The Sixth Sense

Reading
In Lesson 13, students read a short story, Escaping the Giant Wave.  While reading, students worked on filling out a story map where they had to identify the characters, setting, conflict, plot events, and resolution of the story.  Students then used the story map to write a summary.  We also spent time identifying and analyzing the features of theme conveyed through characters, actions, and images.  In our paired selection, students read an expository nonfiction, and we discussed the ideas presented in the text.

Math
In both classes, we continued to work chapter 8.  We worked on dividing fractions and mixed numbers, solved word problems using the strategy of guess and check, as well as converted fractions into decimals and decimals into fractions.

Science
We continued the physics unit on gravity and motion.  Students learned about the three categories of motion: linear, circular, and vibrational.  We also discussed the terms used to describe the movement of objects (speed, velocity, acceleration, and displacement).  Lots of vocabulary terms to learn, many of then new to the students.  Students now have all the background information needed to understand Newton’s three laws of motion.  We will begin learning about these next week!

Social Studies
We have started our Civil Rights unit.  Students should be studying their notes and expect a quiz some time next week.  We discussed the goals and strategies of this movement, as well as the presidents who were influential during this time period.  Students also used the computer to learn more about the Little Rock Nine.

Writing/English
In Mrs. Mitchell’s class, students published their informational pieces.  Students will then work on turning their informational piece into a speech that they will give to the class.  The students seem really excited about their speeches.  In English, we began our Verbs unit.  Students viewed a Schoolhouse Rocks video about action verbs.

In Mrs. Johnson’s class, students finished their persuasive essays and submitted them for a grade.    In English, we started the unit on verbs.  We learned about action verbs and auxiliary/helping verbs. We also continue to work on Daily Language Review each day to practice grammar skills.

It is that time of year when we have to start fighting the battle against cold and flu season.  If you are able to donate clorox or lysol wipes, as well as hand sanitizer, it would be greatly appreciated!

Reading
In Lesson 12, students read a short story, The Long Bike Ride.  While reading, students worked on filling out a story map where they had to identify the characters, setting, conflict, plot events, and resolution of the story.  We also spent time identifying and interpreting examples of figurative language found in the text.  In our paired selection, students read and interpreted the meaning of two poems, and we discussed the various poetic devices found in each.

Math
In both classes, we started chapter 8, which focuses on multiplication and division of fractions.  Students learned how solve for a fraction of a number, as well as how to multiply fractions.  Students also learned to estimate the product of fractions.

Science
We continued the physics unit on gravity and motion.  Students learned about the three categories of motion: linear, circular, and vibrational.  We also discussed the terms used to describe the movement of objects (speed, velocity, acceleration, and displacement).  Lots of vocabulary terms to learn, many of then new to the students.  Students now have all the background information needed to understand Newton’s three laws of motion.  We will begin learning about these next week!

Social Studies
We shared our immigration projects and found out some interesting things about each other.  It was evident from the students’ presentations that they learned a lot of new information about their families or famous immigrant.  Students also learned about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. which was an excellent introduction to our Civil Rights unit.

Writing/English
In Mrs. Mitchell’s class, students are working on the rough draft for their informational writing.  Students have complete the paragraphs containing their main ideas and will then move on to writing the introduction and conclusion for their piece.  In English, we are done learning about nouns and are now reviewing the information we have learned.  The end of the unit test will take place on Tuesday.

In Mrs. Johnson’s class, students finished their persuasive essays and submitted them for a grade.    In English, we started the unit on verbs.  We learned about action verbs and auxiliary/helping verbs. We also continue to work on Daily Language Review each day to practice grammar skills.

Paw Prints are now available via the internet only on our blog.  If you do not have access to the internet, you are more than welcome to contact us and we will be happy to send a paper copy home.   January’s Paw Prints is on the blog and available for your viewing.

Reading
Students completed the midyear benchmark assessments this week.  We also started theme 3 in the Storytown series.  Throughout this theme, students will be read about how living things adapt to our ever-changing planet.  The first story is Life Under Ice,  and the focus skill is identifying and interpreting figurative language.

Students presented their Book Club Movie Posters this week.  They enjoyed looking at each others’ creative designs and learning about the different books that were read and discussed by other classmates.  New book club groups will begin soon.

Math
In both classes, students learned how to add fractions and mixed numbers as well as how to subtract with regrouping.  We reviewed how to find equivalent fractions and then used this idea to compare and order fractions.  We also did problem solving using the strategy of looking for a pattern.  Mrs. Johnson’s students took the mid-chapter quiz this week.  Next week, both classes will be ready for the chapter 7 test.

Science
We started the physics unit on gravity and motion.  During this unit, students will learn about Newton’s three laws of motion and how these laws explain the movement of all objects.  This week we learned about gravity and how it impacts our movement on Earth.  Students also learned the difference between weight and mass.

Social Studies
Students should be working on their Immigration project.  Projects are due Thursday, January 14th.  We completed our unit by discussing immigration today and the process that immigrants go through to become citizens of the United States.  In our next unit, students will learn about civil rights.

Writing/English
In Mrs. Mitchell’s class, students are in the beginning stages of an informational writing.  Students are brainstorming and will then move onto completing their prewriting hand.  In English, we are continuing to learn about nouns.  We discussed how to make singular nouns plural and possessive nouns.

In Mrs. Johnson’s class, students wrote the first rough draft of their persuasive essays and spent time working on revisions.  We also continue to work on Daily Language Review each day to practice grammar skills.

Reading
We are working on the last lesson in Theme 2.  Students have been engaged in a reader’s theater, which they thoroughly enjoyed performing.  We also spent time reviewing the focus skills for this theme: character traits and plot, and main idea and details.

Book clubs met for the last time this week.  Students dialogued with their group members about the assigned reading and shared their reactions to the end of the book.  As a culminating project, students are required to complete a movie poster related to their assigned book.

Math
In both classes, we started chapter 7, which focuses on addition and subtraction of fractions.  Students learned how to represent fractions and mixed numbers, as well as how to convert improper fractions into mixed numbers.  Students also learned to estimate fractions and mixed numbers.

Science
Students learned about tornadoes and hurricanes.  They also had the opportunity to watch some video footage of the mass destruction created by these severe weather systems.  We spent time comparing and contrasting tornadoes and hurricanes so students would be prepared for the essay portion of the weather test.  On Tuesday, we played “Weather Jeopardy” to review for the exam.  As a culmination activity to the weather unit, students watched the video Storm Chasers.

Social Studies
We finished our studies on immigrant children and their interesting home, work, and school lives.  We are now looking at immigration on a more personal level and will be creating a coat of arms that represents our families.  Over the winter break, students will be asked to research their family history or the history of a famous immigrant.  They will then use what they have found in an end of the unit project.

Writing/English
In Mrs. Mitchell’s class, students have been working hard on their persuasive pieces.  We have finished our rough drafts and are in the revising/editing phase.  We will publish the pieces this week.  Next, students will work an informational writing.  In English, we learned about plural and possessive nouns.

In Mrs. Johnson’s class, students have been learning about nouns.  They learned the difference between common and proper nouns, and how to form a possessive noun.  Students also learned the numerous rules for making a noun plural.   The last lesson in the unit focused on appositives; students learned how to incorporate appositives into sentences to create greater variety and complexity in their personal writing.  Students took the noun unit test on Thursday.  In writing, we continued working on our persuasive essays.  Students completed the prewriting 6-square.

Reading
We have moved on to lesson 9 where we will read an expository nonfiction text titled “Smokejumpers.” Students will be using main idea and detail charts to help them summarize the text.  Students will also be looking at the way an author uses cause and effect to organize their ideas.  Finally, we will review reference sources and their uses.

Book clubs are continuing to meet.  Students have been dialoguing with their group members about the assigned readings and sharing the roles that they had completed (i.e. artful artist, word wizard, connector).  Ask you child to share with you what their book is about and whether or not they are enjoying the story so far.

Math
In Mrs. Johnson’s math class, students learned to divide using decimals.  They also learned to calculate unit price in order to determine the better buy.  We did problem solving that involved using the strategies of logical reasoning and working backwards.  We are already half-way through the chapter.  Students will take the Chapter 5 test on Thursday, December 10.

In Mrs. MItchell’s math class, we just completed our midchapter quiz for Chapter 5. We are over half-way through the chapter.  This week, we will be working on problem solving, and then we will study for the test.  Students will take the Chapter 5 test on Thursday, December 10.

Science
We are quickly coming to the end of the meteorology unit.  Students have been learning how to read a weather map to collect data and make a forecast.  Next week we will be discussing severe weather systems, specifically hurricanes and tornadoes.  The unit test is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, December 15.  Please encourage your child to spend 10 minutes daily in preparation for this test; it is challenging because it covers so much content.

Social Studies
We are continuing to discuss immigration.  We are now looking at an immigrant’s new life in America.  We will be using excerpts from the book Immigrant Kids to discuss the life at home, at school, at work, and at play.

Writing/English
In Mrs. Mitchell’s class, we moving right along with our persuasive pieces.  We are in the drafting stage where students are turning their outlines into a rough draft.  There are a lot of creative and persuasive writers in this class!  In English, we began our second unit involving nouns.  Students learned how to identify nouns, as well as how to identify whether they are a common or a proper noun.

In Mrs. Johnson’s class, we finished the English unit on sentence structure, and next week we will start the unit on nouns.  We also continue to work on Daily Language Review each day to practice grammar skills. In writing, we started the persuasive writing unit.  Students selected a topic and brainstormed a list of supporting arguments and counter arguments.  Next week we will begin writing the rough draft.

Reading
We finished reading “S.O.R. Losers.”  Students were analyzing character traits and discussing how these traits impact the plot events and resolution of a story.  We have also been looking at vocabulary words that have different shades of meaning and discussing how to use context clues to determine the appropriate definition of a word.

Book clubs are continuing to meet.  Students have been dialoguing with their group members about the assigned readings and sharing the roles that they had completed (i.e. artful artist, word wizard, connector).  Ask you child to share with you what their book is about and whether or not they are enjoying the story so far.

Math
In Mrs. Johnson’s math class, students learned to write the prime factorization of a number, both in expanded notation and exponential form.  Students also learned to find the GCF of a pair of numbers by using prime factorization.  We also did problem solving in preparation for the chapter 3 test.  Students took the chapter 3 posttest and the chapter 5 pretest.  We will begin chapter 5 on Monday.

In Mrs. MItchell’s math class, we studied for the chapter 3 test, which was taken on Thursday.  We will begin chapter 5 on Monday.  In this chapter, we will continue to work on division.  Students will learn how to divide and find a decimal quotient.  We will not be using remainders anymore.

Science
This past week we were talking about clouds.  Students learned how clouds are formed, and in the Kids Discover magazine, we read about many different types of clouds and discussed what each one looks like as well as what type of weather each forecasts.  Students also learned about air masses and the three different frontal systems:  warm front, cold front, and stationary front.  We ended this week talking about how to read a weather map.

Social Studies
We are continuing to discuss immigration.  We learned about the journey to America and about how 9 out of 10 immigrants entered America using Ellis Island.  The students are currently working on plays which they will act out in front of the class.

Writing/English
In Mrs. Mitchell’s class, we are outlining our persuasive topics.  Students chose a topic that they felt strongly about to persuade a certain audience to think or do.  There are some interesting topics!  We will be working on adding supporting details to our writing by using an outline.  After that, we will begin our rough draft.  This is one of my favorite pieces because the students are so creative with their arguments.  Our first English test is on Monday.  Students have known about it for a week.  We completed a practice test in class to review the concepts in unit 1.  Use this to help you study with your child.

In Mrs. Johnson’s class, we are finishing up the English unit on sentence structure.  We learned about compound predicates, conjunctions, and compound sentences.  Next week we will have the unit test.  We also continue to work on Daily Language Review to practice grammar skills.

Reading
Our first two lessons in Theme 2 focused on plot and character.  Students have been analyzing the personality traits of the main character and discussing how these traits impact the plot of a story.  The stories we read in class were “Befiddled” and “S.O.R. Losers.”  We have also been looking at vocabulary words that have multiple meanings and discussing how to use context clues to determine the appropriate definition of a word.

Book clubs also met for the first time this week.  Students dialogued with their group members about the assigned reading and shared the role that they had completed (i.e. artful artist, word wizard, connector).  Ask you child to share with you what their book is about and whether or not they are enjoying the story so far.

Math

In Mrs. Johnson’s and Mrs. Mitchell’s math classes, students learned to write and solve division expressions and equations.  We also talked about how to use the order of operations (“Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.) to solve challenging, multi-step equations.  In another lesson, students learned how estimate division equations using compatible numbers.  We also did problem solving where students had to decide whether or not an answer was reasonable based on the information presented in the problem.  Mrs. Johnson’s class did problem solving that involved creating a list or table to find the correct answer.  Some of Mrs. Johnson’s enrichment activities over the past two weeks included solving multi-step equations, “mystery numbers,” and “magic squares.”

Science
In our meteorology unit, students learned about humidity and relative humidity and about hygrometers, which are used to find the air’s humidity level.  We also talked about radar and how it is used to track storm systems.  In the Kids Discover magazine on weather, we read about different clues in nature that relate to weather forecasting.

Social Studies
Our Reconstruction unit is over.  We are now moving on to Immigration.  Students will learn why people immigrated, what they brought with them, what the voyage was like to America, as well as how they began their new lives in America.  We will be using the book Immigrant Kids to guide us through this unit.

Writing/English
In Mrs. Mitchell’s class, students completed their personal narratives.  Our next writing piece will involve persuasive writing.  In English, we discussed conjunctions and compound sentences.  We will be finishing our first English unit soon.

In Mrs. Johnson’s class, students spent time editing their rough draft and then wrote the final published copy.  Students submitted their personal narrative unit for the final grade.   In English, we learned about compound subjects.  We also continue to work on Daily Language Review to practice grammar skills.

We had an awesome time on Friday learning all about pumpkins.  Here are our creations: