Next Week: We will begin our new unit on fractions. This week, we are focusing on representing decimals, using models and explaining the relationship between decimals and fractions. We will also explore representing a fraction and a mixed number as a sum of fractions and decomposing a fraction into smaller fractions with the same denominator.   

Texas Standards Covered:

4.2G Relate decimals to fractions that name tenths and hundredths. 4.3A Represent a fraction a/b as a sum of fractions 1/b, where a and b are whole numbers and b > 0, including when a > b. 4.3B Decompose a fraction in more than one way into a sum of fractions with the same denominator using concrete and pictorial models and recording results with symbolic representations.     

This Week : We learned about the conservation of matter and mass in mixtures/solutions. Matter cannot be created of destroyed, therefore the mass of all matter that is added to mixtures will remain in the mixture unless action is taken to remove it. We did a learning game on Thursday to prove that matter has mass even when we cannot see it (weighing cups of water before and after dissolving sugar into them to see how they change). 

Next Week : We will review mixtures, solutions, and conservation of matter and prepare for the district assessment test on Friday. It will be over everything we have covered so far from properties of matter (temperature, mass, relative density, and magnetism) to mixtures/solutions/conservation. 

This Week : We discussed the influence of European settlers on Native American Life and Culture. We talked about major changes that happened to Native Americans in the wake of westward expansion. 

Next Week : We will begin our new social studies unit on European exploration and settlement. We will learn about the lives of important explorers, their motives, and other influences that settlement of the Americas had on what would become Texas. Students will engage in a "mini-project" with their table groups about European exploration.