Post date: Dec 1, 2017 4:37:45 AM
Here is the latest news in Honors!
4th Grade Reading
After wrapping up a mini unit on theme and inferencing, the students learned how to write their first book review. A book review consists of 3 pieces: plot summary, thematic statement, and a reason to recommend persuasive paragraph. The students took what they had learned about theme and as a class we brainstormed possible themes for Phantom Tollbooth. Once they had a theme, they learned how to find textual evidence and cite it correctly in their thematic statement. The thematic statement also has 3 parts to it: text to text, text to self, and text to society. First, the students had to describe using textual evidence how the theme was found in the book. Second, they have to show how the theme is relevant and evident in their life. Third, they have to show how the theme is evident in society. Finally, the final paragraph is a persuasive paragraph that either encourages or discourages others from reading the book. Boy, did we hit on a lot of curriculum in this one project! I was pleased with how the book reviews turned out. Please have your student show you their book review!
We have jumped into a new novel titled My Side of the Mountain. With this novel we are continuing our exploration of the William & Mary theme of Perspective. This book is a wonderful book about a boy who decides to live in the wilderness for a year. During this year, he keeps a journal. The book consists of flashbacks and changes in point of view throughout as the protagonist tells his story. The students are learning how to work in small literature groups. This week we focused on creating open ended discussion questions and participating in group discussions. In a nutshell, the students are learning and practicing the elements of a Socratic Seminar in a small group setting. I am hoping we can also parlay this literature book into a trip to our garden, but we will see!
We are continuing our Latin & Greek stems. We have learned almost 40 stems, therefore, our fourth test will be this Friday, December 13th. Students can be using their flashcards that we make in class or my Quizlet account to practice those stems! Practice. Practice. Practice.
We are making great strides with our nonfiction reading on ReadTheory. Students are showing growth by leaps and bounds.
Lastly, the Quarter 2 Independent Literature Requirement due date is fast approaching! The ILR project is due 12/18! This quarter the students are creating a graphic novel that includes all the literary elements of their book. Students should be reading 20 minutes a night. Once they finish their book, they should take an AR test on it and begin working on the graphic novel. Don’t forget the 3 paragraph book summary. All rubrics and instructions can be found on my website. Mrs. Wilhelm's Website-ILR Projects
4th Grade Math-In Math, we have jumped into the world of decimals. So far, we worked on adding, subtracting, and multiplying decimals. This week we are learning division of decimals.
Our next Math Olympiad competition is on December 12th.
Don’t forget that students can be checking out the Dynamath magazine to earn extra credit! I have also put a few small extra credit options on Google Classroom. I try to encourage your students to take advantage of these opportunities when they can. Finally, the Math Quarterly Project is due on December 11th. That is right around the corner! If they need any additional information, they can always access my website: Mrs. Wilhelm's Website-Quarterly Math Projects
5th Grade Reading- In reading, we have been working on our 4 Level grammar sentences that tie in with Caesar’s English stems. We have now covered all 4 Levels of the sentence diagrams. We have been practicing for a few weeks all four levels. We had our first quiz on all 4 levels today.
Our next reading unit we will begin to cover inferences and predictions and then we will focus on theme. We will conclude our unit on theme by learning how to write a book review over My Daniel. My Daniel is our literature novel. It is about a grandmother who is telling her grandchildren a story about her past. This historical fiction literature novel will continue to help us examine the use of cyclic patterns in literature as well as explore the changes in point of view and narrative voice as the setting changes. We will also look at literary devices such as flashbacks, symbolism, and point of view. What is really cool about this novel is that the author uses flashbacks to not only change the setting of the novel but the point of view. We have had good discussions about this. It is a great read!
We are making great strides with our nonfiction reading on ReadTheory. Students are showing growth by leaps and bounds. HINT: I always tell the students to read the questions first and then the excerpt. Just a tip.
Lastly, the Quarter 2 Independent Literature Requirement due date is fast approaching! The ILR project is due 12/18! This quarter the students are creating a graphic novel that includes all the literary elements of their book. Students should be reading 20 minutes a night. Once they finish their book, they should take an AR test on it and begin working on the graphic novel. Don’t forget the 3 paragraph book summary. All rubrics and instructions can be found on my website. Mrs. Wilhelm's Website-ILR Projects
5th Grade Math- We completed a Mid-Chapter Check Up for Chapter 2 this week. Students seem to be struggling with Chapter 2 covering fractions, decimals, and percents. They needed more practice and some reteaching. So on Thursday, we went over the Mid Chapter check problem by problem. Then we did more in class review and practiced to solidify skills before moving on. I just couldn’t move on without feeling like I had more comprehension and understanding of the first 4 lessons. Please encourage your students to do some work on ixl.com and McGraw Hill to practice the skills. They can also practice by completing the even problems in the workbook.
Our next Math Olympiad competition is December 13th. We have been practicing and preparing for this since August. We are Mathletes!
Don’t forget that students can be checking out the Scholastic Math magazine to earn extra credit! I also put some extra credit on Google Classroom from time to time! Hopefully, students are taking advantage of these opportunities.
The Math Quarterly Project is due on December 11th. Students should be working on their file folder math games little by little. If they need any additional information, they can always access my website: Mrs. Wilhelm's Website-Quarterly Math Projects
6th Grade Reading- After wrapping up a mini unit on theme and inferencing, the students wrote My Daniel book review. A book review consists of 3 pieces: plot summary, thematic statement, and a reason to recommend persuasive paragraph. The book reviews are due today in class and I can’t wait to see what they thought!
We are making great strides with our nonfiction reading on ReadTheory. Students are showing growth by leaps and bounds. HINT: I always tell the students to read the questions first and then the excerpt. Just a tip.
The Quarter 2 Independent Literature Requirement due date is fast approaching! The ILR project is due 12/18! This quarter the students are creating a graphic novel that includes all the literary elements of their book. Students should be reading 20 minutes a night. Once they finish their book, they should take an AR test on it and begin working on the graphic novel. Don’t forget the 3 paragraph book summary. All rubrics and instructions can be found on my website. Mrs. Wilhelm's Website-ILR Projects
Skillsbook #3-5 are being counted for Quarter 2 grades. The fourth skillsbook was due today. The fifth skillsbook is due 12/15. Please check with your student as to where they are in terms of their skillsbook completion.
6th Grade Math- We are in Chapter 5 covering algebraic expressions. We will be covering properties of operations, the distributive property, as well as learning to simplify and factor linear expressions. I have flipped this entire unit which means that I have created videos and posted them on Google Classroom. Your student’s homework is to watch the videos and take notes. Then, when they come to class we have discussions, do more practice, and answer any lingering questions. The students are loving the flipped classroom as do I!
Our next Math Olympiad competition is December 15th! We have been practicing and preparing for this since August. We are Mathletes!
Don’t forget that students can be checking out the Scholastic Math magazine to earn extra credit! I also put some extra credit on Google Classroom that was due today! Hopefully, students are taking advantage of these opportunities.
The Math Quarterly Project is due on December 11th. Students should be working on their menus little by little. I have been showing them examples daily and answering any and all questions. If they need any additional information, they can always access my website: Mrs. Wilhelm's Website-Quarterly Math Projects I can’t wait to see what they come up with.