Week of 9/14/15

Highlights for the Week of 9/14/15

in Mrs. Bell's Classroom!

Spelling - Long and Short "a" and "e"

The final test for spelling this week will be on Friday, 9/18.This is the first week that we will be using the spelling words from our reading series. Students who score a 90% or above on Monday's pretest will have the opportunity to do challenge work assigned in Google Classroom.  Workbook pages and contract work will also be collected on 9/19. 

Reading - "Casey at the Bat" / Courage Unit

We will finish our close read of Casey at the Bat by completing a text comparison with the story The Mighty Jackie. Students will compare and contrast the literary features of both passages through the use of a Venn diagram. We will also work in partners to complete a small PARCC based assessment for the Casey poem. As a group we will discuss and work on strategies for analyzing and completing the assessment questions. Below are picture of students using their Chromebooks as they dig below the surface of the Casey poem text to discover the meanings of unfamiliar words.

We will also begin the first ELA unit titled, "Courage". Throughout this unit, we will study the different ways that courage can be shown, and answer the big question, "How can one person make a difference?".  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the first courageous figure that we will study. 

English - Introducing Paragraphs
Topic and concluding sentences are the last concepts in this "mini-unit". Students will brainstorm and write paragraphs about how to "fill someone's bucket".

Social Studies - The Beautiful Northeast

The Northeast Map QUIZ is scheduled for Monday, 9/14. We will then focus our attention on the resources of the region. Be sure to ask your child how cranberries are grown...it's an amazing process!

Mrs. Bell's Math Class - Unit 1 - Multiplication & Volume
Our focus in math this week includes: examining the "ten times" strategy, modeling with closed and open arrays, determining surface area, and using partial products to solve multiplication problems.  Below are pictures of students working with Omnifix cubes to problem solve with volume. Their task was to determine all the dimensions for boxes needed to ship 24 baseballs. Be sure to ask your child what they discovered with their partner!

 

 

 

 

FYI...

The Brookfield Zoo field trip is scheduled for Tuesday, 9/22. Please send a 100% disposable lunch to school with your child. We will be outside come rain or shine, so please have him/her dress for the weather!

Another wonderful week!  Happy weekend!

Mrs. Karen Bell