Vocabulary: The vocabulary words for this week are: carnivore, consumer, food chain, herbivore, omnivore, producer, cooperate, essential, partnership, store, transfer. A test will be given on Friday covering these words.
Spelling: We will be working on words with long e, i, and o and commonly misspelled words. The spelling words are: abode, breed, biosphere, behavior, biology, devour, fertilize, parasite, procure, protein, response, species, strife, survive, taper, genus, genius, pray, prey. The spelling test will be on Friday.
Grammar: Students will be working on articles, common nouns, and proper nouns this week. A test will be given on Friday covering these skills.
Writing: This week we will be working on writing an animal story. Students are to write an animal adventure story as if they were the animal. The story should describe a problem that the animal might face. It should also include a turning point and a resolution of the problem. This is due Friday, September 26.
Math: We will be working on our Go Math series. We will begin Chapter 4, which covers multiplying decimals. We will complete lessons 4.1-4.5 this week. There will be one page of math homework assigned nightly, except for Fridays. 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: We will begin a new science unit this week entitled "The Shocking Truth About Electrical Safety". We will be working on the following concepts: Electricity travels in a closed loop called a circuit. Electricity flows easily through conductors, not through insulators. Electricity always takes the easiest path to the ground. Water is an excellent conductor of electricity. Because the human body is mostly water, it is also a good conductor of electricity.