Weekly Newsletter, January 7 to 11

Writing:
During Quarter 2, we will focus on writing realistic fiction.
Students will begin to revise their work as well. It is important to hear how your writing sounds, so we will use Natural Reader and Buddy Conferences. By using Natural Reader, the computer will read the students work to him or her. This will allow your child to listen to hear if the story "sounds right." A partner will then be able to ask questions to clarify understanding.  Students will then share their work with their teacher to discuss any further revisions needed to their piece.

All students have been given a rubric that focuses on the 6 Traits of writing to use to aid in the writing of their draft.  Mini lessons about each trait have been going on in small groups based on need during individual conferences.

A link to a website for information on the 6 Traits of writing is below:
http://writingfix.com/classroom_tools/post_its.htm

Natural Reader:
This tool can be downloaded on your home computers to assist students with reading text that may be challenging. We use this in class for webpage research and for revising our writing. Students can listen to what they have typed and determine if it sounds right to revise. In addition, when gathering research, this tool allows them to read difficult text. We have this program at school, but it is a great tool for home use as well:
www.naturalreader.com

Social Studies: Working to Create Change in Our Communities:
This month students will examine the lives of different people in history and today who are creating change in the community.  Our first example was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders.  We examined several video clips from the 1950's and 60's to discuss how to bring about social change.

Our next study will be various musicians who have worked to create change.  Some include John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Garth Brooks, and U2.  We will study how the impact of their music has inspired many changes around the world.

We will also discuss how kids can have a positive impact on their community and make a difference in the world.  We will discuss Blake Mycoskie (founder of TOMS shoe company), dosomething.org, and Tristin & Tyler, two elementary students who host their own web video series to promote eco-activism.  This will lead the students to think about change in our community of Laytonsville/Gaithersburg in order to complete an essay about being Mayor of our community.

The "If I Were Mayor" essay contest is a state-wide contest open to all fourth graders in Maryland. Students will write an essay as part of their social studies grade and will have the option of entering the statewide competition. Last year was the first year that LES participated. Although no student from our school went on to win the state-wide contest, Mayor Prats chose 3 winners from our school contest. On Friday he presented them with certificates.
First Place: Fadilah Farrin
Second Place: Erin McClure
Third Place: Lauren Smith

Their essays were about building more parks/recreation, protecting the environment, and ending discrimination. Below are a few photos from the event.

Math 5: Unit 3

NUMBER RELATIONSHIPS AND COMPUTATION

Students need to:

Compute with whole numbers.

Translate among fractions, decimals, and percents.

Compare and order decimals to the thousandths place.

Solve problems with fractions, decimals, and percents using a variety of strategies.

Mrs. Dynda's math class will take the Measures of Academic Progress-Math on Wednesday, January 9.

Mrs. Johnson's math class will take the Measures of Academic Progress-Math on Wednesday, January 16.

Looking Ahead: Unit Assessment will be February 12 & 13

Math 4:   Unit 3: Probability, Fractions and Decimals.
Our focus will continue to be on number relationships and computation.  Students will use manipulatives to compare and order fractions.
Concepts to discuss this week:
Equivalent Fractions
Mixed Numbers
Improper Fractions
Order fractions from least to greatest

Mr. Bidwick's math class will take the Measures of Academic Progress-Math on Monday, January 7.

Ms. Hudson's math class will take the Measures of Academic Progress-Math on Tuesday, January 8.

Looking Ahead: Unit Assessment on February 12 & 13

*A great website that allows students to work at their own pace on word problems/real world application of multiplication & division:
http://www.thinkingblocks.com/

We continue to use the Khan academy website to help practice our math at home. This is a great site where students (if a log in is created) can track their progress and have example problems to work on. It has been featured in CNN as an up and coming way for teachers to assess individual students learning.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Reading:

Our focus in reading continue to be the genre of historical fiction. Historical fiction novels are novels that happened at a time or place that students have never inhabited, the characters are entangled in historical and social issues of grand significance, and the events of the story are intimately related to real historical events. This makes it a great unit to integrate a lot of our social studies content into reading. To that end, we will read nonfiction books, articles, and Internet research to support our understanding of the historical events included in our novels. The novels chosen all focus around a central theme "adversity causes change."  
Students are currently analyzing their novels and this historical background to synthesize their ideas and information.  Some of the questions we have been asking in class are:

*Physical Setting: Where does you story take place, including time period, technology, appearance of character in his/her world.
*Emotional Setting:  How does the location your character live in affect his/her actions?
*Historical Background: What years is your story taking place?  What are the historical events happening in your book as well as the world around your character?
*Character's Challenges:  What is the relationship between the main character and the historical events of that time period?  What are the social pressures, community norms, and uncontrollable events/actions?
*Advertisy:  How does the main character overcome the social pressures or uncontrollable events/actions of the time period?  In which ways does your character change from the beginning, middle, and end of the story?

Spelling:
*Our spelling program involves the use of developmental word study rather than traditional spelling books. This“Words Their Way” approach allows students to practice target spelling patterns that best address their individual needs as a speller. Students work in spelling groups to analyze the pattern and look for clues as to how to generalize the correct spelling of words within that pattern/sound.  Our next spelling assessment will be January 18.