Kicking off 2018!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone enjoyed time with family and friends this holiday season bringing in the New Year.  Every start to a new year makes for the perfect opportunity to reflect on our achievements and set new goals.  This is exactly what the children did.  Going through this process is meaningful for the children as they are learning that they can track and monitor their own progress, by doing this it motivates them to strive higher.  Looking at their growth also allows them to self assess, set another goal, and make a plan to get there. 

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

​In Langauge Arts...

• This week the reading standard addressed was Describe how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text.   Previously in 2nd quarter,  students were taught to identify the main idea of a text or a portion of a text and determine supporting details.  These are prerequisite skills for the standard taught this week.  This week students read a text called Lighting Lives.  The main idea of the text is a lady named Debby Tewa works hard to help native people living without any electricity get solar panels.  The following were some of the details that support this main idea: "Debby drives her truck from place to place.  It is lonely with no one riding along" and "Debby also travels to schools and summer camps to teach Hopi Children about solar energy."  Students needed to describe how these reasons support the main idea.  So students created a T-chart.  On one side students wrote these supporting details and on the other, they described why they thought the author included that specific detail.  

• Our essential question this week was How can people help out their community? Together we read Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter.  Using a similar T-chart, students analyzed specific details the author included and discussed why they support the main idea or point the author wants to make.  The story Biblioburro is a narrative nonfiction text.  This true story is about a school teacher named Luis who once lived in Colombia who wanted to share books with children near and far.  We talked about Benjamin Franklin and how he also wanted to share his books with people who would have otherwise not have had access to them.  These two people in history had a love for books and wanted to share them with people.  Using the text Biblioburro and talking about Benjamin Franklin, students learned about how the idea of a lending library all started.  
• We read a lot about rainforests this week.  Students learned about the following four layers of a rainforest: forest floor, understory, canopy, and emergent layer.  We discovered what it's like in each layer.  The floor is very wet with a lot of dead leaves and insects.  The understory, like the forest floor, is very dark at all times of the day and very hot and humid.  Many bushes and small trees grow here.  In the canopy, taller trees reach high.  This layer is most busy with animals.  Trees here grow very close together, creating an umbrella over the lower layers.  Finally, the emergent layer consist of only a few extremely tall trees that stick far out from the canopy.  Here is is windy and sunny!  Students learned what kind of animals live in each layer.  Students have selected an animal they would like to do further research on.  Students will be creating a rainforest animal multi-paragraph informational writing.  

In math...

• Student used a hundreds chart to subtract numbers, learning that when you move directly up on a hundreds chart, you're subtracting 10 and by moving to the left you're subtracting ones.   
• Students then used a number line to subtract.  They first had to decompose the subtrahend, then jump accordingly.  For example, 57 - 13 = ?  Students start at 57, make a jump of "minus ten" to 47, then another jump of "minus 3" to 44.  This strategy is called the "jumps of ten" strategy.  
• Using a number line, students learned the "jumps to ten" strategy.  For example, 32 - 6 = ?  Students start at 32, make a jump of "minus two" to 30, then another jump of "minus 4" to 26.  After starting off with subtracting one-digit numbers, using this same strategy, students worked on more challenging problems such as 53 - 17 = ? Students could use a combination of the strategies.  Making a jump of "minus ten" first or making a jump of "minus 3" to 50.  Student could decide how they want to decompose the number. 

In science...

• To prepare for our design and building of our seed disperser, students explored properties of matter, which will give them the background knowledge to chose materials that will help them design a functioning machine.  Students learned the 3 forms of matter- solid, liquid, and gas.  Using various kitchen utensils made from different materials such as wood, plastic and metal, students tested the objects' hardness, strength, and flexibility.  As a result, students learned that plastic is the most flexible of the materials, metal is the hardest, and wood is the softest.  

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS​

• Progress portfolios, evidence binders and report cards with iReady scores will be going home with your child on Wednesday 1/17.  Please be sure to check for these things in your child's backpack on that day.  You may take a few days or a week or so to review the binders.  Please return them with everything intact.  Please sign and return the report card envelop on Thursday 1/18 and keep the report card and iReady report at home.  
• Please check your child's homework folder for their selected rainforest animal.  I would like you to research together with your child some information about their animal.  Ideally, it would be best to have more than one resource- a children's book and a printout from a credible online site.  Please have your child bring these resources to school by Wednesday.  
• No School on Monday- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Please note that oral fluency now has a comprehension component located on the back of the paper.  This portion is due on Fridays.