Room 303 News 01-04-19

Weekly Updates and Reminders:

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

• NO SCHOOL Monday, January 21st.  It is Martin Luther, King, Jr. Day!  
• Thank you to all our parent volunteers who helped make the Polar Express party a memory to last a lifetime!  Your involvement and enthusiasm for this party was appreciated!   
  

MATH
We continue to incorporate multiplication practice during math workshop in the form of a game.  This week students were introduced to RACING RECTANGLES!  Students rolled two dice, then created an array with the two numbers.  Students then wrote the total number of squares inside (AREA :) the rectangle.  This also leads to our work on area since A=lxw!  

SOCIAL STUDIES
We have been working on completing our studies/understanding of Michigan's physical and human characteristics and how these define Michigan as a region.  Our school district has provided us with a CD Rom produced by Detroit Public Television titled Follow Your Path in Our Great Region.  As we view the CD Rom, we have a booklet which students demonstrate their understanding and work along as we view the CD Rom.  We will continue this learning for the next week and then have our unit test.     

SCIENCE
Students investigated the phenomenon of moving systems and the forces that cause motion.  They sought patterns in the behavior of the systems to predict future motion of new systems they designed.  For example, they observed two wheels of different diameters on an axle will roll in an arc down a slope, and two wheels of the same diameter on an axle will roll straight down a slope.  This investigation will continue as students begin to work as engineers developing solutions to problems as new criteria for their systems are introduced.

Word Study/Grammar:

Next week for grammar we will be on Week Sixteen.  The students will be learning about vowel digraphs with the Long E sound and Capitalization.

Writing:   

We are working on our Informational Writing Books.  This week we will be learning about the five text structures that you often find in non-fiction texts.  The students will be trying out these different structures in their own books. 

Reading:

We have been working hard in Unit 2 where we are learning all about how to study the characters in a story.  We are almost done with our story Because of Winn Dixie where we have followed Opal on her journey along a story mountain.  The students have really enjoyed this book.  They have been working in their Book Clubs to share and discuss their characters as well and how getting to know the character and the different role each supporting character plays in the story.  Next, we will be starting a new chapter book where we will examine what it's like to compare/contrast two main characters.