I love to read! I just read The Land of Stories: The Wishing Well by Chris Colfer and fell in love with the interesting storyline. I am now on to the next book in the series: The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns and so far, I can't put the book down, it is so wonderful. I also reread The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate and have such deep affection for the main character Ivan. I think it is still one of the best books I've ever read.
I also am a big fan of picture books because they have so much to offer. My new favorite historical fiction is These Hands by Margaret H. Mason. It is an amazing story about African Americans who worked in the Wonder Bread factory in 1950s & 1960s and were not treated fairly. I also love, love, love The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt because it is hysterical. We just read Freedom on the Menu by Carole Boston Weatherford which is a powerful historical fiction story about the Greensboro Sit-ins.
Please make a post of your TOP 3 BOOKS of all time! Make a list of the 3 books that you loved so much you wanted to read them again. List a book you wished there was more to the story so you could spend more time with the characters. In your post be sure to list thetitle and author of each book.
We are excited to announce our next
independent project:Create your own Continent.Each student was given a
checklist to follow (click the map icon below to view a PDF of the
checklist), a draft is due onThursday March 7thand the final project is due onMonday March 31st. Students are encouraged to make sure they use
their creativity when developing their map. It must include
the correctly drawn geographic features, be written neatly and free of
spelling errors. If you have any questions about
the project, please contact me.
Hello! I cannot believe how fast the year is flying by. I am amazed at how much the students have changed since the beginning of the year. We have been working so hard and learning so much. I am very proud of the academic progress your children have made. We have just begun our final fundraiser for the Bronx Zoo field trip. In the fundraising packet you will find three catalogs with items from Grandma's Pies, Saratoga Sweets and flower bulbs. Our sale ends on Friday March 7th when all orders and money are due. You will be able to pick up orders on Thursday April 10th, the same night as the Spring Concert. If you have any questions, please let me know.
In Math we completed Unit 6 and worked on how to add and subtract fractions. We focused on how to find the least common denominator and add/subtract with mixed numbers. Please remind your child to follow the strategies they've been taught to set up their problems correctly. They should always make sure to simplify their answers when adding or subtracting fractions. They know how to solve problems but are encouraged to slow down and make an effort to double check their work for careless errors. We are currently on Unit 7 and learning how to multiply and divide fractions.
In Writer's Workshop we worked on our non-fiction unit. We started by looking at several unique nonfiction texts and studied the style of the writing. We focused on how the author tried to pull the reader in and make the factual information more interesting.
We read the following books:
Each student chose a topic to research and tried to draft out their research using a creative style. We then learned how to use Pages on the i-pads to publish our nonfiction articles. We continue to focus on adding more relevant details to support our thinking in our writing. They chose a topic that was engaging to them and wrote about many interesting things, such as; Mythology, Stars, The Sun, Endangered Species and Hurricanes.
Then we did a mini unit on figures of speech, with a focus on simile and metaphor. We read many engaging books and watched some Youtube videos. We listened to several popular songs and identified the similes and metaphors. We watched a great kid friendly music video created by The Bazillions about Metaphor Man and Simile Girl. Click on the picture below to watch the video.
We then read My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks by Hanoch Piven and then tried to model his writing. Each student created their own similes and metaphors about a family member.
Alena wrote the following about her friend:
LILI
Lili is as cute as a new born puppy.
She is as sweet as chocolate ice cream on a hot summer day.
She is as quiet as a mouse.
She is as pretty as a dozen red roses.
She is an angel that fell from the heavens.
Grace wrote the following about her sister Maggie:
Maggie is as annoying as a siren in the middle of the night.
She is as bossy as a ringmaster in a circus.
She is as flexible as play-do.
She screams as loud as a howler monkey.
She is the tight rope I walk on.
We are continuing to write 2 entries each week in Writer's Notebooks. Please check with your child to make sure they are writing entries out side of school.
During read aloud we are almost finished with Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea. It is a wonderful story told from the perspective of several students in the class. We have had important discussions about two major themes in the story: bullying and regret. We will also work on identifying the author's message or purpose for writing the story when we are done with the book. We have continued to work on making inferences and discussing character motives. We've had great discussions about what a character does and what they might be feeling or thinking that isn't stated specifically in the text. It is an engaging story that has a big twist toward the end. I encourage you to read it and have a book talk with your child.
In Social Studies we finished our unit on Government. We began with a review of the causes of the Revolutionary War and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We use a new strategy to collect important information from non-fiction text called Golden Lines. With Golden Lines a student will pull out the important fact, write a response or connection to the fact and lastly draw a picture to help remember the fact.
For example:
Golden Lines
Connections
Visual Representation
The Stamp Act of 1765 was a tax on paper goods like a newspaper or a deck of cards.
I would hate having to suddenly pay a tax on something.
The goal is that when they are finished reading the text they will have a sheet with the Golden Lines (Important Information) to study from. They will be able to look at the visual representation and hopefully that will help them recall the factual information. Also, making the connection to the fact helps make it important to them so they'll remember it more. Our study focused on the federal level of the United States government.
Our current unit is the United States and Geography. We studied geographic terms and made Keynote presentations on the i-pads. Each group had to create a slide that defined the word and included a picture that illustrated the geographic term. We discussed the importance of editing our work carefully and making sure we knew how to pronounce all the words before presenting. For our next project we are will create physical maps of states.
We will begin our Create a Continent project next week so look for the Project Checklist in your child's backpack. We will also begin our study of the states and capitals. Each student will be required to identify and label states and capitals. We will begin the week with a study of a region of the United States and end the week with a quiz. Please remind your child to study.
In Science we have been working on the Nervous system. We have learned a lot of amazing facts about the brain. We read a very interesting magazine called Brain by Kids Discover. We will create brain hats to help us learn about the parts of the brain. Your child should be able to explain which parts of the brain are responsible for physical movement, thinking and autonomic processes.
In Reader's Workshop we read an amazing historical fiction book called, Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly Giff. We discussed how a character changes over the course of a story and what causes those changes. We continued to focus on Deep Thinking when stopping and jotting. We also used a new strategy called, leaning in; which is where you chose a line from the story and make an inference about what the character may be thinking or feeling.
We we have just started our Social Issue Book Clubs. We read picture books to practice determining the themes and discussed a variety of social issues. We also discussed what the author's message of each book was. Each Book Club will be responsible for identifying the themes of the story and the author's message. We will also work on how to interact effectively with each other during book discussions. Once they are finished reading their books they will create a presentation using Google Apps. They are going to focus on the themes, author's message and character motives.
