Week of October 24th, 2016

Highlights from Last Week:
On Friday, Pine Hill welcomed Brett Outchcunis, called Ooch, who presented on how to overcome bullying and why kids should collect many different friends. He was hilarious!

Students shared their "What If" homework projects this week. From stuffed animals coming to life, to pet cats talking, students had fun using their imaginations to tell some fantastic stories. You can check out students' awesome work on the Student Work page.

In Math, we learned how to multiply multi-digit numbers using the partial products method and the standard algorithm. Students then used their multiplication skills to solve a tricky open response prompt that bridges into division.

In Writing, students reviewed their first narratives that the wrote on-demand and assessed themselves using our narrative rubric. Students learned what is expected of them and got a preview of all the great skills and strategies I plan to teach them.

What We Didn't Get To:

• In Reading, we didn't get to Explicit versus Implicit meaning, nor the in-class reading response associated with it.
• In Math, students struggled at first with the standard multiplication algorithm, so we only barely touched on division through multiplication.

This Week's Plan


Upcoming Special Events: ​​

• Parent Teacher Conferences --See the schedule here.
• Early Release --Wednesday, October 26th.
• Fire Safety Presentation --As required by law, students must learn how to prevent and stop fires.
  

Special Activities:

• DARE Class --Students learn decision-making skills and how to resist unwanted pressure with Office Smith for 10 weeks of 40-minute lessons on Wednesday mornings.
• The Kimball Class Newsletter --Students will be tackling their first segments for our newsletter, planning and collaborating together to meet our November 1st deadline.
• Trick or Treat for UNICEF --I've participated in fundraising for UNICEF every year. I teach students about what UNICEF is, what it does, and the importance of stepping up to help children in need.

Math:
Place Value, Estimation, Multiplication, and Division.

• Division through Multiplication --Students will "build a quotient" by using multiplication.
• Powers of 10 with Division --We'll look at dividing by powers of 10 and learn the pattern of moving place values.
• Estimating a Quotient --It's a little trickier than with multiplication, but we'll round to friendly numbers in order to divide.
• Division with Partial Quotients --We'll learn how to divide multi-digit numbers by one digit numbers using this place-value friendly method.
• Math Open Response --We'll put our division skills to work with a real world, multi-step problem. We'll learn how to show and explain our thinking in clear detail.

Reading:
Close Reading.

• Explicit versus Implicit Meaning --We will read a variety of texts this week and learn to recognize what a text explicitly says and what we can infer.
• In-Class Reading Response --Students will analyze the explicit and implicit meaning of a text and respond in writing on the blog.
• Teacher Read Aloud --We're reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. An entertaining story about a boy who hates school, hates his peers, and hates himself, but turns his life around with the help of a committed school counselor and personal resolve.

Writing:
Personal Narrative Writing.

• Bringing Forth the Story Arc --We'll learn how to structure our stories so that they have a beginning, middle, climax, and an end.
• Writing a Strong Intro --We'll study the introductions of published authors to learn effective ways to begin our stories.
• Elaborating on the Important Parts --Students will learn how to slow down important scenes in their story and speed up less important scenes.

Social Studies:
Inquiry Investigation of the US Government & Elections, particularly:

• The US Constitution
• Branches of Government

​
This week, students will play some fun and informative games that simulate working in a branch of the US Government. Here are the options:

• Bill of Rights -Learn about the rights citizens have by running a law firm.
• Branches of Power -Manage all three branches of government and their functions. See how they relate to one another.
• Represent Me -Learn how a legislator represents the voters.
• LawCraft -Craft bills by adding amendments, aiming to please both houses of congress.
• Executive Command -Learn about the responsibilities of the president.
• Supreme Decision -Learn about how the Supreme Court works.

Students will need to read the instructions carefully and learn how parts of the government work in order to successfully play the games.


Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details. 

1. There is a new At-Home Reading Response Blog #3 for students to respond to by Friday.
2. Read 25 minutes at home per day and log the title, author, and time in the planner.
3. There will be a math page for homework each night.
4. There will be activities about the US Government from iCivics for students to complete.
5. Students will need to complete their segment for the class newsletter by Friday.

There is no new homework project this week.

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