- We will begin the year with a unit on the human body.
- Students will be learning to identify the functions and parts of the skeletal system and nervous system, as well as the different types of muscles. Students will also learn to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary responses.
- Students will be working in small groups. Each group will be assigned a specific section and then will be responsible for creating a presentation for class to teach them about their section. This will be completed during class time.
Reading
- To begin the year, students will take a reading pretest. This test will be taken in two parts over the course of two days. The test will not count toward students' grades, but will be used for guiding instruction and to form small groups.
- 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 story, My Diary from Here to There by Amanda Irma Perez.
- Comprehension skills for this week are: comprehend character development, preview and predict, and point of view. The test over these skills will be on Wednesday, August 5.
Writing
- To begin the year, students will take a writing pretest. This test will be taken in two parts over the course of two days. The test will not count toward students' grades, but will be used for guiding instruction and to form small groups.
- 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.
- The first writing assignment will be to write a story introduction. This is the prompt: You are a novelist writing about a student's first day at a new school. Write an engaging introduction that presents the character and his situation.
- We will work on this story 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 5.
Spelling
- This week we will be working on spelling words with Short a and using commonly misspelled words correctly.
- The words are: absence, accent, ambassador, anticipate, aspect, bashful, behalf, compassion, diplomatic, financial, reality, tactics, tragedy, transported, vastness, accent, ascent, assent.
- The spelling test will be on Wednesday, August 5.
Grammar
- Students will be working on using complete sentences and using complete and simple subjects and predicates.
- Students are encouraged to take good grammar notes and to review their notes before each test.
- The first grammar test will be on Wednesday, August 5.
Math
- Chapter 1 will focus on place value, multiplication, and expressions.
- We will complete Lessons 1.1-1.5 this week.
- 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: Isabel's Story: From Guatemala to Georgia; Erik's Story: From Sweden to Minnesota; 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.