March

February flew right by! I hope everyone had a great break! I was certainly busy with my puppy and the two foster puppies I had (and still have!)!

Science: Students completed their Water Cycle Assessment and that will be sent home very soon! :) Ask your child what new vocabulary they have learned and to describe what happens during the water cycle! The class also designed a model of the water cycle through a watershed, on poster paper. We are now moving into Earth's universe, specifically the solar system. Students will learn why the sun is considered a star, and all about Earth's rotation and revolution (what causes day/night and the seasons).

Social Studies: Students should have brought home their graded explorer assessment in their green folder two weeks ago. We have since moved onto learning about the 13 colonies. So far students have learned about the lost colony of Roanoke, and are getting ready to dive into the first established colony of Jamestown. Feel free to ask your child what some possibilities are that may have happened to the colonists in Roanoke! They will be acting as detectives in the upcoming weeks, to make educated guesses on what they believe to have happened to the colonists.

Math: Students have wrapped up Unit 5 and have begun work in Unit 6. Unit 6 has started off with multiplying and dividing decimals by powers of 10. In order to solve these equations, students have learned that the exponent will tell them how many times to move the decimal point (to the right in multiplication and to the left in division), in order to find their answers. Students can work on made-up equations at home and bring them in for me to check, if they would like extra practice. Unit 6 will then move into analyzing data and creating line plots, as well as extending on volume word problems. Finally, the students will be introduced to multiplying and dividing decimals by other decimals. Since this program spirals, previous lessons and concepts will continue to come back, especially on Math Boxes. Students should continue to work on multiplying and dividing fractions by fractions, fractions by whole numbers, and whole numbers by fractions.

ELA: In Reading we will be working on historical fiction texts. Students were asked to look for a historical fiction text at Library on Friday. We also have many historical fictions texts in our classroom library. In groups we have started to read "Number the Stars," a historical fiction text about the Nazis and WW ll. Students will be assigned a "job" each chapter, that they will present to their groups. The job will change after each chapter (i.e. summarizer, illustrator, questioner, etc.). This will prepare them for when we work on Literature Circles.

*When students are reading for their homework, try to ask them questions to tighten their comprehension. Also, encourage your child to participate and take the AR tests for their texts. We will begin to analyze poetry shortly. MCAS will be here before we know it!

In writing, students have begun to present their research presentations. They have been great so far!! We have also continued to work on literary essays, and are working as a class to write our first comparative literary essay on Patricia Polacco's texts, "Bully" and "Mr. Lincoln's Way." Next, students will independently write a comparative literary essay on the narrators point of view. Students will also be analyzing poems and writing comparative literary essays on them.