In our Wonders unit, we are discussing elements that make up a Folktale.  The students are using text evidence to determine the theme of each story.  Theme can be a hard concept to understand because it's rarely stated obviously.  We have also used what we've learned about find the theme of a story in our Harry Potter novel.  We discovered that longer novels can have multiple themes with one main theme throughout. The students are also enjoying listening to my read alouds of Grimm's Fairy Tales (the original versions)!

We have finished two Fall Narrative stories as of this week.  We were able to look back on our first story and critique what our strengths and weaknesses are.  Our focus is using dialogue appropriately, writing passage of time, and including all 5 elements of a story (characters, setting, problem, attempts to solve the problem, solution).  We are also exploring with how to build suspense through sensory writing into our stories.

We have begun our unit in dividing with decimals.  In this topic, students will use mental math and place value patterns to divide decimals, use reasoning and strategies to estimate quotients, use models to help find quotients, use a standard algorithm to solve for quotients, and be able to make sense of word problems by looking at relationships in the situation.

We are more than halfway through our unit on Watery Planet.  This week, we were able to make a model water cycle and actually make it rain in our classroom.  The students also learned about aquifers and groundwater and how they are a major source of our water supply.  Our end of unit test is scheduled for next Wednesday, December 6th with a in-class review the day before.