can start working on articles for the next issue!

Math:
Decimal Operations.​

• Adding and Subtracting Decimals –Students will learn how to add and subtract decimals using models and the standard algorithm.
• Decimal Patterns & Number Stories --We'll look at real world situations using decimal addition and subtraction.
• Review for Assessment --We'll review numerical expressions, grouping symbols, and decimal basics. Here is the Study Guide.

Reading:
Close Reading.

• Character Analysis --We'll read "Stray" by Cynthia Rylant this week and meet in groups to discuss one of the characters and his motivations.
• Teacher Read Aloud --We're reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. We're getting close to the end! As I read, I model fluent reading and literary analysis skills.

Writing:
Fictional Narrative Writing.​

• Personal Narrative Assessment --Students will go through the writing process to write an on-demand personal narrative in 50 minutes, showing off their new skills. We'll compare these stories to their initial on-demand narrative from before the Unit.
• Choose a Small Moment --We'll look at how to choose a small moment for our fictional narrative. We'll study a mentor text by Sandra Cisneros called "Eleven."
• Orienting the Reader --We'll learn how to establish a situation and help readers dive into the world of our story.

Social Studies:
We switch to Science now.

Science:
Weather and Climate. 

• Wind --We will read about wind and create a short writing piece to share our knowledge.
• Water on Earth --We explore how water cycles on earth through a model. Students will then create a drawing of what they learned.

Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details.

1. Decision Making with DARE Homework Project -due Wednesday, Dec 7
2. There is a new at-home Reading Blog #5 (Complex Character) for students to respond to by Friday.
3. Read 25 minutes at home per day and log the title, author, and time in the planner.
4. There will be a math page for homework each night.

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