Week of January 30, 2017

Students sorting words as they practice spelling patterns.

Highlights from Last Week:

New Student Council Members: Congratulations to Kate and Katie for winning our student council elections! They will represent 5K proudly. We praise Ellie, Owen C, and Max for running as well.

Mesmerized: We read a fun informational text called "Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of France." It was a great informational text filled with so many great features of the genre. We practiced determining what's important and summarizing the text.

Math Test: Students took an assessment on decimal division and multiplication. The class average was an 84%. We are now ready to move on to fractions.

Language Skills: Instead of diving into our next writing project, we've taken some time to target spelling and vocabulary development. Students went on a word hunt through the dictionary to find words with prefixes. We've been using the words in context and students earn points when they use new words effectively in conversation. They earn a pajama day if they get 100 points.

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What We Didn't Get To:​

• Fractions of Sets in Math. We looked at modeling mixed numbers instead.
• Structures of Informational Texts in Reading. We looked at determining main ideas and summarizing instead.
• Greek and Latin root words in Writing. We focused on prefixes and suffixes instead.

This Week's Plan


Upcoming Special Events: ​​​

• Geo Bee School Finals: Max will represent 5K in the school-wide geography bee.

Special Activities:

• Homework Project Shares: Students who finish their Global Citizenship Part 1 projects will share them in class later this week.
  

Math:
Fraction Basics.

• Fractions of Sets --We'll learn how to find a fraction of a number using models, as well as division and multiplication.
• Equivalent Fractions
• Comparing and Ordering Fractions --We'll explore fraction sizes and learn how to use benchmarks of 0, 1/2, and 1 to compare fractions.
• Adding Fractions --We'll learn the steps to add fractions with like and unlike denominators, then practice simplifying our answers.

Reading:
Book Groups. Begin Informational Text Reading.

• Book Groups --Students continue their book group work on summarizing, questioning, critically thinking, and discussing.
• Structure Informational Text --We'll look at a variety of ways to structure informational texts, such as topic/detail, compare/contrast, cause/effect, and sequence/narrative.
• Explicit and Implicit Meaning  --Students will find evidence and use quotes accurately to support their thinking about what the text says and means.

Writing:
Continue Spelling and Vocabulary.

• Common Spelling Patterns --Students who need support with spelling will work in small groups to practice particular spelling patterns.
• Suffixes --Students will explore suffixes and find new vocabulary words that use them.
• Vocabulary --We'll look at common Greek and Latin root words and explore how many English words draw meaning from their roots.

Social Studies:
We're focusing on Science, but we'll be introducing Colonial America through Informational Reading.

Science:
Weather and Climate. ​

• Climate --Students finish up their research on their three chosen climate destinations and create a poster to share their knowledge.
• Measuring Weather: We'll explore some old-fashioned instruments used to measure weather.

Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details.

1. Students continue working on their "Global Citizenship Part 1." There is an early due date (Feb 1) and an extended due date (Feb 8).
2. There is a new Reading Response Blog this week for students to practice their summarizing skills.
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.