Tuesday, October 21, 2014

October 21, 2014

Upcoming Dates
Spelling Test - Friday, October 24
Southwest and West States Test - Tuesday, Oct. 28
Vocabulary Test Unit 2 - Friday, Oct. 31

Math
We have moved into multiplication. We have looked at vocabulary of factors and products, and we have represented multiplication with a picture, an array, and a number line.  We are multiplying 2 digit factors x 1 digit factors and 3 digit factors x 1 digit factors. Then we will move into 4 digit factors x 1 digit factors. Division will come next, and we will discuss the relationship between the two skills. We will learn division vocabulary and work with long division. We are continuing to learn the Why before the How, so that the students make a true connection with these skills. They will also be learning the algorithm with these large number problems.

Social Studies
We are studying the Native Americans of Texas.  We will use our Texas Studies Weekly Newspaper to read about them.  Each student has received an account for themselves, which allows them to have their own newspaper to read for this subject on their own device or a device in the classroom.  I also have the actual newspaper too, to use in class, if the kids don't want to be online with it. So, the students know to bring their devices to school if they desire to do so. The students will also complete a project about a chosen group and then create a tri-o-rama that shows information about them.  It is a creative way for the kids to show what has been learned about their group.

Writing
We are learning about Expository writing.  This is a type of writing where the student explains an idea of a topic with details to back up what they think about it. Ex: Give your opinion about this statement: Vegetables are a good food that helps kids grow stronger.  So, it is not a story, like they wrote last nine weeks.  It is using facts to explain their thoughts about a topic.

Reading
We will continue to read biographies, and we have talked about main idea with the books. We discussed that the details of the book have to back up a main idea.
Each student has been reading their biography book and looking for certain information to respond to such as: Date born, date died, family, why the person is important, hobbies, What would you want to ask the person? What information from the book makes you want to ask this?

Science
We are learning about electricity.  The students are learning about conductors, insulators, closed circuits, open circuits, and electromagnets.  We will learn vocabulary, read and take notes from our Stemscopedia book and work with some hands on experiments.