Another great week of fun and learning in the books! It’s hard to believe that earlier this week temperatures were in the 90s! We were all thankful for the air conditioning in the new building!
This week in Reading Workshop we continued studying how authors make characters complicated (more than one way). Students noticed what an author repeats about a character. We talked about authors put things in books for a reason. Good readers pay attention to the details and use these ‘clues’ to help develop theories about characters.
In writing we drafted scenes 1 through 3 of our stories, students worked on making sure they had S.A.I.D. ~ Scene description, Action, Internal thought and Dialogue ~ in each paragraph. We also worked on not changing tenses in our story (present/past) or Point of View, students should be writing in 3rd Person. Next week we will learn how to stretch out the most important scene using details so that a moment in time fills a page and we will begin drafting our final scene.
In math this week we practiced rounding large numbers in order to estimate answers. We then practiced adding and subtracting large numbers, and using them in word problems. Although the math concepts are easy at this point, some students are struggling with reading questions and figuring out what the question is asking. We took our online PRACTICE test today. Monday we will review concepts and Tuesday will be the ‘Real’ test. The best way to help your child be prepared for the test is to have them practice adding and subtracting large numbers and rounding large numbers to estimate sums.
In Science we had a great time visiting the Planetarium at White Pines to learn more about the moon phases and the reason for the seasons (tilt of the earth on its axis). We also had fun making a few projects to help solidify our learning. We made a vocabulary booklet, a cut-out of the sun, moon, and earth to show revolution and rotation, and a season flip book. Ask you child if they can explain why we have seasons.
As always, please check out your child’s blog at Kid Blog
Important Dates:
Wednesday and Thursday, October 11 and 12 – Parent Teacher Conferences
Friday, October 13 – Half Day, Noon Dismissal