Please send your child with two healthy (nut free) snacks. They may want a  morning and afternoon snack. 

Students go to PE every day.  Please make sure they are wearing (or have in their backpack) a good pair of closed toe shoes (sneakers).

Ask your child:

Tell me about the story, Picture Day Perfection.

What is a "realistic fiction" text?

Tell me two vocabulary words you learned this week.  (fiddled, queasy, scowl, mood, disaster)

Week four was fast and furious with loads of GREAT learning in our reading and writing classes.  Students are working hard to breakdown realistic fiction stories, identify subjects and predicates, as well as edit and publish their own personal narratives.

Throughout the past week we read the story, Picture Day Perfection.  Students really enjoyed analyzing the main character's choices and behaviors as he attempted to take the "perfect" school picture.

Students are learning to work through the writing process.  We are currently working on a personal narrative.  Ask your child what small event they focused on in their story.

Ask your child:  

How can you tell if a number is odd or even?'

How do you know where to put a number on the number line?

This coming week, mathematicians will explore both open and closed number lines. We will be using benchmark numbers to reasonably place a number between 0 and 1,200 on different open number lines.  They will also be looking for patterns in a closed number line to find the missing number. 

Throughout our math block, students are working independently, in small groups with the teacher and also with their peers on games that spiral learning we have already done. They will also work towards completing 45 minutes a week on their i-ready path and earn their 4 dragons through fluency flight.  It's a lot of work, but they are up to the task! 

Please encourage your child to work for 10 minutes each night on math fluency with you, a sibling, or by themselves. Students know how to play Addition War with playing cards and a variety of dice games. Have them teach you one this week! 

Science

Ask your child: 

What processes did you use to change the physical properties of the ice cube? crayon? paper? in our experiment this week.

(hint: melting, cutting/folding and sanding)

This week, students made predictions on whether or not the physical properties of materials could be changed.  Students made observations and collected and recorded data to determine that the physical properties of materials such as an ice cube, crayon and paper could be changed by melting, cutting, folding and sanding.

Next week, we will conclude our unit on Properties of Matter by completing another investigation in which students work in teams to demonstrate how various materials can be combined with other materials. Students will selectively choose materials based on their physical properties to build the tallest, free-standing  tower. "Build a Tower" will be a fun, culminating activity to end this unit.

Social Studies

Ask your child: 

What impact can you have on your community now?

Next week, we will learn about Problem Solving in Our Community.  As a class, we will identify a problem we see in our community and follow specific steps in order to to solve that problem. 

Steps to Problem Solving in a Community:

1.Identify the problem.

2.Gather information.

3. List and consider options.

4.Consider advantages & disadvantages

5.Choose/Implement a Solution.

6.Evaluate effectiveness