Language Arts
- Drawing conclusions and siting specific clues in the reading that lead you to draw those conclusions.
- Short answer writing in response to comprehension questions from our story. (The students did a phenomenal job on this!!!)
- Identifying and using commas in a series.
- Students also read aloud and with partners.
- Book number 8 was read and passed out on Friday. Students have a homework response sheet that is due Friday.
- We added quite a few new words to our word study journals. (This is always a favorite.)
Spelling/ ortografia
The students did a great job on their spelling words. They will receive their next list on Monday for a test on 12/1.
Math
This was a fun week working on our understanding of multiplication and how it works. We played a fun Monster Math game where students multiplied two dice and then covered the product on a table. The first player to get four products in a row was the winner. This is a great way to practice our math facts (and to show how immediate recall of facts comes in handy). Ask your child to tell you about our multiplication wheels. (These were great practice of our facts as well as a natural lead in for division.)
We talked quite a bit about the different methods we can use to solve our multiplication problems. On Friday we completed a class multiplication table in which the students used a variety of methods to show each fact. They are quite proud of their finished …product (no pun intended).
Social Studies
We have been reading about the decline of the Roman Empire this week. The class was suprised to learn that the phrase “fiddleing around” came from a story of one of Rome’s not so popular Emperors Nero, whom supposedly played the fiddle while Rome burned. This was a good example of how Roman rulers became very self involved with little thought of the betterment of the Empire and it’s people. We watched a film on Ancient Rome, called Kids Animated History With Pipo. The class has also been working on their opinion paragraph on what they believe to be Romes greatest lasting contribution. We have a wide variety of ideas from architecture to politics to the arts and even baths. We will be sharing these in class hopefully before Thanks Giving break.
Science
This week we continue our Light and Sound domain in science. The class watched two short animated film on Light and Light absorption, refraction, and reflection. This is a great site for all kinds of science videos and information http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science . On Thursday we did an experiment using spoons to demonstrate concave and convex. The class tried drawing themselves in both reflected ways. We also compared these reflections to that of a plane mirror. We read more about refraction and lenses and we began to make a T -chart to help us remember what we have learned so far.
English Spelling/Grammar Review.
The class had no spelling this week. I have been pulling individuals to do spelling and reading assessments to get ready for the report cards and conferences. While I assess, the class worked on grammar practice and their Social Studies opinion paper. For grammar review we have been working on commas. Last weeks spelling test was fantastic! Almost everyone got 100% plus bonus words. I am now adding weekly vocabulary to some of the spelling test as bonus words. Your child can study these right out of their planners if they would like. The bonus words on the test are optional but they can bump up their score if they miss one of their sort words. Keep up the good work on sort activity homework, we had two weeks now with everyone turning them in for full credit.