January 24

I hope that everyone is keeping warm in this frigid weather! Here's what we have been working on the past two weeks:

• In social studies, the class has been learning about the American Revolution. Last week, we mostly learned about the causes and effects that led to the revolution. This week, students learned about battles, the Continental Army, George Washington, and Patriots and Loyalists. Next week, we will learn about the end of the war, and students will create slogans.
• In ELA, students are finally finishing up their final copy of their favorite holiday essay. We have been spending a lot of time learning about figurative language. So far, students have learned about metaphors, similes, alliteration, and hyperbole. We have also been reading poetry, learning about it's structure, and finding examples of figurative language. The class continues to learn about foreshadowing. We also just finished our read aloud book, Weasel. 
• We started our mythology projects. Students have chosen a myth, and are researching the myth to summarize it, identify the theme, find a modern day link, and to find cool facts about the characters in the myth. Please send in a tri-fold board by Monday, so that we can assemble the projects at school. 
• In math, we have been spending a lot of time with long division. We cycled through stations a couple time this week. Next week, there will be an assessment on long division, and we will be starting fractions. I offer math help on Wednesdays after school, so if your child is in need of support, please have them stay after on this day.

Have a great weekend!

January 10th

Happy New Year!  We have spent the first week of 2014 hard at work!
     In Language arts, the class is continuing to read their fantasy books. Next week we plan to have the books finished by Friday. We will be moving on to a mythology unit where students will be researching a Greek or Roman myth to present. The class learned about foreshadowing this week with the start of our new read aloud book, Weasel. We started a mini-unit on figurative language. This week, students learned about metaphors. Children are finishing up their holiday celebration essays next week.
    We started a new unit in social studies on colonial New York. The class spent some time learning about the life of children in the colonial days. We also learned about some colonial trades. Next week, we will be learning about the French and Indian War, and the causes of the American Revolution.
    In math, we wrapped up unit 8 with a test on Monday, and are mid-way through unit 9. The class is learning about division with remainders, compatible numbers, and rounding to estimate. We cycled through math stations twice this week. Next week, we start long division!
Have a great weekend!