I cannot believe that next week is the end of our first quarter! I think that every year passes more quickly than the one before, and I am having SO much fun with this group of kiddos that I truly want time to slow down! I get many compliments on what a great group of kids this is and how well-behaved they are with guests, specials teachers, and substitute teachers. I love them all! :)
It's been a very busy ending to our quarter, but here's what we've been doing in Room 222.
Math - Today we are wrapping up our third unit of Everyday Math in which our focus was on some geometry skills. We worked on classifying and measuring angles, classifying and identifying triangles, and identifying polygons. We will be starting Unit 4 on Monday, so I'll be sending home a copy of the Family Letter via e-mail so you are best able to assist your student with homework.
Reading - After completing our first theme study in Reading Street, we read the novel Shiloh. We did a lot of work with the novel to identify cause and effect relationships, various themes that appear throughout the novel, and how characters change from the beginning to the end. This is a much-loved novel with students each year and it was an absolute pleasure being able to have such a great turnout for our movie party yesterday. The movie has quite a few differences from the book, so it was fun to compare the two, as well as talk about how the characters were portrayed in the movie versus the book. We are back to our reading books this week with a new unit focusing on the theme of "doing the right thing" and skills such as sequencing, comparing and contrasting, and author's purpose.
Writing - We have worked a lot in the past several weeks on the trait of ideas. We have discussed what a thesis statement is, and how to write one. We have practiced identifying thesis statements, as well as writing them for various pieces of informational texts. Next week we will be moving into the genre of mystery where we will focus on plot (specifically rising action and climax), and the grammar skill of adding quotes appropriately to a piece of writing.
Science - This week completed our unit over the interactions in ecosystems. We created a model pond in our room, and observed it's "succession" over the course of several weeks. Be sure to ask your student what succession is, and what our ponds evolved into over time. We are now moving into a chapter which will focus on how energy moves within an ecosystem.
Social Studies - We have spent several weeks learning about a variety of explorers, where they came from, and why they explored. Students are currently working on their own individual mini-project writing a journal entry as if they've been on a ship with a specific explorer. They are telling who they are with, where they are going, what they might find, people they may encounter, etc. They are also designing a picture depicting something from their journal entry. We will begin to move into government next week.
With next Friday marking the end of our grading period, please be sure you are aware of your student's current grades. In today's Friday Folder, your student may bring home papers that require corrections to improve their overall scores. Those corrections must be completed and returned to me by Tuesday, September 29th in order for the scores to be adjusted and entered into Power School for grades to be finalized. All students have been shown how to login to Power School using their own account information. We did this last week. Every student logged in and was able to view their grades and check for missing assignments. I had conversations with students who are currently missing work reinforcing the fact that in order for their final grade to improve, they MUST get work turned in to me ASAP. I am letting you know this information so that there are not any surprises when you see grades and ask your student about them! They are all aware and know exactly what they need to do!
We have lots of events coming up here at Cardinal, so please be sure you're keeping your eyes peeled for flyers and other information to come home with your student. Some things to look forward to are the 5th Grade Music Program, the Cardinal Rocks Out Cancer Talent Show, a book fair, fall break, and fall parties.
