I can't say that Mother Nature has been very happy during this new year, but hopefully all of you have! I look forward to hearing all about everyone's breaks tomorrow when we return to the classroom. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and break! Since this is shortened week for us, we will not be in full swing of routine until next week. Here is a look at our week ahead:
* There will be no weekly folders this week.
* STARS lunch was scheduled to be held on Tuesday this week. We will be rescheduling this for the kids and let them know when a new date/time has been set.
* Please have your child bring his/her library books back with him/her. I will be allowing the kids to go down as the week goes on to return and pick up a new book (since we missed our regular library time).
* It's cold and flu season---yuck! We are actually running low on wipes in the classroom. If you have a spare container, can you please send one in? I try to have the kids wipe down their desks at least twice a week during this season. We'll try our best to stay healthy in 2014!
* We will begin our questioning unit in reading. Questions are the heart of teaching and learning. They allow us to seek out information, solve problems, and extend our understanding. Rather than demanding answers all of the time, it is necessary to teach kids to ask thoughtful and insightful questions. The goal is to get the kids to read with a skeptical eye and an inquiring mind. We will begin our practice with using different question stems to ask "thick questions" that help us dig digger into the information and story. We will also practice using different coding techniques when we read to mark up the text and get us talking about new information.
* We will begin our next unit in WEX this week. In this new book, students will write journal entries in response to a work of fiction. Some of the journal prompts allow students to continue writing about themselves, while most of the prompts direct them to write about the text, with a particular emphasis on character. We will use the story, James and the Giant Peach, throughout this unit. This week the kids will work to identify details that introduce the main character and observe actions of the main character of the story.
* Hopefully everyone has practiced those multiplication facts over break! We will return to our math routine tomorrow. We will spend some time reviewing double digit multiplication and problem solving on Wednesday. We will finish up our last lesson in the unit on Thursday which covers large numbers and estimation. Friday we will take a practice test over Unit 5. The goal is to have a final review day on Monday and then take our final test over the unit next Tuesday. There will be a family letter that describes our new unit going home next week. It will cover long division and more complicated multiplication. Even more reason to keep practicing those facts!!!
* We finished up our experiments on static before break. We will review static a bit this week and take a short quiz over the material either Friday or Monday. The students will be given a study guide for the information they will be responsible for. We will then move on to circuit electricity!
* Much of this week will be getting back into a routine again--we have many fun activities during these next couple of weeks! Welcome back and happy new year to all! ~ Mrs. Galazka
