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!
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March 2020
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