Literatura
This week our reading selection was “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”. We studied the different elements of a narrative poem such a rhythm or meter – the rhythmic pattern of a poem. Students had already read this classic in English so they were able to establish great connections. Students concluded that a “translation” looses the poem’s original meaning and essence. It was still a great opportunity to talk about imagery and figurative language. The reading comprehension strategies and skills applied were : adjusting reading speed, clarifying, summarizing, visualizing, and author’s point of view.
Writing
We had so much fun this week working on our writing project! After reading the piece “American Revolution”, students were assigned to craft a writing piece from the perspective of a settler/ Native American during the American Revolution war. Students spent the week developing their characters. This is probably one of our favorite projects so far! Students were given a rubric that states all the requirements for the project. I had the opportunity to conference with students at the end of the week to help facilitate the editing portion. I was very impressed to see everybody meeting, if not all, most of the requirements for this project. As a culminating piece, students will get to read their pieces to the class next week on Tuesday and Friday. They are encouraged to “dress the part”. Families are more than welcome to come celebrate with us the amazing writing happening in the 4th/5th grade class!
Ciencias
Yeast Nutrition: What does yeast need to break its dormancy?
This week, students conducted an investigation to determine the necessary conditions for activating dry yeast. This investigation was directly connected to this week’s Health studies with Ms. Leann, about oral hygiene.
Plant Nutrition: How do plants get the food they need?
Students thought about how to break the dormancy of another organism, the wheat plant. They planted wheat seeds in containers of soil and placed half of the planters in a lighted environment and the other half in a dark environment. Students read about the action of chlorophyll and its role in the manufacture of sugar. They will observe their plants to determine which plants have chlorophyll. Students are predicting that the plants growing in light are the ones prepared to produce food to provide nutrients for their cells.
Learning Outcome:
- Plants make their own food by photosynthesis.
- Chlorophyll is the green pigment that absorbs sunlight in the cell of producer organisms.
- Green plant cells make sugar (food) from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight, and release oxygen.
History & Geography
This week we continued learning about European Explorers.
Our objectives were:
- Summarize the journeys of Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa.
- Describe the outcomes of the voyage made by Ferdinand Magellan and his crew.
- Explain the significance of a Northwest Passage.
- Summarize the voyages of John Cabot.
- Explain the role of England’s East India Company.
- Summarize the voyages of Giovanni da Verrazano and Jacques Cartier.
- Summarize the expeditions made by Henry Hudson.
Mathematics
This week we started working with Ratios.
Our objectives were:
- read and write ratios
- find equivalent ratios
- solve real-world problems involving ratios
English Word Work
This week we began our rotation.
Our rotation days were:
- Word Search: Students received a word search with their new spelling words. They were tasked with finding and sorting their new words.
- Teacher Meeting: I met with each student to discuss and clarify their new sort
- Vocabulary Day: This week our lesson was about antonyms. The vocabulary words we will be adding to our wall are
- Spelling City: Students had a chance to work on computer skills as well as spelling on spellingcity.com. If your kiddo would like to work on spelling city at home they can follow this link www.spellingcity.com/users/34SpellingSWS
Our spelling test will be on Tuesday February 6th!