- We will begin the year with a unit on the human body.
- Students will be learning about fingerprints.
- Students will begin a inquiry project in which they will explore an area of the body that interests them. They will be able to choose from the following areas: breathing, heartbeat, senses, other human features. Students will then design and implement an experiment to learn about their chosen area. Most of the work for this project will be done during class time, however, students may need to finish some of the project at home. The project is due 8/19/15.
Reading
- Unit 1 is entitled Crossing Between Cultures. Students will be working to answer the question: How can where you are change who you are? This unit will focus on social studies concepts as well so some of the assignments during this unit will count toward students' social studies grades.
- Students will be reading the oral history, I Was Dreaming to Come to America by Veronica Lawlor.
- Comprehension skills for this week are: analyze viewpoints, preview and predict, compare genres, describe viewpoint. The test over these skills will be on Wednesday, August 12.
Writing
- Unit 1 is entitled Crossing Between Cultures. Students will be working to answer the question: How can where you are change who you are? This unit will focus on social studies concepts as well so some of the assignments during this unit will count toward students' social studies grades.
- This week's writing assignment will be to write an expository paragraph. This is the prompt: As part of your school's Celebration of Immigrants Day, you have been asked to share what you know about immigration in the early 1900s. Based on what you have read, write an expository paragraph describing some aspect of what it was like to come to America at that time. You will present your ideas to other students in a discussion forum.
- We will work on this paragraph during class, however, students may need to work on some of the assignment at home. Students will be graded according to the writing rubric posted on the top right column of this page.
- This assignment is due on Wednesday, August 12.
Spelling
- This week we will be working on spelling words with Short o and using commonly misspelled words correctly.
- The words are: accommodate, aristocracy, autonomy, adopted, compromise, correspondence, lofty, modify, occupy, optimistic, policy, prosper, province, scholar, tolerate, air, heir, feat, feet.
- The spelling test will be on Wednesday, August 12.
Grammar
- Students will be working on using clauses and phrases and using complete sentences.
- Students are encouraged to take good grammar notes and to review their notes before each test.
- The grammar test will be on Wednesday, August 12.
Math
- Chapter 1 will focus on place value, multiplication, and expressions.
- We will complete Lessons 1.9-Chapter 1 Review this week.
- The Chapter 1 Test will be on Monday, August 17.
- There will be one page of math homework assigned nightly.
- There are many resources available on ThinkCentral to help students.
- Every Friday, we will be having a multiplication timed test. Students should be practicing their multiplication facts daily.
Small Group Reading
- Students will be placed into leveled small groups based on the results of their reading pretest.
- Students will be reading the following books this week: Famous Immigrants: The 20th Century; Immigrants Today; Journey to America; Flight to Freedom.
- Students will also be completing learning stations during our small group reading time. All of these activities go along with our Unit 1 theme of crossing between cultures. Students will turn in a packet of their work which will also count toward their social studies grades.