September: Dress as your favorite movie/movie character. Fun!
La Lectura
We read a great story, Niña ángel, niña dragón. This was a realistic fiction piece about a girls who’s family immigrated to the United States but she didn’t speak English. This story told of how the girl adapted to her school and how once she started sharing about her family, the other students welcomed her and even helped her family.
Our learning objectives this week were to:
work with the diphthongs: ie and ei
work with cause and effect
identify closed and open syllables
identify pronouns and when we use them
Students received their second reader of the year. They read with classmates and worked to identify pronouns within their two readers.
Looking for subject pronouns in our readers.
We will have a spelling test on our new words (received Thursday) on Friday, September 27th.
Las matemáticas
The kiddos did such an amazing job completing their math packets, working in stations, and completing their first test of the school year. They took their test on Thursday and the entire class did an excellent job! Next up: Mental Math!!
We reintroduced Prodigy during our station time on Friday. All students should have brought home a parent letter (on yellow paper) to remind the family how to login to student accounts. Students also have their login information inside the front cover of their planner.
We will:
rely heavily on composing and decomposing numbers (with number bonds)
take weekly multiplication tests
use prodigy to reinforce skills (during a twice weekly math stations)
This week students were asked to look at their previously created list of possible ideas and choose one. We talked about thick and thin questions and how ideas that required thicker questions would be better to research. Students then chose their topic/idea, formulated their main question, and received teacher approval. (We are learning the step-by-step process involved in research!) Formulating their questions was really great because it made them really think about their purpose and even reconsider their topic.
Science
This week we learned to:
Identify the Andromeda Galaxy as the closest spiral galaxy in our universe
Describe gravity
Describe the effects gravity has on Earth, within the solar system, and the universe
Describe the characteristics of stars
Compare and contrast our sun and other stars
Describe a galaxy as a very large cluster of many stars
Identify the Milky Way as our galaxy and Andromeda as the closest spiral galaxy in our universe
Explain what constellations are and how useful they are
Recognize and name important constellations in the hemisphere in which you live.
Our English spelling lists for the test on October 4th.
Labeling our large World map. We will be working on this for several weeks, adding to it daily.
History & Geography
Our objectives this week were to:
Describe the mouth and source of a river
Refer to a map and identify the location of the Murray River
List at least two ways people use the Murray River
Understand the meaning of : drainage basin, orchard, vineyard and pasture
Friday, September 20th: Dress as (or with) something from your favorite movie.
La Lectura
Place value with Ms. Laura.
This week the students received their first reader of the year. We will be using the readers to continue our fluency goals. We will also use the readers to point out spelling and grammar points of interest. Our learning objectives this week were:
Dipthongs ue and eu
Distinguish between proper and common nouns
Identify purposes of writing
Understand the difference between a biography and an autobiography
Write a list of important facts for their own autobiography
Understand the use of pronouns
This week we also began our first Genius Hour. We will spend one hour each week where the students research a specific topic of their own interest. They will complete a lap book, walking through the research process, and end with a class presentation to share their new knowledge. A big Thank YOU to Ms. Laura for helping with Genius Hour! (And helping with math stations!!)
Las matemáticas
Using digits to show greater than and less than. (Mayor que y menor que).
This week we continued our study of numbers up to 10,000. Our learning objectives this week were to:
Use base-ten blocks to compare and order numbers.
Use place value to compare and order numbers. (Greater than > and less than <)
Read, write, and represent numbers to 10,000 in standard form, expanded form, and word form.
Science
Our learning objectives this week were to:
Identify the sun as a constant source of heat and light energy
Classify the sun as a star
Identify our planet Earth as the third planet from the sun and ideally suited for life
Describe the eight planets of our solar system and their sequence from the sun
Identify our solar system as the sun and all of the smaller bodies that orbit it
Describe the characteristics of a planet
Explain that Pluto has been reclassified as a dwarf planet
Describe the asteroid belt
History & Geography
We learned to:
Measure straight-line distances on a map scale
Use the maps in the atlas of the Student Reader to find geographic information
Describe two ways that rivers bring life to farms and cities
Compare the Nile and Yellow River
Understand the meaning of the following domain-specific vocabulary: river, riverbank, source, irrigation, silt, and flow.
Character Education
This month in Character Education we are focusing on Kindness. We have done a few hands-on lessons with cotton balls, sandpaper, a tub of water with rocks/leaves/feathers/pinecones. Our objectives for the lessons were:
What makes a good friend?
Words, tone, and facial expressions can affect our message to our friends.
Cotton ball words/tone/facial expressions are received as kind. (Please, Thank you, May I help you? Good job!)
Sand paper words/tone/facial expression are not kind.
Each Kindness by Jaqueline Woodson – to show how each small act of kindness has a ripple effect.
Compliment circles- practice giving and receiving compliments (say thank you!)
We jumped right into the new school year with our friendship unit / la amistad. Our learning objectives this week were to:
make connections, summarize, and predict while reading Gloria, quien podría ser mi mejor amiga.
create vocabulary notebooks and strategies
spelling words with s (Spelling tests will be on Fridays.)
cursive letters: i and t
writing: planning stage- listing ideas
Place value!
Las matemáticas
This year, we will focus on:
building problem-solving skills and strategies
using models to solve real-world problems involving the four operations
making and interpreting data from bar graphs
identifying fractions of a set
finding angles and identifying lines
understanding area and perimeter of figures
Our first unit of study is Numbers to 10,000. Some of the skills your child will practice are:
counting, reading, and writing numbers to 10,000
reading and writing numbers in different ways
comparing and ordering numbers
Friday is “Movie Popcorn” snack day! Palomitas!
Science
What a great first week we had! We celebrated two birthdays: Andres and Evelyn D. We spent a lot of time doing back to school activities and discussing classroom and student routines, procedures and expectations to help make this school year be as successful as possible.
In addition to all of our back to school activities, we also started our unit on astronomy. Our objectives this week were to:
Identify the sun as a constant source of heat and light energy
Classify the sun as a star
Identify our planet Earth as the third planet from the sun
Demonstrate how day and night on Earth are caused by Earth´s rotation
Explain the reasons for the seasons
Describe the characteristics of a planet
Describe stars as hot, distant, and made of gas
I have really enjoyed getting to know this awesome class! I am looking forward to a fabulous school year!
This week the class finished their immigrant reports and locate places on our maps where their families came from and immigrated to. If you have a minute, check out their hard work on our Immigration bulletin board. The class had fun celebrating the end of this unit with a potluck. Thanks to everyone for contributing food, it was fantastic and the student’s shared information about their special dish and some of their families’ immigrant stories while they enjoyed devouring their cuisine. This week we continued to work on our Civil Rights unit, learning about people like Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ruby Bridges, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr. On Friday the class listened to King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• understand the challenges Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt faced and how they helped people
• recognize Jackie Robinson’s role in the integration of baseball
• identify Ruby Bridge and Rosa Park’s famous acts
• understand what a bus boycott is
• recognize different ways the United States was segregated
• identify Martin Luther King Jr. And understand the importance of non-violence to King
• recognize King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
Science
This week in our Simple Machines continued to learn about complex machines. We read the biography of Elijah McCoy, an African American inventor who reduced friction on trains by inventing a lubrication device that allowed the trains to move much more rapidly.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• Explain that simple machines can be combined together to make a complex machine
• Examine and name the types of simple machines that are found in a complex machine
• Recall Elijah McCoy’s life and contributions
English Spelling and Writing
King for a day, A reading rock star!
We learned the idiom of the week “It knocked her socks off” and wrote about it in their journals. The class worked on spelling assignments and took their last final spelling test on Friday. We reviewed difficult word wall words this week. Students will be assessed on these next week.
La lectura
This week we continued to discuss immigration. We read Bagels con Jalapenos. Our objectives were:
review asking question before during and after our first read
review making connections during our second week
describe our heritage in Spanish based off of the English papers that were written
discuss how our potluck connects to the International Day that was mention in the story
complete our end of the year high-frequency word assessment.
Las matemáticas
This week we continued to review math concepts from the year by playing Math Olympics. This week we reviewed:
place value
rounding
placing numbers in ascending and descending order
using less than and more than symbols
Students will be bringing home a year in review packet to keep their math skills sharp this summer! If students bring it back on the first day of school they will receive a special prize!
This week the class took their Immigrant assessment on Tuesday and began writing their Immigrant reports from the information that they gathered during their family interviews. The stories they have collected from their families have been absolutely wonderful! We will celebrate our combined Spanish and English immigration studies with a potluck next Friday at 11:40.
We also started our last unit on Civil Rights this week.The students are working on reading several books about the Women’s suffrage movement, Martin Luther King, and Ruby Bridges.
Working hard on our Immigration reports
Our weekly objectives were to:
• Understand the rights of citizens
• Learn how immigrants can become citizens
• Understand the metaphors of the “melting pot” and the “mosaic”
• Identify Susan B. Anthony as a civil rights leader devoted to woman suffrage.
• Understand why Anthony’s trial was unfair
• Recognize it often takes a time to succeed.
• Understand the challenges Mary Mcleod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt faced.
• Explain how Mary Mcleod Bethune worked in education to help others.
• Explain Eleanor Roosevelt’s way of helping others.
Last birthdays of the school year!
Science
This week in our Simple Machines we finished pulleys and learned about complex machines and reviewed what we’ve learned so far.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• Explain that a pulley is a simple machine that is used for lifting heavy objects or moving objects up and down or side-to-side
• Explain that simple machines can be combined together to make a complex machine
• Examine and name the types of simple machines that are found in a complex machine
English Spelling and Writing
We learned the idiom of the week “She had to eat her words” . The class got their last spelling sort and took their practice test on Friday . Our Word Wall words were: truck, into, drink, bug,
Green Sort
La lectura
This week we read Nueva Esperanza. Our objectives were:
•begin our final unit Our Country and It’s People
•when reading the first time focus on asking questions before, during, and after reading
•when reading the second time focus on making inferences
•review the three types of sentences: exclamatory, interrogative, and declarative
Las matemáticas
This week we continued with our end of the year Math Olympics! Our objectives were:
•review how to write numbers in word and standard form
•review place value by adding/ subtracting 1, 10, or 100 from a 3-digit number
•review 3-digit addition and subtraction
Specialists
Music with Ms. Erin
In May we listened to pieces by Bach, Mozart, and Mendelssohn, and learned about the lives of these composers. We learned and sang Goodbye Old Paint, Follow the Drinking Gourd, The Erie Canal, and students shared songs they’ve learned with each other.
In June we will be completing this year’s focus on Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons by listening to the three movements from Summer, as well as reading the sonnets written for each movement.
We will also be working hard to prepare the song chosen by the class for the End of Year performance at Field Day!
Thank you everyone who was able to make it to our Civil War puppet shows. The groups did a great job and learned so much. On Thursday I also handed out the immigration interviews information packets. We listened to an interview in class on Friday, and each child should complete their own interview at home. These are due on Monday. We learned about contributions made by immigrants this week. We enjoyed music by Irving Berlin and watched old movie clips of people arriving on Ellis Island and listened to a very emotional interview of a Polish immigrant remembering what it was like when he arrived in the United States, and his impression of seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• understand where immigrants settled
• recognize resistance to immigrants and discrimination
• recognize contributions of immigrants in building the Transcontinental Railroad
• identify Andrew Carnegie, Albert Sabin, and Irving Berlin
• describe the contributions made by these three men
Science
This week in our Simple Machines we continued to learn about axles and gears and began to learn about pulleys. We worked in our Simple Machine journals and watched a short video about pulleys.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• explain that a pulley is a simple machine that is used for lifting heavy objects or moving objects up and down or side to side
English Spelling and Writing
In our journals we used the idiom of the week “It cost an arm and a leg” . The class worked on their two spelling assignments and took their final spelling test on Friday . Our Word Wall words were: sports, snap
La lectura
This week we finished reading La maceta vacia. Our objectives were:
Reread the story, write a summary about a section of the story. Work together to put our sections in order based off the summary
Review combing sentences using and
Discuss when to use a colon in writing (a list, time, after for example))
Wrote I am brave stories to finish our unit
Las matemáticas
This week we continued learning about time. Our objectives were:
Review saying the time using words (half past, fifteen until, ect
Discuss when to use a.m. vs p.m.
Find elapsed time in hour and half an hour increments
Specialists
Art With Ms. Kelly
I want to say a special THANK YOU to Stasia Cook (Alora’s mom) who helped out in ALL the classes on May 8th so that the students could complete their special Mother’s Day flower/hand collages.
Eric Carle Animals
We reviewed this wonderful author/illustrator and the students used leftover painted paper from Mothers Day art to make their own very creative Painted Paper Animals, along with the background or setting.
3-D fish
The students learned how to fold and cut card stock to make a 3-D fish. They decorated these colorful fish with dot stickers.
Butterflies and Beetles
We looked at the shapes and patterns in butterfly photos, and the students learned how to use basic shapes to draw butterflies using oil pastels. Then they added watercolor to create a resist. We also looked at photos of Scarab Beetles, and the students used the same technique to create their own beautiful beetle.
Color Wheel Flowers: We reviewed the Color Wheel and made beautiful multi-colored sunflowers from a variety of papers.
In June we’ll make summer-themed art as we look forward to summer vacation!
Character Education with Ms. Jennie
Character Ed with Ms. Jennie
The 4th Annual Bake Sale was a huge success! We raised $470!! Thank you so much to all of you who donated baked goods and to everyone who showed up and bought something. And a very special thank you to Jorge for baking and donating the delicious bread – always a huge hit! All the kids did a great job in planning, setting up, making signs, and running the event. The 3rd/4th grade class had their first chance to be behind the cash registers this year and so a special thank you to Eli, Kate, Ramon, Pierce, Marisol, and Miria, as well as Rafa and Jack from 5/6, for handling people’s money. And thank you for the girls who stayed afterwards to clean up and count the cash (Mariela, Naomi, Emilie, Marisol, Kate). The money will be donated to Ryan’s Well Foundation and go towards water projects in Africa!
Poetry Partyin Character Ed next week. Remember to bring in a copy of a favorite poem, an inspirational quote, or a poem you have written to class. Please try and have it on an 8.5×11 sheet of paper so we can compile all of them into a school book. This is going to be fun day of celebration and sharing.
This week we began our next unit on Immigration and Citizenship. Read about why people immigrated to the United States during the 1800’s and early 1900’s, what the process was like and what they experienced when they arrived. Next week please join us on Thursday at 3:00 for 4 short puppet shows written and performed by our class. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• understand why Europeans immigrated to the United States
• identify four events in Europe that spurred immigration
• recognize ads and letters that encouraged immigration
• understand how hard it was to get to the United States
• recognize the Statue of Liberty and its importance as a symbol
• identify Ellis Island as a historic site and symbol of the immigrant experience
• understand where immigrants settled
• recognize resistance to immigrants and discrimination
• recognize contribution of immigrants in building the trans Continental railroad
Science
This week in our Simple Machine domain we finished levers and began to learn about wheel and axles and gears. We worked in our Simple Machine journals and watched a short video about wheel and axles. We did a demonstration with wheels as well.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• the student will identify what a wheel and axle is and that it helps us apply more force or lift a heavy load with less effortt
• observe and record what happens when a wheel and axle is used to move an object
• examine different gears and the movements of the gears against each other
English Spelling and Writing
In our journals we used the idiom of the week “She is afraid of her own shadow” . The class got their new spelling sorts and took their practice test on Friday . Our Word Wall words were: writing, won’t, tell
La lectura
This week we read La maceta vacía. Our objectives were:
review last week’s story and how it connects to our theme of Courage
word knowledge review: words with k, diphthongs, and verbs with inflexions
listen to the story being read the first time through stopping to focus on making predictions
PUF words will be the same next week! poco, muchos, jueves, domingo, o, buena, todos, llama
Las matemáticas
This week we began reviewing telling time. Our objectives were:
review spanish time vocabulary: minutero, horario, después, en punto, y medio
review telling time to the nearest 5 minutes
practice telling time from an analog clock and showing the time on an analog clock
We had such a fun Family Day this Thursday! Thank you so much for coming and celebrating with us.
This week in our unit on the Civil War we finished reading about the war and took a look at women’s roles during this time. We took our assessment on Thursday. The class also broke up into groups and wrote a short skit about key events and people during the war. They each made a puppet for their character and worked on acting out their skit. On Friday Maria´s Father read us a story about two soldiers in the Civil War, and one had shaken the hand of Abraham Lincoln. He then shared with the class a box of his Great Great Grandfather that was made from a table that Lincoln had once eaten at.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• describe the end of the Civil War
• understand what women did during the Civil War
• identify Clara Barton
• recognize Barton’s role as the “angel of the battlefield” in the Civil War
Group work can be challenging and fun
Writing a script
English Spelling and Writing
In our journals we used the idiom of the week “Its a piece of cake” . The class did two spelling assignments and took their final spelling test on Friday . Our Word Wall words were: were, was, write, wrong
La lectura
This week we read Dragones y gigantes. Our objectives were:
look over frequently misspelled words and discuss why they might be misspelled
focus on the reading comprehension skill making connections during our first read
focus on the reading comprehension strategy sequencing during our second read
we also listened to our second read on CD this week and compared/contrasted with Ms.Ivary’s read alouds
PUF words for next week: poco, muchos, jueves, domingo, o, buena, todos, llama
Las matemáticas
This week we reviewed adding and subtracting with 3-digit numbers and we began rounding numbers. Our objectives were:
use a number line to round numbers to the nearest ten
This week in our unit on the Civil War the class read the book Just a Few Word, Mr. Lincoln, the story of the Gettysburg Address. On Tuesday the class performed the Harriet Tubman poem for the 3/4 class. We began work on a Civil War timeline and illustrated an event from Lincoln’s life.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• understand the importance of the Gettysburg Address and what led up to the president’s speech
• compare and contrast General Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant
• explain the roles of Lee and Grant in the Civil War
• describe the end of the Civil War
• describe the assassination of President Lincoln
Science
This week in our Simple Machine domain we continued to learn about levers. We explored using different types of levers; which included how many dictionaries does it take to lift a student. We had fun creating catapults and flinging marshmallows. We also worked in our Simple Machine journals and watched a short video about levers.
Catapults and marshmallows!
Our weekly objectives were to:
• label the parts of a lever
• explain how a lever operates
• explain how moving the fulcrum of a lever can change the effort needed to lift a load
• record results of the movement on a lever and fulcrum
English Spelling and Writing
In our journals we used the idiom of the week ” He is green with envy” . The class got their new sorts and took their practice spelling test on Friday . Our Word Wall words were: what, who, where, why
Green sort words for next week
Blue sort words for next week
La lectura
This week we read Molly la valiente y yo. Our objectives were:
read the first half of the story focusing on the comprehension strategy making connections and predictions
read the second half of the story and review the comprehension skill point of view
practice reading words with the letter b
review synonyms
review capital in proper nouns with the French Fry Game!
Las matemáticas
This week we finished our chapter on Shapes and Patterns. Our objectives were:
identifying three types of patterns (color, type, and turns) with 2D and 3D shapes
This week we read Nueva Esperanza. Our objectives were:
t
