In Unit 8, students will be learning about Geometry. They will be learned to describe and identify 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. They will be learning to create and identify lines of symmetry in 2 dimensional shapes. They will also transfer and extend shape and number patterns. They will be exlporing growing patterns. We will also be exploring Time and Money including telling time within the half hour, and making an amount of money with different coins.

This month, Readers will be exploring two authors, Helen Lester and Kwame Alexander. We will be comparing the characters in their books, and contrasting author's styles. We will make predictions based on characters in other books in a series, and notice how characters might change within the author's series. Following our author study, we will also

Students will be learning how to write based on different author's styles. We will be using mentor texts to craft our illustrations as well as our writing to emulate what we have learned from authors we study. We will study why authors might write in a certain style, why they might choose a type of illustration for their story, and how authors organize their stories.

This month we will learn about the contributions of famous Americans in the Civil Rights Movement. We will learn about George Washington Carver, Helen Keller, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King Jr. Students will take this information to describe, compare, and evaluate their contributions during this time in our history. We will also learn about special innovations in our time, such as computers, phones, and transportation, and consider what other changes might be made in the future.

This month, students will investigate and understand that plants and animals undergo a series of orderly changes as they grow and develop. This will include returning to our study of monarch butterflies and observing seasonal changes! Students will discover how a plant and an animal's growth and development is reflected in an organism's life cycle. They will learn how living organisms interact with other living organisms and their surroundings. Students will discover that these interactions allow organisms to meet basic life needs. They will look at how plants have many roles in a system, which include providing for the basic life needs of animals and reducing the impact of weather on land.