Thank you so much to all the parents who were able to donate items for our party on Valentine’s Day!
What we are working on . . .
In math, we took a test on our mini-unit on multiplying by multiples of 10. Students should have brought that test home Monday. For this test, students took the test on paper, then entered their work on the iPad using the online test for our district curriculum. This gave them a little experience on what taking the math MSTEP on the iPad will be like this spring.
Now, we are beginning a unit on two-step problem solving. This is always a tricky unit for students, as they have to look for the “hidden question” in the problem in order to solve the given question. We are drawing bar diagrams as a tool to help with this process. If your child is struggling with the homework, have your child read the problem aloud to you, twice. Ask them, “What information do you know? What do you need to answer? To do that, what do you have to find first?”
In reading, we began our unit on characters. Students are becoming really good at finding character traits to describe their character and evidence to support this. This week, we are trying to grow our thinking about our characters into developing theories about them. For example: My character is kind. This tells me she is the type of person who would help me out when I need a friend. Ask your child about our mentor text: Because of Winn-Dixie. We are also finishing another chapter book together called, BOB.
In writing we are working on our finishing touches on our narrative stories. We have been working on “twin sentences/two for one, I ADD, and exploding the moment” as strategies to elaborate. Ask your child about them! We are also exploring how and when to begin new paragraphs. These are all new concepts for them. We hope to have these stories finished to share with you at conferences!
We are finishing our social studies unit on Michigan’s history. We are really enjoying learning about the Native Americans and the French and British. Next, we will explore forces and motion in science.
Be on the lookout for information on our school-wide March is Reading Month!