March 13th Newsletter

Week of March 13, 2015

        In math our class has continued our work on angles.  Students have learned about the various types of angles (acute, obtuse, right, straight and reflex).  We have identified the various angles in two dimensional shapes, worked with protractors to measure and draw angles, and learned about lines including intersecting, parallel and perpendicular.  Additionally, we have continued to work on the concept of long division that we began with Ellen Dorsey, WCSU math consultant.  This work has used Cuisenaire rods and base ten blocks for the concrete level.  We have also practiced the area model (drawing rectangles to represent the blocks) and finally the US algorithm, which is the traditional way that most of us have learned how to divide.    

          During the writing block students have been busily working on the post assessment for our study of the informational piece (the research report).  We finished these on Friday morning.  Students were asked to select a topic that they have previously studied or feel that they know a lot about.  I have been amazed at the progress that everyone has made!  From effective leads and transitions to elaboration and craft, students have all shown wonderful growth in their work.  Our next unit of study will be the opinion piece.  We will complete our pre assessment of this genre next week.

          For the past few weeks our class has worked with Ms. Dunkling on Friday afternoons learning a variety of Colonial dances.  We will be working with Ms. Dunkling on most Fridays, integrating Music with our Social Studies themes for the remainder of the year. 

          In Technology, students have started learning how to create a presentation in Google. We are learning skills as we create a presentation about our research topic for our informational pieces.  Soon, we will be creating presentations about “kindness”, part of our recent focus that ties in with our read aloud, Wonder. We have also focused on how to select websites for research.
          On Friday afternoon we will be examining owl pellets.  Be sure to ask your child about this fascinating activity!

          Have a wonderful weekend!