Greetings Families,
English: We will have a condensed week of Spalding since there is no school on Friday. We will be typing the final draft of a three paragraph essay on the Titanic. Finally, we have completed our novel, The Trumpet of the Swan! Please send in The Little Prince by Wednesday.
Math: During week five, students will continue to study time.
Science: In science, students will continue to look at how the spheres interact with one another. The focus will be on the geosphere and atmosphere this week.
History: We are starting our new unit “The Earliest Americans” the first peoples of North America. Students will discover how it is believed they crossed from Asia to North America many years ago, how their lifestyles changed, and how they lived. Then they will do some map reading and discover how America’s first settlers learned to live on the land and not follow after moving herds of animals to survive. New vocabulary will also be identified.
I hope you are doing well. This week we have concluded our study of fractions, but many students are still struggling to understand them. We will continue to review them during class time, during morning work, and during math tutoring. Over the next weeks, they should start to gain a better mastery of the concepts they are still struggling to understand.
Ms. Rasic and I have been really focused on classroom behaviors over the past couple of weeks, and we are seeing improvements. We've struggled with students talking, shouting out, and getting out of their seats. I'm proud of the growth they've had this week.
Typing
Some students misunderstood the assignment. They are only required to type the copy work once and have the whole week to do it. Some students were doing it every night. I'm sorry for the miscommunication.
Math Facts
The math facts worksheet that I am sending home for students to complete in part nightly is not a timed assignment. They are expected to complete all 100 problems each night. The five minute amount of time is the benchmark because students' math fact fluency should be one problem in or under three seconds. If your child is failing to complete the day's math fact fluency worksheet in under five minutes, it likely means that he/she should be spending additional time studying their math facts. This can be done old-school with flash cards or with technology such as can be found at mathplayground.com. This is the website my family uses with our children. It has helped my second-grade daughter make her way through the first three levels of XtraMath.
Lessons
English: We will have a condensed week of Spalding since there is no school on Friday. We will be typing the final draft of a three paragraph essay on the Titanic. Finally, we have completed our novel, The Trumpet of the Swan! Please send in The Little Prince by Wednesday.
Math: During week five, students will continue to study time.
Science: In science, students will continue to look at how the spheres interact with one another. The focus will be on the geosphere and atmosphere this week.
History: We are starting our new unit “The Earliest Americans” the first peoples of North America. Students will discover how it is believed they crossed from Asia to North America many years ago, how their lifestyles changed, and how they lived. Then they will do some map reading and discover how America’s first settlers learned to live on the land and not follow after moving herds of animals to survive. New vocabulary will also be identified.
Thank you again for everything. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to support you.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren