Literature Circle
This week we started our new literacy unit, Hacia el oeste. What made it extra meaningful was having the opportunity to attend the Lelooska Cultural Center for our field trip. Students were able to make significant connections to the wonderful presentation, during our first reading piece, La caza del buffalo. We will continue to read this expository text next week. Some of our literacy objectives for this and next week:
- Using maps, students accurately identify the different regions of the US, particularly the American West and explain its historical importance.
- Students read articles and books about the pioneers and settlers.
- Students read stories and poems about Native Americans.
- Students understand and apply vocabulary related to our new unit and selection
- Student activate prior knowledge, share personal experiences and make connections to social studies.
- Understand and apply the concepts of grammar, usage and mechanics in context providing examples in both orally and written form.
- Students apply accurate vocabulary and language structures in oral and written form.
- Students use descriptive language in context.
- Students understand and apply the use of abbreviations in Spanish.
Science
This week students were introduced with our spring science module Mixtures and Solutions. The following are the overarching objectives for this module:
- Gain experience with the concepts of mixture and solution.
- Gain experience with the concepts of concentration and saturation.
- Gain experience with the concept of chemical reaction.
- Apply an operational definition to determine the relative concentrations of solutions.
- Use group problem-solving techniques to plan investigations.
- Use measurement in the context of scientific investigations.
- Apply mathematics in the context of science.
- Acquire vocabulary associated with chemistry and the periodic table.
- Be introduced to the concept that all matter is made of very small particles called atoms and that atoms combine to form molecules.
- Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, organizing, and relating.
History and Geography
Exploring the museum on our field trip to Lelooska!
This week we took our last field trip and began our Westward Expansion unit! Our objectives were:
- Students will be able to explain why Daniel Boone was important to the settling of the west
- students will listen to a read aloud then discuss as a class the importance of Sacagawea to the Corps of Discovery
- Students will locate, label, and trace Lewis and Clark’s route to and from the Pacific on a map
- Students will be able to describe Zebulon Pike and his contribution to westward expansion in an oral discussion
Mathematics
This week we continued working with Graphs and Probability. Our objectives were:
- Read and plot points on a coordinate grid
- graph an equation
- list and count all possible combinations
- draw a tree diagram to show all possible combinations
- use multiplication to find the number of combinations
English Spelling
This week we began a new 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 words from other countries.