Week of April 28, 2014

Math:  Students will get their tests back from Unit 7 & will be expected to correct them and get a parent signature. This week we will begin Unit 8, which will go back to fractions: comparing them, adding/subtracting mixed numbers. 

Writing:  Students will continue to practice making dialogue meaningful, and correctly punctuating it. Grammar will focus on adverbs. On Friday, we will have a Coding lesson in the LMC, instead of writing. 

Reading/Novels:  Using the Comprehension Toolkit, we will learn how to use Fact/Question/Response Charts to make sense of nonfiction they read and pick out the key facts/details.  We will use National Geographic, Time for Kids, and other nonfiction articles to support our learning this week. 

This is our final week of Novels Study with our current group of students. My class will have an end of the unit test. 

Poem Pocket T-shirt/Letter due Wednesday!!

April Letter for Poetry

Science:  Students had a Quick Check(short quiz) last week and will get that back on Monday. We will learn about how heat is transferred through an experiment on Monday and graph the results on Tuesday. On Thursday we will do an experiment on conductors to see which materials are good/bad conductors of heat. 

Special Events:

• Midterms will go home on Friday! 
• April projects due Wednesday! 

Week of April 21, 2014

Math:  We will finish up the remaining lessons from Chapter 7 and review through Wednesday. We will take the Unit test on Thursday/Friday (to allow enough time, if needed). My math class will MAP test on Tuesday at 9:15. 

To review for the test, students were given a study guide, can use previous study links, and any other supplemental materials I have provided. In addition, please refer to previous posts for IXL skills or Khan Academy videos to review. 

Writing:  Students will work on replacing weak verbs with strong verbs to show what their characters do/think. They will also learn how to punctuate/format dialogue and how to use dialogue effectively to show their character's traits. Grammar will focus on using the adjectives good/bad appropriately. 

Reading/Novels:  Using the Comprehension Toolkit, we will learn how to develop questions to guide our reading and understanding. We will use National Geographic, Time for Kids, and other nonfiction articles to support our learning this week. 

This is our 3rd week of novels, in which we switch classes. My group, reading Worth, will read through Ch. 18 this week. 

Students must read poetry for the month of April. Here is the letter template. Please also ask your child to see the rubric for their monthly project (Poem Pocket T-shirt)

April Letter for Poetry

Science:  We will discuss our energy logs, which should have been completed this weekend. We will read Ch 1 and complete notes (they help guide the reading for each chapter). Students will be instructed to take simple notes that will help them study. Students will create energy wheels with 3 examples of each type of energy (8 total forms). We will then discuss energy transfers and go through stations in which students will describe the transfers that take place with various objects. 

Special Events:

-MAP TESTING: my math class: Tuesday 9:15
-my reading class: Wednesday 1:30
-Butterbraid order forms due Wednesday!! 

Week of April 14, 2014

Math:  We will continue to work on Unit 7 using the math workshop model(lessons 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 7.10). 

Khan Academy: Adding Negative Numbers
Khan Practice of Adding/Subtracting Integers

Adding & Subtracting Negative Numbers Examples

Why subtracting a negative is the same as adding a positive

Practice Adding/Subtracting Negative Numbers (Monday!)

IXL : 

 A.10- Order Integers, 

I. 5 (6th grade)

I. 7 (6th Grade)

5th Grade Skill Q1, 

       : 6th Grade Skill P12, W7
Math Survey

Writing:  We are working on Book 3 (the last book for the year) in the WEX program. We will work on creating rising action, replacing adverbs with strong verbs, and using showing details. Grammar will focus on comparing using more/most. 

Reading/Novels:  Using the Comprehension Toolkit, we will learn about standard and inferential subheads using National Geographic. We will also work on creating our own questions prior to reading, and answering them as we read(this covers lessons 13/14 of Comprehension Toolkit's inferencing lessons). 

This is our 2nd week of novels, in which we switch classes. My group, reading Worth, will read through Ch. 13 this week. 

Students must read poetry for the month of April. Here is the letter template. Please also ask your child to see the rubric for their monthly project (Poem Pocket T-shirt)

April Letter for Poetry

Social Studies/Science:  Students will get their Chapter 16 test back on Monday. We will begin our final science unit on Energy. Please ask your child for the family letter for details about what we will be learning. This week we will be identifying examples of stored energy/energy in action (we won't be referring to them as kinetic and potential just yet). Students will be introduced to other categories or subgroups of each. 

Energy Template (for Tuesday's lesson. 1 partner make a copy & name it "Energy In Action/Stored- Names". Share it with your partner.) 

Special Events:

--Book Fair preview Thursday @11:15

--No school Friday 4/18

Kids Coding

Today our class took turns writing code & following a code! Nice job today! 

Week of April 7, 2014

Math:  We will continue to work on Unit 7 using the math workshop model (consists of 4 stations a day). Math will be cancelled on Wednesday (due to 2 classes visiting Thomas in the AM)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Order of Operations
Order of Operations

IXL : 5th Grade Skill Q1, 

       : 6th Grade Skill P12, W7
Math Survey

Writing:  We are working on Book 3 (the last book for the year) in the WEX program. This unit really tries to get students to focus on describing characters in a moment using SHOWING details. Our goal is to work through lesson 6 this week. Grammar will focus on adjectives that compare (-er/-est).

Reading/Novels:  Last week, students selected a poem they wanted to analyze independently for an in-class assignment. This week, they will compare/contrast their poem with a partner. Additionally, they will continue to code the text or annotate some classic poems. My reading class/ Ms. Patton's reading class will be cancelled on Weds. due to our visit to Thomas Middle School. 

We will also begin a new unit of novels. Students will switch teachers for this. I will be teaching "Worth" a book that ties nicely to what we are learning in Social Studies. We will do vocabulary practice, writing prompts, and frequent comprehension checks. 

Students must read poetry for the month of April. Here is the letter template. Please also ask your child to see the rubric for their monthly project (Poem Pocket T-shirt)

April Letter for Poetry

Social Studies:  We will finish up Chapter 16, review, and have a test on Thursday of this week. The test covers how we acquired the current territories of the United States. 

Special Events:

-Visit to Thomas, Wednesday afternoon
-Computer Coding lesson, Thursday 1:30-2:30