During Quarter 2, we will focus on writing realistic fiction. We will begin by applying pre-writing strategies to write story blurbs to generate ideas for fiction writing.
This week we will begin to draft our realistic fiction stories. We will use our character attributes web and our story mountains to write our rough drafts. We will focus on writing interesting leads that hook the reader and make them want to read more of our story.
A link to a website for information on the 6 Traits of writing is below:
http://writingfix.com/classroom_tools/post_its.htm
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: Impact of Geography
In this unit, students will demonstrate their understanding of using maps and how humans adapt to their environment. We will determine where the major population centers are in Maryland today and predict why people live in certain areas. We will review the three different kinds of maps:
physical: show land elevations, sea levels, mountains and other physical features
thematic: use to show one topic (crops, pollution, population, etc.)
political: show boundaries between states/countries
We continue to review geography vocabulary and will have two quizzes this month. The first quiz will assess student's knowledge of the elements of a map on December 7. The second quiz will take place on December 20. It will be on the vocabulary sheet given out this week.
This week we will introduce a Map Project. This map is to be made at home and is due on December 13. We will present them in class.
In this unit, students will demonstrate their understanding of using maps and how humans adapt to their environment. We will determine where the major population centers are in Maryland today and predict why people live in certain areas. We will review the three different kinds of maps:
physical: show land elevations, sea levels, mountains and other physical features
thematic: use to show one topic (crops, pollution, population, etc.)
political: show boundaries between states/countries
We continue to review geography vocabulary and will have two quizzes this month. The first quiz will assess student's knowledge of the elements of a map on December 7. The second quiz will take place on December 20. It will be on the vocabulary sheet given out this week.
This week we will introduce a Map Project. This map is to be made at home and is due on December 13. We will present them in class.
This week we will classifying shapes based on angles and length of sides. We will determine if the shapes are right, acute, obtuse, scalene, isosceles, and equalateral. We will classify different quadrilaterals based on their sides.
Looking Ahead: Unit 2 Assessment December 5 (Mrs. Dynda's Class)
Math 4:
Unit 2 Topics Include:
Demonstrate mastery of basic multiplication and division fact families
Identify and apply multiples and factors of numbers.
Solve for the unknown or variable in an equation.
Generalize a pattern by stating a rule.
Write and simplify numeric expressions using number properties.
Complete a function table using a given rule.
Our focus will shift to using our knowledge of multiplication and division by solving for the unknown. We will use Hands On Equations to begin this study.
Some important questions:
*What is the known in the problem?
*What is the unknown?
*How can I write an equation to show the relationship between the known and unknown quantities?
*How can I solve the equation?
*What does my solution tell me about the unknown?
Looking Ahead: Unit 2 Assessment, December 12 & 13
Some important questions:
*What is the known in the problem?
*What is the unknown?
*How can I write an equation to show the relationship between the known and unknown quantities?
*How can I solve the equation?
*What does my solution tell me about the unknown?
Looking Ahead: Unit 2 Assessment, December 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 will be building theories about characters. We will start by teaching recognizing that in life, as well as in books, we watch how people act, noticing especially how they respond to events. From this we formulate theories about their character traits. Good readers pay attention not only to what a character does but how the character does these things. We will think beyond an event to understand a character's actions and motivations. This will lead us to notice how a character changes throughout a book or story.
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 will be building theories about characters. We will start by teaching recognizing that in life, as well as in books, we watch how people act, noticing especially how they respond to events. From this we formulate theories about their character traits. Good readers pay attention not only to what a character does but how the character does these things. We will think beyond an event to understand a character's actions and motivations. This will lead us to notice how a character changes throughout a book or story.
This week we will conclude our focus on characters by studying their motivation. What's behind why a character acts the way s/he does? Does their action surprise you? How does a character change from the beginning of a story to the middle to the end?
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.
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