Dear Families,
Thank you so very much for all the thoughtful and loving expressions of appreciation, this week and very day!! I could not tell you enough how fortunate I feel to be a part of your kids lives and our amazing SWS community! I absolutely love my job!
Literature Circle
This week we continued with our weekly literacy routines: spelling and word work, grammar, syntax, usage and mechanics of the Spanish language in context. The main focus, however, was on our literary studies. We are having so much fun reading our book Beisbol en abril. This book is a compilation of short stories that narrate the everyday life adventures of kids in school. Some of the themes present in the stories include: friendship, challenges, success, self-confidence, family, among others. Everyday, we spend time reading the stories, analyzing the literary elements, and sharing our personal connections and opinions about the stories. Students are applying all their understanding during literary studies writing their own short stories. We cant wait to publish them!
Science
Focus Question: How can you determine the amount of citric acid needed to saturate 50 ml of water?
This week in science, we continued to explore the concept of saturation. We introduced a new type of solid: citric acid. Citric acid is found naturally in many types of citric foods. Students made a saturated citric-acid solution. We compared and contrasted the solubility of citric acid to last week’s investigation (salt solution). It was very interesting to observe the differences.
- Solubility is the property that substances have of dissolving in solvents. Solubility is different for different materials and can change with temperature and different solvents.
Dear families, this week students were given a rubric that explains the expectations for the end of the year science project. Students can choose an area of interest during this year’s science studies and present it to the class. This is an oral presentation only, but they are encouraged to bring a visual to illustrate their project (poster, power point, materials used, plants, observation tray, pictures, etc). Students can come up with their own idea or choose one from the ideas that have been given in class. For this project, and just like we have done in science class (please refer back to previous newsletter for guidance), students need to:
- Come up with a focus question.
- Make a prediction of what the outcome could be.
- Design and explain the steps that will allow them to carry on the investigation.
- Explain the results and answer the question.
Thank you so much to Barb and Russ Wegner for coming into our class to do a presentation this week. What a wonderful opportunity for us to learn from such knowledgeable and experienced master gardeners!
Save the date!!!!! Our class has been planning a “School Camping Day”. This will be a day where we will spend the full school day outside doing camping themed activities. We have scheduled this activity for Friday, June 1st. Please stay tuned to find out more about this fun activity next week!
History and Geography
Reading the Gettysburg Address!
This week we continued studying the Civil War. Our objectives were:
- I can read and analyze different perspectives on the Civil War
- I can analyze how early Civil War events led to Lincoln giving the Emancipation Proclamation
- I can analyze and understand the Gettysburg Address
- I can read an article about Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and answer comprehension questions about the text
Mathematics
A big thank you to everyone for making this week extra special!
This week we continued working with Properties of Triangles. Our objectives were:
- Understand that the sum of the length of any two sides of a triangle is greater than the length of the third side
- Understand and apply the properties of parallelogram, rhombus, and trapezoid
English Spelling
Working on vocabulary!
This week we finished our rotation and began a new one. Our rotation days were:
- Blind Sort Test: Students tested each other on their spelling using the Blind Sort method
- 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 collective nouns. We added gaggle and troop to our word wall