La Lectura

!Celebrado la lectura! This week we celebrated our love for reading (and writing;) by sharing with the class our book reviews. Make sure you ask your child to show you the great pieces they, and their classmates, wrote produced. We have all added some great titles to our reading lists! This week we also continued learning about the life of one of the greatest Latin American writers, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Since our genre studies focus was biographies, we read about his upbringing and experiences that inspired him to become one of the greatest of Spanish literature. Other objectives included:

• Pose and respond to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic, text, or issue under discussion.
• Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
• Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
• Apply a variety of comprehension and thinking skills while unpacking information from the text (this week’s focus: cause and effect situations)
• Review key characteristics of our genre studies for this week: Biographies.
• With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed: final copy, publishing and sharing.

 

Ciencias

• Explain how adaptations help organisms survive in an environment.
• Describe how population can change over time in response to environmental factors.

Mathematics

This week we wrapped up our unit on algebraic expressions. Our objectives were:

•create and solve expressions from real world problems

•review for the chapter test by completing a classroom Brain Work question

•show what you know on the chapter test

History & Geography

This week we continued learning about the French Revolution. Our objectives were:

•Identify Marie Antoinette and describe her effect on the French people.

•Explain the meaning behind the legendary saying, “then let them eat cake.”

•Describe what happened at the 1789 meeting of the Estates-General.

•Understand Louis XVI’s role in the meeting.

•Understand how the National Assembly came into existence.

Reminder that our field trip to the Pendleton Mill is Thursday February 7th! We will be meeting there at 9 am.

English Writing & Spelling

This week we studied the Greek and Latin roots onym, host, hosp. All these roots have something to do with people!

We also worked on building a conclusion in our argumentative writing.

Specialists

Music with Ms. Erin

In January we learned the Italian terms for tempos from grave (very, very slow), to prestissimo (extremely fast). We practiced rhythm reading by clapping written rhythm patterns to these tempos. We learned about musical form, adding introduction, interlude, and coda to our knowledge base of verse, chorus (refrain), and bridge. We also started learning about Harlem Renaissance music.

In February we will be working on reading notation in the treble and bass clefs, and introducing the skill of sight singing. We will identify, write, read, sing, and play music from written notation using a variety of musical styles. We will learn about jazz, continuing our study of the Harlem Renaissance, by using lead sheets and singing popular jazz songs.

 

Art with Ms. Kelly

We worked on 2 projects in January:

Art Project: Cakes in the style of Wayne Thiebaud

Book and Website: Artwork by Wayne Thiebaud

Goals:

• Learn about the artist, Wayne Thiebaud (who is still painting at age 98!)
• Observe light and dark shapes, and shadows
• Draw a cylinder with a wedge cut out
• Use oil pastels to create shading and shadows

I’m sure you’ve enjoyed these beautiful cakes on the bulletin board at school!

Art Project: Figures in the style of Jacob Lawrence

Books: Jake Makes a World by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitt,

Story Painter: The Life of Jacob Lawrence

Goals:

• Learn about Jacob Lawrence, an African American artist
• (who grew up in Harlem but moved to Seattle and taught art at University of Washington)
• Use basic shapes to draw students at the blackboard
• Use tempera paint for the background and figures in your artwork

These awesome pictures are on the bulletin board at the end of the hallway!