week of 5/16/16 - 5/20/16

We enjoyed a week with very few interruptions in our learning- a nice change of pace! We are one "wildcat" away from filling up our Ferris wheel- encourage our kiddos to keep up the good work and they'll earn one more class reward this year!

Reading:  We continued reading Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper.  There is a breakthrough in the story when the main character, Melody, receives a talking computer.  Until this point she is unable to communicate other than pointing to a few words on her word board.   The kids are enthralled, bouncing back and forth between putting themselves in Melody's shoes and in the other students' shoes.  We also began our assessment of an informational article called "The First Ferris Wheel."  Ask your child about Melody's computer or about fun facts about the First Ferris Wheel.

Writing:  We're working on our opinion outlines!  The kids are experiencing a little bit of shock as I point out holes in their arguments, partly because I don't usually challenge their ideas in this way, and partly because many of them realize their 'errors.'  It's my favorite writing time of the year- they really grow!  It's not an easy unit, though.  Ask your child to share his/ her topic and the role and format he/ she is using.  Ask them to share the main points of the argument.

Math: This week we went over our decimal fractions test and started our geometry unit.  We have learned about angles (we did some of this before PARCC testing), lines (parallel, rays, segments, etc) and we have finally used the protractors that everyone has waited all year to use!  The class is having a lot of fun with this unit since we are doing a lot of movements with the unit.  Our last math class will be next Friday and we will finish our geometry unit.  Ask your child if they can show a ray, line segment, and line with their arms!

Social Studies:  We have finished our year long unit on studying the regions!  Everyone did a great job on their west/southwest presentation and it was great to learn from them.  We had some interesting discussions about different locations.  At the end of the week we learned about the State of Illinois by doing a fact scavenger hunt around the room.  The students are putting the information into an explain everything presentation on their iPad for the final SS project of the year.  It's fun to learn about the state we live in!  Ask your child what is the official snack food of Illinois.

Science:  Our scientists are studying ecosystems with Mr. Lukehart this trimester.  Ask them about their terrariums.

Miscellaneous Information