News for Jan 3 - Jan 6

Reminders:

Martin Luther King Jr. Choral Poem presentation Jan 12^th – more info to follow

Students are responsible for bringing library books back to school one week after they are checked out to renew or return

ELA - This week we’ll focus on beginning our ELA state test preparations.  We’ll explore main idea vs. details.  How to use the title of passages as clues of the main idea, authors’ purpose and giving summaries of texts read will be developed too. Distinguishing between theme and main idea will also be revisited.                **We kicked off our first author study of Kate DiCamillo!  She is the author of classics such as Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux

               

This week’s topics:

·         Writing – write a reflection on 2011

·         Café  –  accuracy – skip the tricky word and use context clues and familiar word parts to decode  

·         Vocabulary – circuits, complete circuit, parallel circuit, series circuit

·         Spelling – NO SPELLING THIS WEEK

·          Grammar – review skills taught

Math -  This week we’ll begin chapter 9 – Geometry.  This study will expand students’ basic knowledge of plane and solid figures (2-D and 3-D) to include ideas about polygons, symmetry and congruence.  Please refer to the parent letter that was sent home 1-3-12) specific to math information.

                Students will be taking their first fact test January 10^th.  All students will be tested on addition facts to 20.  If your student passes, next Tuesday they will be taking the subtraction test then eventually multiplication, division and mixed operations.  If your student does not pass, they will continue to practice addition facts until they pass.  Each student will get 3 minutes to answer 60 equations. Remember, the idea of memory is 2-3 second recall, not using strategies to figure answers out!

               

This week’s topics:

·         Two-dimensional figures

·         Three-dimensional figures

·         Solving problems looking for patterns

·         Angles

 Science - In science we’ll learn to use the new vocabulary listed above.  We’ll also learn the symbols that electricians use to illustrate and talk about their work (secret code).  Our lab should be very exciting!  We’ll create a closed circuit and prepare for series and parallel circuit building by reading non-fiction information.