Newsletter for April 28 - May 12th

Weekly Newsletter April 28 - May 12th

Math: Fractions: Number and Operations, Measurement and Data

Students will add and subtract fractional lengths to solve measurement problems (to nearest eighth inch). 

Students will represent and interpret measurement data (halves, fourths, eighths of a unit) using line plots. 

Students will solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators and add and subtract fractions with like denominators to solve problems. 

Students will apply understandings of multiplication of whole numbers to multiply a fraction by a whole number. 

Students will apply understandings of unit fractions to reason about factor pairs and their products

They will reason about the product of a whole number and a fraction and solve word problems involving multiplication of a fraction by a whole number.

Students will apply understandings of unit fractions to reason about factor pairs and their products.

They will reason about the product of a whole number and a fraction and solve word problems involving multiplication of a fraction by a whole number.

Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday to reinforce the concepts that students are learning in their small groups that week. Some homework will be in written and at other times it will be on the computer. If your child is frustrated by the homework and unable to determine a strategy for completion, please write a note on the paper and we will review with him/her the following day.

In addition, students should be practicing their basic facts conceptual understanding (addition, subtraction, multiplication. Students must be fluent in all four operations by the end of this year. Each math class has a student practice page on www.xtramath.org that students should be going to each night. This sight is a way to practice the four operations to increase fluency with the four operations. We are finding that students are able to set up area models and distribute numbers correctly; however, they are making many calculation errors that impede their progress.

A few other great websites we use in class are:
www.multiplication.com
www.Khanacademy.org
www.thinking blocks.com


Science: 

In marking period 4 during weeks 1–3, students will begin the understanding that Earth materials can be studied to provide evidence of Earth’s changing surface over time by identifying, describing, and comparing observable properties of matter. Students apply these properties specifically to rocks. This blends the Measurement Topics of Physical and Earth Space Sciences, which will lead students to the understanding that rocks are made of a combination of materials. Students observe and explore combinations of materials to determine if they create mixtures or new materials. Students apply this understanding to model the formation of rocks. Students will investigate the processes that form rocks and will use the process to classify a rock.

www.discoveryeducation.com
User name: mcps(+student ID number/log-in from class)
Password: (student ID/log-in from class)

Reading: Literature and Informational Text

Students will read informational and technical text related to science and music content. Students will use inquiry to determine meaning of words and understand a variety of informational text. Using text related to science, students will build academic vocabulary to strategically determine the meaning of words by consulting reference materials, Students will read technical text to make their own fossils and learn how to conduct music. Students are to examine two informational text structures: problem/solution and comparison text structure and make inferences based on evidence from the text. Finally, students explore literary nonfiction by reading autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs. Students summarize text in writing and orally using key details to determine main idea, compare and contrast first and secondhand accounts, and explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points. Students integrate information from two literary nonfiction texts, pose and respond to specific questions, and identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points.

Social Studies: 

Students will gather, record, and analyze information about the three regions of colonial America, the New England, Middle, and Southern regions. Students will expand their study to include all colonies in the Southern region as they determine how colonists adapted to and modified the environment to meet their wants. Students explore the concept of regional specialization and its role in economic growth. They will continue their study of the colonial period by determining how geographic characteristics affected how colonists lived and worked in the Middle and New England regions. Students explore how colonists in these regions adapted to and modified the environment and implemented democratic ideas and practices. Students will examine the effect of triangular trade on population growth, migration, and settlement patterns in colonial America. Students explore the effect that regional interests and perspectives had on shaping government policy in colonial America. Throughout the marking period, students work on the Perspective in Social Studies Inquiry project via tasks in social studies, writing, and information literacy. Students research a inquiry question in order to write a feature article and an opinion piece. 

Writing

Students will conduct research for the Perspectives in Science and Social Studies information inquiry and begin writing. They will use their research to draft an introduction and body paragraphs. Students will evaluate their writing for coherence by logically organizing and supporting points and demonstrating command of language. The learning tasks will provide opportunities for students to develop ideas with facts from research, revise for coherence based on peer conferences, and edit their writing for complete sentences and sentence fluency. As a part of publishing writing, students will create feature articles to share their selected research topic. They will also write an opinion essay related to their Perspectives in Inquiry. In addition students will identify, gather and summarize relevant information from primary and secondary source documents to write an opinion essay, which will support their personal point of view. 

Inquiry: 

Students learn how to use an inquiry process to locate information and ideas for informative and opinion writing. For the Perspectives in Social Studies Inquiry, students will use the information gained in their research to collect evidence and develop ideas for an opinion piece. Students explore content throughout the marking period in social studies, science, and art, which provides them with additional information for knowledge development during this inquiry.

Students analyze the information need of this inquiry by first creating criteria for selecting a topic. The inquiry driving questions related to social studies focus on economic growth and development of the three colonial regions. Students build their background knowledge by discussing the meaning of domain specific vocabulary in order to develop researchable questions. Students analyze the search strategies they have developed over the year for print and digital sources and think flexibility to develop additional effective strategies. Students evaluate resources for author authority, bias, currency and relevance to determine the reliability of a resource. They also analyze and discuss how to use information from first and second hand accounts of events. Students synthesize information from multiple sources and evaluate their recorded information for point of view, accuracy and completeness during drafting. Throughout the marking period, students may benefit from word processor tools, text to speech, and digital reference tools when researching for and revising their writing. They should use a variety of tools to produce, revise and publish their work.