Weekly Updates and Reminders:
- Next week, on Thursday, February 14 we will be celebrating Valentine's Day in the afternoon. Students are invited to bring in valentines for their classmates. We now have 29 students.
- We have a new student in our class named Marcus Martinez. Join us in welcoming him to Wixom Elementary!
- There will be NO SCHOOL February 18-22 due to mid-winter break.
MATH
Unit 5 has been a unit touching on many different mathematical concepts such as fractions, area and perimeter and multiplication strategies. Students are enjoying using what they know in new math situations. Such as using multiplication squares to solve unknown multiplication facts.
SOCIAL STUDIES
We have begun our next unit on the Economy of Michigan. In this unit, students learn about the economy and business in the context of a local pizzeria! For example, they will explore agriculture in Michigan by learning about the various Michigan farm products that are used to create pizzas. In doing so, they learn about the geographic regions in which Michigan's diverse crops are grown and livestock is raised.
SCIENCE
Students continue to explore motion by designing simple carts/cars. Our latest focus question was, How Can You Improve the Design of Your Cart to Meet the the Distance Challenge. With this question, students measured the distance their original carts rolled, then redesigned their carts to go further. They really enjoyed designing solutions to this challenge.
Word Study/Grammar:
Writing:
We are working on publishing our Informational Writing books. The students have worked very hard on these books. Each book includes a title page, a table of contents, introduction, 5 sections with headings, conclusion, glossary, index, text features and text structures, and index. We can't wait to share them!
Reading:
We are wrapping up our unit on Character Studies. The students have really loved our two read aloud stories Because of Winn Dixie and Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel. Both stories had a strong lead character, Opal and Dyamonde, and it was fun to compare/contrast the problem, theme, lesson, etc. The students also examined characters in their Book Clubs. They have been having really great discussions and even "debates" about which character was the better problem solver.
Last week we had a Winn Dixie celebration where we watched the movie, enjoyed Wendy's frosties, had popcorn, and tried out a litmus lozenge. The students loved comparing the movie to the book and we all agreed the book was better! :)
We also started our Room 303 Reading Challenge! The students have been given a packet. They need to read nine different books (in different genres) and complete the response page. Each response page completed earns them a badge. Once they have all nine badges, I will give them a pizza and slurpee lunch! Happy Reading! :)
