Week of 1.3 - 1.7

Welcome Back!

Some say the week flew by, others say it was epic.  Either way, it was a good first week back.  We began a few new units, did some benchmark testing, and brushed up on some school and classroom expectations.  Our Hubbard Street partnership started today.  Two dancers from HSDC will visit our room on Friday afternoons for the next ten weeks to teach us about dance and choreography.  Our studies of movement are planned to echo the themes of our current Open Court Unit "Heritage."  We'll look at the way dance styles and traditions have been passed down, honored and altered through time.

By the end of the day today, the kids had information overload.  I'll be glad to see them recharged on Monday!

Reading:  We finished A Christmas Carol!  We've done some fun and interesting activities in response to the book, including journaling from a character's point of view, writing various forms of poetry, creating character profiles and drawing story boards.  Their final assignment will piggy back on the work they've already done; it is similar to the one we did for "The View from Saturday."  The kids have a choice for which project they create.  They'll have class time and 'check in assignments' to help keep them on track.  They may also need to work on it at home, depending on how much they complete in class.  It will be due next Friday. 

We began our next unit in Open Court.  The theme is "Heritage."  In this unit, all of the 4/5's will explore their their own heritage and create a project.  More information to come!

Writing:  We used our two major writing blocks this week to explain and start the A Christmas Carol projects.  Already I've seen some great creativity!  I'm very excited for the outcome.

Science:  Next week we'll begin our next unit:  "Variables."  It is entirely lab-based and sure to be an adventure.  More to come on this as well! 

Math:  Unit 5 is underway.  We've learned about the extended multiplication rule (5 * 6 = 30, so 50 * 6 = 300 and 500 * 600 = 300,000).  We're working through estimation, too. The kids just learned the first of three methods for multiplication through a game called 'Multiplication Wrestling.'  Ask them to play!  Next we'll learn partial sums multiplication and lattice multiplication.  I'll also teach them the 'old school' way that most of us learned.

Miscellaneous:  

• none!

This week's author: Clark

On Monday we had our first day back, and our first day without Logan. Tuesday we had a station rotation review.

Wednesday we had a Dibels reading test. Thursday we finished A Christmas Carol! We did acrostic poems and haikus. Kate Klemchuk (Ms. K's sister) visited on Friday. We also had our first Hubbard Street. We had a great week back!