I'm sorry about not blogging yesterday. I was caught up in writing a science quiz for next week and I forgot. So let me catch you up on the last couple of days.....
On Monday PTO's fund-raising campaign kicked off. PTO provides many great experiences for our kids. Today in class we discussed the many things PTO does for us. One of the big ones is helping us go to Camp Friedenswald every year. Please consider selling one or two items. :)
Language Arts
We have reviewed grammar, punctuation, and capitalization skills. We have also attacked a writing prompt about our favorite book. Students are learning to use a web to help them plan their prompt writing. This will help them have a plan when ISTEP comes along. Some kids had a problem thinking of what to write because of the word favorite. Often times words like favorite or best ever throw kids off because they don't know which book is the best ever. Please encourage them to just write about a book. It really doesn't have to be their favorite as much as it needs to be something that they can write about.
Our grammar skill this week is subjects and predicates. The students might have a paper to work on tonight to review that skill. We will grade this paper in class tomorrow. It is important that they finish it tonight.
A couple of other notes:
Fluency and Flow is due on Friday.
Book orders are also due on Friday. The students asked me to make Friday the due date.
Don't forget to write down the number of minutes your child has read and sign the planner each day. Remember having your 4th or 5th grader read for 20-30 minutes a night is one of our school wide goals.
Math
We are continuing to study factors. We have learned about prime and composite numbers. We have also learned about square numbers. We are beginning to learn about exponents. Students should have pages 15-20 done in their journals. We will be ready for our first math test next week.
Homework: Study links 1.6 and 1.7 (for yesterday and today)
Science
We have completed investigation 1 in our magnetism and electricity unit. We have learned many things about magnets. Today we began investigation 2 which is all about electricity. Today we made a simple circuit in order to light a flashlight bulb. We learned that electricity must flow in a complete circuit (a circle) in order to work. Many kids have told me how much fun they are having. There were many "eureka" moments today.
