Reader's Workshop
We had two lessons this week in our test prep unit: answering two-part questions and multi-select evidence based questions. For two-part questions, we will usually have to relate the second part to the first part, so before answering part A, we have to glance at the options for part B and see if it makes sense. For the other types of questions, they require multiple answers to be selected so we have to use the text to pick the best options for the answers. Since we finished our narrative test prep unit on Tuesday, we were able to use Thursday's time to look at the opinion writing rubric and compare the items from the rubric to our own writing that we have already completed. Writer's Workshop We are still taking a short break from Writer's Workshop so we did not have anything this week. Math This week in math, we learned how to compare the products of multiplication problems involving fractions using diagrams. Our conclusion was that multiplying by a fraction less than one makes the product smaller than the whole number factor. Multiplying by a number greater than 1 makes the product larger than the original factor. After this, we started exploring mixed numbers and learned a few strategies to multiply them: regrouping and the distributive property. Extras Grammar- We continued in our compound-complex sentence unit and practiced identifying different types of sentences and both dependent and independent clauses. On Thursday, we had our grammar quiz. Ms. Wu gave the students a break from learning so much social studies so this is what she did with them this week: Spelling/Roots Word Study- This week's roots were "ben, bene, bon," and "boun." STEAM (Art)- The students made a radial symmetry shamrock with their names for St. Patrick's Day. They turned out really neat! Technology- Students learned about click bait and how to avoid it. They also learned about having positive and healthy friendships online and what that looks like. Electives- Some students learned the basics about working out and how to play capture the flag, a version of dodgeball, and ultimate frisbee. Other students learned how to make string art with shapes, points, and lines.
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Reader's Workshop
Continuing with our test prep unit, we learned about two different things this week. We started off by learning about how the setting can affect other elements of stories. Usually, we look for how the setting affects the whole story and not just one part. We also looked at poetry this week and how poets use specific techniques to achieve goals. Writer's Workshop We are still taking a short break from Writer's Workshop so we did not have anything this week. Math To kick off our next unit, we started the week by modeling how to multiply fractions and whole numbers. Then, we learned how to transfer that knowledge to word problems. Finally, we finished the week by learning how to model multiplying fractions by other fractions using a piece of paper and colored pencils! Ms. Wu is also taking a short break from teaching social studies to teach a bit of math test prep in preparation for all the tests coming up. Social Studies On Monday, we had our "in-house" field trip where the students got to dress up and play their parts. Everyone looked great and I was impressed by how prepared they were. Extras We had P.E. and music this week, as usual. We also had our math placement test this week and the next ones will be in April. On Wednesday, we had the first day of our school's Read-a-thon and the class with the most minutes read will win a party of some sort. I hope everyone had a restful break! The students were very lively this week as we got back into the swing of things. Here's what we did: Reader's Workshop Our next unit in Reader's Workshop is a test prep unit. We are going through various types of passages and deciding how to answer multiple choice questions with the best answer. This week, we started off by focusing on narrative passages. We oriented ourselves to one of our mentor texts (an excerpt from Bloomability) and began by answering a few easier questions. Then, we talked about how one part of the story relates to the whole and what types of questions you will see regarding this topic. We finished off this week by talking about different characters' points of view and how that changes or affects the story. As we move forward, we will get into more topics about narrative passages, as well as nonfiction passages. Writer's Workshop We are taking a short break from Writer's Workshop so we did not have anything this week. Math This week, we finished up chapter six by learning how to solve word problems and using the different properties to help us add and subtract fractions. We also had a review before our test on Thursday. Next week, we will start our next unit: multiplying fractions! Social Studies On Monday, the students played a review game to prepare for the test on Tuesday. The rest of the social studies time was spent preparing for our big presentation next Monday. The students are all playing different characters in our "Walk Through the Revolutionary War". They have been hard at work on their costumes and memorizing their parts. I hope to see some of you at the presentation on Monday! Extras
We had P.E. with Coach Mitchell as we get ready for fitness testing. We are also preparing for our spring concert in music with Ms. Mesch and we had art with Mrs. Fish, where we finished up our art pieces for our art showcase. We also continued with spelling and grammar. This week, we learned about compound-complex sentences and how to create our own. These are the most sophisticated types of sentences we will learn about this year. To finish off our busy week, we had another Soulshoppe workshop on Friday, where we learned how to help our friends resolve conflicts they may have with each other. Reader's Workshop
To start this week, we got right back into our group's topic by looking at specific words authors use to make us as readers feel a certain way. We tried to recognize when authors use language to persuade us as opposed to logic and evidence. Then, we practiced identifying goals and techniques that authors use. On Wednesday, our groups prepared for a debate that we had on Friday to finish off our opinion unit in reading. Each group had a scenario that they were portraying in the debate to convince us of their side. The debates went really well and the students had many good pieces of evidence to use from their articles. Writer's Workshop As we finished our final argument essays, we added a few key adjustments to our writing. First, we talked about how to use language that makes our evidence and reasons incontestable. Including statements that are untrue discredits us as authors so we wanted to make sure everything we said in our essays was true. Then, we talked about editing: breaking up our information into paragraphs logically. We don't want to have large chunks of text, nor do we want many small pieces of text in our essays. We all finished our final essay drafts and took our opinion writing post-assessment on Thursday. Math In math this week, we learned another strategy for subtracting fractions: renaming. When the fraction part of a mixed number is smaller in the number that comes first, we need to rename the mixed number in order to subtract the fractions. We also identified patterns in fractions by renaming them to figure out what the rule for each pattern is. Social Studies This week, Ms. Wu continued teaching the students about the causes of the revolution. This is what she did: The students finished the first (long) lesson about the events that lead to the American Revolution. We continued on with the topics of how the colonists worked together, why the colonists wanted to become independent, and who caused change in the colonies. As I explained to the students, the format of this unit was that the first lesson was an overview of all the events leading up to the revolution. The second, third, and fourth lesson were all thematic topics looking back at the various events and people in the first lesson with a specific lens. When the students get back from break, we will have a review, and the test for this unit will most likely be on Tuesday. Students also need to know the geography of the 13 colonies, including the names and locations of each colony and the three different regions. Extras In P.E. with Coach Mitchell, we had our final dance performances for the dance unit (videos can be found on Seesaw). We also had music and got to work on a STEAM Valentine project. On Friday, we had our Valentine's Day party and it was a lot of fun. Thank you Mrs. Lolayekar, Mrs. Coke, Mrs. Hou and all the other parents that helped put everything together! Reader's Workshop
We have been researching the same topics for a while now so this week, we started by finishing those up. We had short, informal presentations about the main arguments we found in our groups' topics. Then, we chose new topics for our reading groups to study so we can dive deeper into new issues by making a group plan for research. We also talked about how our group's conversation could spark new ideas or questions and used sentence starters to initiate our discussions. Finally, we discussed different goals and techniques that authors of arguments use in their writing to make readers feel a certain way or do certain things. Writer's Workshop This week we got to start writing our argument essays on a topic of our choice! To start the week, we worked on choosing powerful claims that we are passionate about and can create change. Once we had our claims set, we started to look towards collecting evidence. This was done either using primary research or by finding articles that were written by experts. Good writers have a mix of both. As we researched, we wrote pieces of evidence that we found to be interesting and tried to organize them based on what idea they supported. Using an outline template, we organized each piece of evidence under a common reason to help support our claims. This outline template is a tool for incorporating the general structure of an essay. Finally, we talked about how adding other types of writing, like narratives, can reach our audience in a different way. Next week we will finish the final argument essays and publish them for people to read. Math After taking the pre-assessment, I thought it would be best to teach the class in small groups for this fraction unit. Their assignments are not all the same but the general topics will be. This week, we started by looking at factors: what they are and how we can find the prime factors of a number. Then, we learned different strategies for finding the least common denominator of fractions. We talked about using the multiples of the numbers or multiplying the two denominators by each other. We can also use the prime factors of each denominator. After practicing this, we used our knowledge to solve addition and subtraction problems involving fractions with unlike denominators, then, transferred this knowledge to adding and subtracting mixed numbers. Science Ms. Wu finished up the science unit with them this week. They reviewed the unit on Monday and took their unit test on Tuesday. Social Studies She also started the next social studies unit with them. This is what she had to say: We started our unit on Causes of the Revolutionary War. The first lesson was very long, and we still haven't covered everything, so we will continue with that lesson first thing next week. I am trying different note-taking strategies with the kids including, question and answer, flow chart diagrams, and fill in the blanks. We talked about how these different methods can be useful for different applications in note-taking. For example, flow charts can help with understanding chronology and order or cause and effect. My hope is that the students will begin to use these various methods in their own note-taking. Extras There were many fun things we did this week, in addition to having P.E. with Coach Mitchell and music with Ms. Mesch. We got to have art with Mrs. Fish on Wednesday and are making some special projects. We also got together with our kindergarten buddies to make Valentine's cards with working circuits! Another fun thing we are working on is our STEAM projects: designing and building something to hold our Valentine cards next Friday. I am looking forward to a great last week before break! |
AuthorUpdates on the class will occur regularly and you can check back here to see what's happening at school. Archives
March 2020
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