Week of 9/12/16

Highlights for the Week of 9/12/2016
in Mrs. Bell's Classroom

Spelling -  Unit 3 
This week's spelling/vocabulary list will include words with the sounds "ou", "aw", "au" and "ow". We will study the word pattern and review antonyms as they are related to the vocabulary words.  The final TEST is scheduled for Friday, 9/16.

English - What is a Sentence?
Mr. Morton has come to town! Subjects and predicates are the next topic as we continue our study of the sentence. The Tale of Mr. Morton is a Schoolhouse Rock song that helps students to understand the concept of subject and predicate. Looks like it's time to warm up our opera voices! 

Students will also complete a small project called "Snapshot Sentences" in which they will write four sentences to describe a photograph that they bring to school. The four sentences will represent the four different sentence types. The photo is due on 9/13. Please do not send any family heirlooms for this project - they will be cut and glued!

Reading - Close Reading- "Casey at the Bat"

We will continue our close read of Casey at the Bat with a look at using context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words and author's perspective. We will also do a text to text comparison of the Casey poem with the picture book Mighty Jackie The Strikeout Queen.

Social Studies  - The Beautiful Northeast
Our focus this week will be the resources of the Northeast and how the Atlantic Ocean contributes to the economy of the region. Students will learn about crab pots and overfishing. The chapter 4 TEST is tentatively scheduled for 9/20. Look for a study guide to come home on Wednesday. 

Mrs. Bell's Math Class - Unit 1 - Expressions, Equations & Volume
Uniting pricing and multiples are this week's topics. Students will independently complete an in class WORK SAMPLE for a grade on Monday. The Work sample will assess their knowledge of how to find volume and surface area. On Friday, students will take their second CHECKPOINT which will assess their skills in multiplication strategies and in finding the volume of rectangular prisms.

Students presented posters that they created after exploring how many ways they could create a box with a volume of 24. Creativity and learning were key as we reviewed  the Commutative and Associative properties of multiplication:

 

The game of SPLAT was a big hit in our math classroom. Students worked on fluency in multiplication and addition/subtraction of larger numbers as they played this game with partners...

FYI... 

We have some BUCKET FILLERS in our classroom. After reading the book How Full is Your Bucket? our classroom family discussed how each one of us has an invisible bucket. When our bucket is full, we feel happy and content. Buckets are filled when others are kind to us and when we are kind to them. Buckets are emptied when we are upset, bullied or unkind. Students will recognize classmates that fill their buckets by writing a bucket slip and leaving it in the friend's bucket on the bulletin board. This is a year-long activity. Ask your child if he/she has been a bucket filler or a bucket dipper!

Enjoy the weekend!

Mrs. Karen Bell