Week of October 23, 2017

Chinese acrobatics at All School Meeting this week.

Highlights from Last Week

• We had a special visit from Dr. Keough, our new superintendent. He and Dr. Brown stopped by and learned how students were orienting themselves to the story elements of some complex stories. Students did a great job explaining the purpose of the lesson and how we were using the new strategy to help us as readers.
• On Monday, grades 3-5 welcomed guest speaker Katie Greer and learned some important rules about internet safety: don't sign up for certain accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc) if you are under their age minimum of 13, don't play games or interact online with strangers, and set your accounts (like YouTube) to private.
• Chinese acrobat Li Lui wowed Pine Hillers at All School Meeting on Friday with her ribbon dancing, plate spinning, and impressive balancing.
• In Math, students learned how to use the traditional US multiplication algorithm for multiplying by one digit numbers. Although it was intimidating at first for many, the idea that "most of the addition is done in your head" instead of being written out was very helpful. 
• In Writing, we made good progress learning how to write a personal narrative. Students learned two important lessons on how to write in a step-by-step way and how to stay in your point of view. These are the foundations of writing strong personal narratives.

What We Didn't Get To
Here is what didn't get covered:

• We didn't get to measurement conversions in Math.
• We still need to target the importance of setting in Reading.
• In Social Studies, we didn't get as far as I had hoped, so we'll learn about the branches of government and elections this upcoming week in some short videos.
• We started to assemble our portfolios, but -holy smokes!- it took a lot longer than I anticipated just to put sheet protectors and dividers into binders. 

Upcoming Special Events

Tuesday, October 24th:

• United Nations Day --Students walk to the Sherborn Peace Abbey at 11:40pm to sing a song about peace and celebrate humanity's efforts toward world peace. Lunch will be moved to 1:10pm.

Wednesday, October 25th:

• Early Release Day

Friday, October 27th

• School "Spirit" Day --Wear black and orange to celebrate Halloween (if you would like to!)

Friday, November 3rd:

• Veterens Day Assembly --Grade 5 meets real local veterens and learns about the important role they serve in the essential government function of protecting our country.

Please see the Pine Hill Calendar for more.


This Week's Plan

Reading
Unit:  Stories
Focus Areas:​

• The Importance of Setting --what is it and how does it influence characters and plot.
• Recognizing the Conflict in Stories --describe the major problems in the story and how they affect the events that happen.
• Analyzing Character --infer about a character’s feelings, thoughts, and motivations from details in the text.
• Continue to Model Good Reading --with teacher read aloud of There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar. 

Writing
Unit:  Narrative
Focus Areas:​​

• Structuring your Narrative --use a "story mountain" arc to plan out a beginning, developing action, a climax, and a resolution.
• Taking Stock and Setting Goals --students assess their skills and progress against a rubric of expectations and set goals for improving.
• Flash Drafting --we learn how to write as  much of a new story as possible in one sitting, focusing on quantity and speed.

Math
Unit 2: Whole Number Place Value and Operations
Focus Areas:​

• US Traditional Multiplication --use U.S. traditional multiplication to multiply multi-digit numbers. (multiple days)
• Making Estimates --learn how to round numbers to appropriate powers of 10 and keep track place values in an efficient way.
• Measurement Conversions --use unit conversions within the U.S. customary system to solve multistep problems.
• Using Estimating with Big Numbers  --students use multiplication to estimate how long it will take them to tap their desks one million times.

Social Studies
Unit: US Government and Civics
Focus Areas:​

• Branches of Government –explore the responsibilities of each branch and learn about the meaning of “checks and balances.”
• Elections –how they work and which government officials get elected.
• Government Inquiry Project --choose a topic of interest related to the US Government and begin a team research project where they will become experts on the topic and teach about it to the class in a creative way.
• Becoming an Expert --what it takes to become an expert on a topic by conducting research and taking notes that are meaningful and applicable.
  
• Conducting Kid-Friendly Research --compile a list of kid-friendly resources and learn how to evaluate the reading level of a source.
  

Special Activities
Here are some non-academic focus areas for the week:

• Organize Our Portfolios --we'll put our completed work in our porfolios.

Homework
Please see the Homework Page for more details. Students will need to do the following at home this week:

1. Homework Project: Students turn in their What If...? project this week. Project due Wednesday, October 25th.
2. Reading Response Blog: Students have a new blog prompt to respond to by Friday. See the Reading Response Rubric for expectations.
3. Independent Reading: Read 20 minutes each day (or 140 minutes per week -120 this week) and log the title, author, and time spent reading in your Planner.
4. Math: There will be a math page each night.

How to Help Your Child
Parents, here are some things you can do at home to help your child succeed with school life this week:​

• Help your child assess his/her work on the What If Homework Project Rubric. Encourage him/her to reflect honestly on each area and talk about what went well this time and what could be improved for next time.
• Let your child teach you what they know of the US Standard Multiplication Algorithm. Invite your child to show you how they do it and explain the reasoning for why it's done that way. Encourage them to compare it with the Partial Product Algorithm.
• Talk to your child about a branch of government that interests you. Spark engagement and interest by sharing what you know already and what you wonder. Read or watch something together about that branch of government.

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