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.

Weekly Newsletter 3/17 to 3/21

Math: Operations in Algebraic Thinking
Next week we will find all factor pairs for whole numbers in the range of 1-100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range of 1-100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range of 1-100 is prime or composite.


Our goal is to have weekly quizzes that will assess student progress with each section of material taught. The day we have the quiz will depend on how far we get in teaching the concept. Quizzes will be announced and written in agenda books each week. Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday to reinforce concepts 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 (addition, subtraction, multiplication) each night. 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.thinkingblocks.com


Science:
We will continue our science investigation on weather patterns and seasonal trends. We will define matter as anything that takes up space and has mass. Students will describe the relationship between the mass of a whole object and the sum of its parts

We will review the three states of matter (i.e., solid, liquid, gas) and ask: What happens to matter when it changes its form? We will ask what happens to matter when it changes its form (e.g., It does not lose any mass, regardless of the form. The mass of the whole object is always the same as the sum of its parts.)
www.discoveryeducation.com
Username: mcps(+student ID number/log-in from class)
Password: (student ID/log-in from class)

Reading: Fantasy Stories

Our focus on reading is fantasy stories. Students will examine the characteristics of fantasy stories by referring to details and examples in a text, summarize a portion of a text, and use Greek and Latin roots and affixes as clues to the meaning of words. The students will examine figurative language by looking at what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences in text, compare and contrast point of view within a story, and clarify meaning of phrases using print and digital resources. We will describe a character in depth using specific details from the story, explore the meaning of common idioms, and compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account in social studies. Throughout the study of fantasy, students discuss how the choices a character makes within a story can reveal theme(s). Students refer to text when explaining what a text says explicitly and implicitly and summarize the text in order to determine theme.

Mayor Writing-Informative Essay
Anytime you take part in something-an activity, conversation or even a game, you’re engaging with the people around you.It’s the way you learn and grow.Elected officials must engage with citizens, regularly, to find out what they believe the city/town needs to do to make the community a better place to live and work.Often they will work with the citizens on a project or event that will improve the town. Our mayor, Mayor Prats, visited fourth grade to discuss his role in our community as well as how students can take an active role in the Laytonsville Community. This week, each student will received feedback on their graphic organizers and begin to draft an informative piece to explain a project to engage our community. The majority of this project is AT-HOME.

Please remember that the essay MUST stay on theme/topic. Students must show an understand of the role of a mayor in a community. Mayors cannot create new schools, put in a gymnastics store, or shorten the school day. Be sure to use the links below and the knowledge from the Mayors visit to ensure you are staying ON TOPIC.

Students should bring their TYPED first draft to class on February 28 for peer and teacher feedback. Please remember that your child should NOT begin to write his/her rough draft until they have received their graphic organizer with teacher feedback this week. A number of students are saying they've already finished their rough draft. This does not follow the writing process and will not show proficiency with following the steps of the process and production.

Theme: Engaging My Community

If you were mayor, what project or event would you use to involve your community?Ask yourself:
1.Why is this project or event important to you?

2.How would you encourage your fellow town officials, businesses and residents to participate in the project/event?

3.How would you spread the word about it?Describe one or two examples

Guidelines:

1.Your essay must have the following heading in the right corner

·First & Last Name

·Laytonsville Elementary

·Teacher’s Name

2.Your essay must begin with the words “If I were Mayor, I would ______.”

3.Essays may not exceed 275 words.

4.Essays must be typed.Please let your teacher know if you do not have access to Word Processing at home.We have several Alpha Smart keyboarding machines that can be checked out from our media center.

Criteria:

1.Relation to the contest topic

2.Knowledge of municipal government and the role of a mayor

3.Creativity of proposed project/event

4.Proper use of Grammar

Assignment Timeline

Date	Task	Check when complete
January 30	Meet Mayor Prats and hear ideas about municipal government; learn about the history behind our town of Laytonsville	completed in class
January 30-February 3	View the town website &; Maryland Municipal League websites: http://www.laytonsville.md.us/ http://www.mdmunicipal.org/	completed in class
February 3-7	Prewrite using graphic organizer	should have been completed AT HOME
February 7	Bring Graphic Organizer to class for teacher feedback	completed in class
February 10-28	Draft and revise your essay at home (remember, you must TYPE your essay & use correct format above)
February 28	Bring rough draft to class to revise and edit with a partner in class Teachers will keep essays to give feedback
March 3-13	Use teacher/partners/your own feedback to publish a final draft.
March 14	Bring final copy to class for last student conference
March 17	Bring final draft, rough draft, and organizer to class to share with your classmates

Social Studies
Students will describe how cultures changed as a result of interactions among Maryland Native Americans and St. Mary’s settlers. Students will describe Maryland Native American societies after European contact compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.

Writing
Students will finish opinion writing. We have modeled and practiced writing an opinion piece in class as well. We have examined the pros and cons of an argument to form our opinions about extending our school year due to the snow days. This week we will be concluding our opinion piece.

We will begin a reflection on a personal experience to compose a memoir. After examining characteristics of memoirs, students will recall experiences from their lives and reflect on their experiences. Students will brainstorm memories, narrow a topic for memoir, and begin to examine the reflections related to the event, the turning point, and outcome. Students will examine how authors use sensory details to develop memoirs that engage the reader. They will use sensory details in their own writing to share reflections or insights about the event in their life. Students will compose an introduction to their memoir.

Weekly Newsletter March 3-7th

Math: Operations in Algebraic Thinking
Next week we will find all factor pairs for whole numbers in the range of 1-100.  Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors.  Determine whether a given whole number in the range of 1-100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number.  Determine whether a given whole number in the range of 1-100 is prime or composite.


Our goal is to have weekly quizzes that will assess student progress with each section of material taught. The day we have the quiz will depend on how far we get in teaching the concept. Quizzes will be announced and written in agenda books each week. Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday to reinforce concepts 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 (addition, subtraction, multiplication) each night. 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.thinkingblocks.com


Science:
We will continue our science investigation on weather patterns and seasonal trends. We will define matter as anything that takes up space and has mass.  Students will describe the relationship between the mass of a whole object and the sum of its parts

We will review the three states of matter (i.e., solid, liquid, gas) and ask: What happens to matter when it changes its form?  We will ask what happens to matter when it changes its form (e.g., It does not lose any mass, regardless of the form. The mass of the whole object is always the same as the sum of its parts.)
www.discoveryeducation.com
Username: mcps(+student ID number/log-in from class)
Password: (student ID/log-in from class)

Reading: Fantasy Stories

 
Our focus on reading is fantasy stories. Students will examine the characteristics of fantasy stories by referring to details and examples in a text, summarize a portion of a text, and use Greek and Latin roots and affixes as clues to the meaning of words. The students will examine figurative language by looking at what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences in text, compare and contrast point of view within a story, and clarify meaning of phrases using print and digital resources. We will  describe a character in depth using specific details from the story, explore the meaning of common idioms, and compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account in social studies. Throughout the study of fantasy, students discuss how the choices a character makes within a story can reveal theme(s).  Students refer to text when explaining what a text says explicitly and implicitly and summarize the text in order to determine theme.

Mayor Writing-Informative Essay
Anytime you take part in something-an activity, conversation or even a game, you’re engaging with the people around you.It’s the way you learn and grow.Elected officials must engage with citizens, regularly, to find out what they believe the city/town needs to do to make the community a better place to live and work.Often they will work with the citizens on a project or event that will improve the town. Our mayor, Mayor Prats, visited fourth grade to discuss his role in our community as well as how students can take an active role in the Laytonsville Community. This week, each student will received feedback on their graphic organizers and begin to draft an informative piece to explain a project to engage our community. The majority of this project is AT-HOME.

Please remember that the essay MUST stay on theme/topic. Students must show an understand of the role of a mayor in a community. Mayors cannot create new schools, put in a gymnastics store, or shorten the school day. Be sure to use the links below and the knowledge from the Mayors visit to ensure you are staying ON TOPIC.

Students should bring their TYPED first draft to class on February 28 for peer and teacher feedback. Please remember that your child should NOT begin to write his/her rough draft until they have received their graphic organizer with teacher feedback this week. A number of students are saying they've already finished their rough draft. This does not follow the writing process and will not show proficiency with following the steps of the process and production.

Theme: Engaging My Community

If you were mayor, what project or event would you use to involve your community?Ask yourself:
1.Why is this project or event important to you?

2.How would you encourage your fellow town officials, businesses and residents to participate in the project/event?

3.How would you spread the word about it?Describe one or two examples

Guidelines:

1.Your essay must have the following heading in the right corner

·First & Last Name

·Laytonsville Elementary

·Teacher’s Name

2.Your essay must begin with the words “If I were Mayor, I would ______.”

3.Essays may not exceed 275 words.

4.Essays must be typed.Please let your teacher know if you do not have access to Word Processing at home.We have several Alpha Smart keyboarding machines that can be checked out from our media center.

Criteria:

1.Relation to the contest topic

2.Knowledge of municipal government and the role of a mayor

3.Creativity of proposed project/event

4.Proper use of Grammar

Assignment Timeline

Date	Task	Check when complete
January 30	Meet Mayor Prats and hear ideas about municipal government; learn about the history behind our town of Laytonsville	completed in class
January 30-February 3	View the town website &; Maryland Municipal League websites: http://www.laytonsville.md.us/ http://www.mdmunicipal.org/	completed in class
February 3-7	Prewrite using graphic organizer	should have been completed AT HOME
February 7	Bring Graphic Organizer to class for teacher feedback	completed in class
February 10-28	Draft and revise your essay at home (remember, you must TYPE your essay & use correct format above)
February 28	Bring rough draft to class to revise and edit with a partner in class Teachers will keep essays to give feedback
March 3-13	Use teacher/partners/your own feedback to publish a final draft.
March 14	Bring final copy to class for last student conference
March 17	Bring final draft, rough draft, and organizer to class to share with your classmates

 

Social Studies
Students will describe how cultures changed as a result of interactions among Maryland Native Americans and St. Mary’s settlers.  Students will describe Maryland Native American societies after European contact compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.

Writing
Students will finish opinion writing.   We have modeled and practiced writing an opinion piece in class as well. We have examined the pros and cons of an argument to form our opinions about extending our school year due to the snow days.  This week we will be concluding our opinion piece.

We will begin a reflection on a personal experience to compose a memoir. After examining characteristics of memoirs, students will recall experiences from their lives and reflect on their experiences. Students will brainstorm memories, narrow a topic for memoir, and begin to examine the reflections related to the event, the turning point, and outcome. Students will examine how authors use sensory details to develop memoirs that engage the reader. They will use sensory details in their own writing to share reflections or insights about the event in their life.  Students will compose an introduction to their memoir.

Weekly Newsletter, February 24-28, 2014

Math: Number Operations in Base Ten
Over the next few weeks we will continue to find whole-number quotients and remainders with up to four-digit dividends and one-digit divisors using place value strategies.  We will use our knowledge of place value to determine the relationship between multiplication and division.  We will use both the area model and the division model INSTEAD of the standard algorithm.  The division model may appear similar to the standard algorithm, so we are asking parents not to teach their child that way.  Two videos that explain each model we will use can be found below:

Division Model:
http://learnzillion.com/lessons/1483-divide-threedigit-dividends

Area Model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8fvHi7n2Jk



Our goal is to have weekly quizzes that will assess student progress with each section of material taught. The day we have the quiz will depend on how far we get in teaching the concept. Quizzes will be announced and written in agenda books each week. Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday to reinforce concepts 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 (addition, subtraction, multiplication) each night. 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.thinkingblocks.com


Reading/Science: Informational Newspaper
In whole group reading, we will continue our science investigation on weather patterns and seasonal trends.  We will define matter as anything that takes up space and has mass.  We will then examine a mystery substance to determine if it meets the criteria to be defined as matter.

In guided reading, we will continue to examine informational content about weather to create classroom newspapers.  Students will inform others about the topics we've studied in guided reading. Students will also have the opportunity to use other media forms to gather research on their guided reading informational text. By watching Discovery Education videos, they will be able to add new information to their main idea notes and create updated summaries. We will then take those new summaries and make a second volume of our class newspaper.

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

Reading: Mythology

This week we will begin our study of mythology.  Students read Greek myths and describe the relationship between characters and the setting of a story, compare the treatment of similar themes, and make connections between the text and visual representation of a myth. They demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites and determine the meaning of words and phrases, including allusions to mythology. Students refer to text when explaining what a text says explicitly and implicitly and summarize the text in order to determine theme.

Mayor Writing-Informative Essay
Anytime you take part in something-an activity, conversation or even a game, you’re engaging with the people around you. It’s the way you learn and grow. Elected officials must engage with citizens, regularly, to find out what they believe the city/town needs to do to make the community a better place to live and work. Often they will work with the citizens on a project or event that will improve the town. Our mayor, Mayor Prats, visited fourth grade to discuss his role in our community as well as how students can take an active role in the Laytonsville Community. This week, each student will received feedback on their graphic organizers and begin to draft an informative piece to explain a project to engage our community. The majority of this project is AT-HOME.

Please remember that the essay MUST stay on theme/topic. Students must show an understand of the role of a mayor in a community. Mayors cannot create new schools, put in a gymnastics store, or shorten the school day. Be sure to use the links below and the knowledge from the Mayors visit to ensure you are staying ON TOPIC.

Students should bring their TYPED first draft to class on February 28 for peer and teacher feedback. Please remember that your child should NOT begin to write his/her rough draft until they have received their graphic organizer with teacher feedback this week. A number of students are saying they've already finished their rough draft. This does not follow the writing process and will not show proficiency with following the steps of the process and production.

Theme: Engaging My Community

If you were mayor, what project or event would you use to involve your community? Ask yourself:
1. Why is this project or event important to you?

2. How would you encourage your fellow town officials, businesses and residents to participate in the project/event?

3. How would you spread the word about it? Describe one or two examples

Guidelines:

1. Your essay must have the following heading in the right corner

· First & Last Name

· Laytonsville Elementary

· Teacher’s Name

2. Your essay must begin with the words “If I were Mayor, I would ______.”

3. Essays may not exceed 275 words.

4. Essays must be typed. Please let your teacher know if you do not have access to Word Processing at home. We have several Alpha Smart keyboarding machines that can be checked out from our media center.

Criteria:

1. Relation to the contest topic

2. Knowledge of municipal government and the role of a mayor

3. Creativity of proposed project/event

4. Proper use of Grammar

Assignment Timeline

Date	Task	Check when complete
January 30	Meet Mayor Prats and hear ideas about municipal government; learn about the history behind our town of Laytonsville	completed in class
January 30-February 3	View the town website &; Maryland Municipal League websites: http://www.laytonsville.md.us/ http://www.mdmunicipal.org/	completed in class
February 3-7	Prewrite using graphic organizer	should have been completed AT HOME
February 7	Bring Graphic Organizer to class for teacher feedback	completed in class
February 10-28	Draft and revise your essay at home (remember, you must TYPE your essay & use correct format above)
February 28	Bring rough draft to class to revise and edit with a partner in class Teachers will keep essays to give feedback
March 3-13	Use teacher/partners/your own feedback to publish a final draft.
March 14	Bring final copy to class for last student conference
March 17	Bring final draft, rough draft, and organizer to class to share with your classmates

All students have been given guidelines and rubrics. We asked parents to sign upon receipt and return 1/2 sheet to teachers by February 7. Students who do not have access to word processing at home may check out a word processing tool, an AlphaSmart, to work on this at-home project. There will be a box to indicate need on the Guidelines sheet.

Social Studies
Students will read first and second-hand accounts of the first English settlement of Jamestown to examine and draw conclusions about what caused the Starving Time in Jamestown. Students will then synthesize informational text to form their own opinion about what caused the Starving Time in Jamestown. 

Media/Writing
Our focus for the entire marking period will be to answer the focus question: How can the media responsibly advertise products &; services to children? The focus of our class writing project for the marking period will focus on advertising techniques marketers use to advertise products to children. We will examine advertising vocabulary through the lens of the techniques. We will watch commercials in class to determine audience/theme/message/technique/effectiveness.

This week, we will continue to work with Mrs. Bowman to form research questions, gather evidence, form an opinion, and create a multi-media presentation to share our opinion of our focus question. Our focus this week is to view commercials with specific advertising techniques so that we can focus on the specific technique. Students will examine ads with one technique (examples: bandwagon, celebrity, expert testimonials, etc.) to form their opinion about the positive & negative aspects of advertising to children.

Due to the nature of the project, there may be times in the quarter where we ask children to pay particular attention to advertising/marketing (commercials/t-shirts, radio/TV/Internet). Please let us know if you have a strict "TV/electronic" rule so that we can adapt instruction for your student's potential homework.

At home, we encourage students to continue to visit the website www.admongo.gov to gather information about various advertising techniques. This site is set up like a video game with the purpose of presenting vocabulary and techniques in a more interesting way. Each student should create a log-in (without using their name) and a password to complete this task. Please let your child's teacher know if you do not have Internet access in your home (or you do not wish for your child to play the video game) so that your child will still benefit from learning the vocabulary in class.

To help students understand the elements of opinion writing, we will model and practice writing an opinion piece in class as well.  We will examine the pros and cons of an argument to form our opinions about extending our school year due to the snow days.  This week we will focus on using facts to form our opinions and writing an introductory paragraph with a hook.