This week: We started module one and read The Story of You and Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures. As we read the texts we discussed central idea, asking and answering questions, author's purpose, text features, and figurative language. 

Next week: We will read narrative poetry and realistic fiction. We will focus on author's purpose, point of view, and character development. We will also begin discussing the writing process and drafting personal narratives. 

This Week: We continued our study of place value by learning to represent the value of whole numbers using expanded notation (through the billions), compared numbers, and represented those comparisons using the symbols < (less than),> (greater than), and = (equal to). We also started our beginning of the year diagnostic testing (i-Ready). 

Next Week: We will explore ordering numbers through the hundred millions, rounding numbers, and how to use rounding to help find solutions to math problems. 

Texas Standards Covered:

4.2B Represent the value of the digit in whole numbers through 1,000,000,000 and decimals to the hundredths using expanded notation and numerals. 4.2C compare and order whole numbers to 1,000,000,000 and represent comparisons using the symbols >, <, or =.           

This Week : We explored states of matter and their properties, particularly temperature. We melted ice cubes during an experiment, and journaled about how adding/removing heat from objects can cause phase changes among them.

Next Week : We will classify matter based on its mass. Using a digital scale and a balance we will measure the mass of different objects to categorize and compare them to one another. 

Texas Standards Covered/Started :

4.6 Matter and energy. The student knows that matter has measurable physical properties that determine how matter is identified, classified, changed, and used. The student is expected to: 4.6A classify and describe matter using observable physical properties, including temperature, mass, magnetism, relative density (the ability to sink or float in water), and physical state (solid, liquid, gas).

This Week : We introduced the 5 themes of geography (location, region, place, movement, and human-environment interaction) and how they relate to Texas geography and history. We completed and sent home our week 1 Studies Newspaper, "Thinking like a Texas Geographer" in your students red Take-Home folder. 

Next Week : We will build up our map reading skills by studying different types of maps and their features. Students will practice their cartographic skills and find locations on a map using a grid system. We will complete and send home our week 2 Studies Newspaper, "Map Skills and Location". 

Texas Standards Covered/Started :

4.6A Identify, locate, and describe the physical regions of Texas (Mountains and Basins, Great Plains, North Central Plains, Coastal Plains), including their characteristics such as landforms, climate, vegetation, and economic activities.   4.7A Explain the geographic factors such as landforms and climate that influence patterns of settlement and the distribution of population in Texas, past and present.   4.8A Describe ways people have adapted to and modified their environment in Texas, past and present, such as timber clearing, agricultural production, wetlands drainage, energy production, and construction of dams.