Vocabulary: The vocabulary strategy for this week is to relate words. There will be a test on this skills and the other vocabulary from Unit 5, on Friday.
Spelling: This week we will be working on words with r-Controlled Vowels. There will be a test on Friday over the spelling words. The words are: bleary, chairperson, cheerful, despair, earache, eerie, endear, hearsay, impair, nearby, overhear, peerless, searing, sheer, wearable, oar, or, ore.
Grammar: This week we will be working on possessive nouns and adjectives. There will be a test on Friday over all of the grammar skills from Unit 5. Students are encouraged to study their grammar notebooks each week.
Writing: Students will be writing a magazine article this week. The prompt is: Write a magazine article that explains something about the importance of water. This magazine article is due on Friday, January 23.
Math: We will be working on our Go Math series. We will finish Chapter 8 this week. This chapter is about dividing fractions. We will complete lessons 8.5-Chapter Review. The Chapter 8 Test will be on Thursday. We will begin Chapter 9 on Friday. This chapter will be about patterns a graphing. There will be one page of math homework assigned nightly. Each Friday, students will also take a multiplication timed test. It is very important for students to be fluid with their multiplication facts. Daily practice of multiplication facts is encouraged.
Social Studies: We have started a new unit on The Civil War. To help us learn about the war, we are reading the book Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. Students have been assigned a copy of this historical fiction novel and be answer questions about the book.
Summary of Across Five Aprils: Drawn from family records and from stories told by the author's grandfather, this deeply moving novel conveys the bitterness and drama of the Civil War through the lives of an ordinary family. The story is told through the eyes of young Jethro Creighton, who lives with his closely knit family in a farming community in southern Illinois. In April of 1861, Jethro is nine years old, and too young to understand the meaning of war. By the second April, Jethro has watched his older brothers go off to fight-- two for the North, one for the South. His parents are stricken by grief and suffering as the neighbors take revenge. As the seasons change and the years pass, the family closeness dissolves, one brother is killed, and a cousin deserts the Union Army. By April of 1865, the meaning of war has become all too clear to Jethro. Although still a boy, he is forced to leave his boyhood behind. (From The Civil War: Literature Units, Projects, and Activities by Janet Cassidy)
Science: Student are working on a unit on classifying living things into classes. Students will be working in cooperative groups to make a powerpoint presentation. They are also expected to take notes on the material in their science notebooks. Notebooks will be graded.