Reading: We are continuing to read nonfiction texts that focus on our Social Studies’ Exploration unit. Students are working to determine main ideas and details in more complicated texts where the information is not as explicit or obvious. In determining main ideas within texts, students are learning that a text can have multiple main ideas, each having their own supporting details.
Looking ahead, we will begin fantasy book clubs within the next two weeks!
Writing: Students have just completed their Lens of History articles on various aspects of the Aztec, Inca, or Maya civilizations. Topics include Mayan Artwork, Aztec Food & Diet, and Incan Agriculture. Our writers have spent a great amount of time emphasizing revision work in this unit. Key areas of revision include referencing a source and giving credit, filling in holes in our information through use of the library databases, organizing paragraphs in a purposeful way (chronological, cause and effect, etc.), and hooking readers with an exciting introduction.
Today, we began discussing the question “What makes a literary essay?” as this is our next unit of writing. Students worked with a writing partner to read and annotate the published literary essays of other students in order to gain a better understanding of what is expected in this unit and how literary essays can relate to opinion essays. A few similarities between literary essays and opinion essays include: hook, claims, evidence to support, body paragraphs.
Math: Last week, we began a new math unit titled "Best Buys, Ratios, and Rates," and it allows students to solve real world problems through an inquiry-based approach. The students work in partnerships or groups of 3 to solve problems based on fictional pet store prices using whichever strategies they see fit. Afterwards, students share out and discuss their chosen strategies, allowing classmates to learn new methods and approaches from one another. Strategies we have found to be successful are: repeated addition, doubling, using a money model or clock model when thinking of fractions, and ratio tables. It is safe to say many students are enjoying the different structure of this unit!
Science/Social Studies: Our weather unit has come to an end and students have continued their learning of the Social Studies’ Exploration unit through our informational writing unit: Lens of History with a focus on the ancient civilizations of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya. This learning progression continues on in our nonfiction reading unit during which students have been reading about the four main items of trade in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia: silk, salt, spices, and fur. Students have been reading, writing, and discussing why people explored during this time (to discover new land, trade, and gain wealth), what kinds of goods and ideas were exchanged (number system, religions such as Christianity and Buddhism, tools, skills such as hunting and farming, etc.), and how civilizations were effected by exploration (native skills and traditions lost, cultures changed, disease spread, religions spread, etc.)
Looking ahead, we will begin fantasy book clubs within the next two weeks!
Writing: Students have just completed their Lens of History articles on various aspects of the Aztec, Inca, or Maya civilizations. Topics include Mayan Artwork, Aztec Food & Diet, and Incan Agriculture. Our writers have spent a great amount of time emphasizing revision work in this unit. Key areas of revision include referencing a source and giving credit, filling in holes in our information through use of the library databases, organizing paragraphs in a purposeful way (chronological, cause and effect, etc.), and hooking readers with an exciting introduction.
Today, we began discussing the question “What makes a literary essay?” as this is our next unit of writing. Students worked with a writing partner to read and annotate the published literary essays of other students in order to gain a better understanding of what is expected in this unit and how literary essays can relate to opinion essays. A few similarities between literary essays and opinion essays include: hook, claims, evidence to support, body paragraphs.
Math: Last week, we began a new math unit titled "Best Buys, Ratios, and Rates," and it allows students to solve real world problems through an inquiry-based approach. The students work in partnerships or groups of 3 to solve problems based on fictional pet store prices using whichever strategies they see fit. Afterwards, students share out and discuss their chosen strategies, allowing classmates to learn new methods and approaches from one another. Strategies we have found to be successful are: repeated addition, doubling, using a money model or clock model when thinking of fractions, and ratio tables. It is safe to say many students are enjoying the different structure of this unit!
Science/Social Studies: Our weather unit has come to an end and students have continued their learning of the Social Studies’ Exploration unit through our informational writing unit: Lens of History with a focus on the ancient civilizations of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya. This learning progression continues on in our nonfiction reading unit during which students have been reading about the four main items of trade in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia: silk, salt, spices, and fur. Students have been reading, writing, and discussing why people explored during this time (to discover new land, trade, and gain wealth), what kinds of goods and ideas were exchanged (number system, religions such as Christianity and Buddhism, tools, skills such as hunting and farming, etc.), and how civilizations were effected by exploration (native skills and traditions lost, cultures changed, disease spread, religions spread, etc.)