Literature Circle
This week, we finished reading and analyzing the literary elements of chapter 5 of our book The Call of the Wild. Students have done an outstanding job not only keeping up with their reading assignments following our calendar, but also writing detailed notes for every chapter and sharing their insightful comments. They were assigned to finish reading chapter 6 at home, and be ready for our discussion on Monday. We will be ready to finish reading our book on Monday and spend the rest of the week working on our book project in class (please refer back to our previous newsletter to see the objectives for this project).
Students were invited to create an art piece that captures the theme of the book. They are welcome to use any medium and be as creative as they choose. Art pieces will be shared on our last book club day, March 23rd.
We also continued with our literacy routines, spelling, grammar and usage. We read the nonfiction piece Cazadores de tornados. This piece talked about how storm chasers help us understand the weather. As we read the selection aloud (everybody had a chance to read a part) we monitored our comprehension and adjusted our reading speed and fluency accordingly.
Science
Focus Question: How are nutrients transported to cells in a plant?
This week students continued their exploration of plants by observing the veins in leaves. They planted seeds in straws to allow detailed observation of the development of the leaves, and to investigate their functions. Students watched a video, Estructura y crecimiento de las plantas, that reviewed the concepts and key vocabulary learned during this investigation.
We are so excited about our science field trip on March, 29th 2018 at 1:00 pm. Please make sure your child turns in their permission slip and that you have made transportation arrangements to the site. Everybody should be prepared to spend the afternoon outside. Wear clothing and shoes that can get wet and dirty and layers for the cold. We will be outside rain or shine! Please contact maestra Paola, should you have any questions.
https://www.columbiasprings.org/
History and Geography
St.Patrick’s Day fun!
This week we continued to learn about Feudal Japan. Our objectives were:
- Describe the lives of artisans, merchants, and peasants in feudal Japan.
- Explain the differences between Kabuki theater and a Noh play.
Mathematics
This week we began working with percents. Our objectives were:
- relate and compare percents, decimals, and fractions
- express fractions as percents
English Spelling
This week we continued our rotation. Our rotation days were:
- Vocabulary Day: This week we worked on homographs and compared them to the homophones we worked with last time.
- Writer’s Workshop: This week we are working on writing a research paper. Our topic is Feudal Japan, the students will use this week’s spellings words within their paper as well.