Classroom News - January 6th

Happy New Year! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season! It is great to be back and starting the New Year. We have lots of exciting learning to come in 2012!! Here's what we are up to!!!

Reading Workshop:
Students are learning about the skill of main idea. The main idea tells us about the most important or central thought of a paragraph or larger section of text, which tells the reader what the text is about. Students are becoming crystal clear about the differences between main idea and theme. Ask your child about the differences. They have also been working with a partner reading text at their level and then determining the main idea and supporting details. Independently, students are reading a fiction story and discovering the main idea and supporting details using a graphic organizer. We are also focusing on the skill of fact and opinion. A fact can be proven true or false and an opinion is your own feeling or thought.
Students are reading the play "Grace and the Time Machine" by Mary Hoffman in our reading anthology. Find out more about Mary Hoffman at her website: http://www.maryhoffman.co.uk/ Grace and her friends build a time machine powered by their imaginations. Using the memories of Grace's grandmother and Mrs. Myerson, a neighbor, everyone has fun experiencing far-off places such as Gambia, Trinidad, and Heidelberg. Students will take a vocabulary quiz using the words from this story this TUESDAY, JANUARY 10.

Literature Circles:
Talk to your child about what book they are currently reading for literature circles. Click on the links below to find out more.
Morning Girl by Michael Dorris is the story of a Taino girl and her brother, told in alternating first-person chapters from each of their perspectives. The setting is Hispaniola, near the time of Columbus' first landing. Michael Dorris, who received the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction for this book, has presented a fictionalized recreation of what life may have been like for Taino children before Columbus arrived.


Sees Behind Trees by Michael Dorris is a story is set in 16th century America. Walnut is a young Native American boy who has a problem. He has terrible vision. He just doesn't see as well as the other boys which is a real handicap when he tries to prove himself as an adult. The young men of the village must prove themselves by the accuracy of their arrows. Of course, Walnut is worried that he will not become a man because of his poor eyesight. He practices and learns to rely on his other senses. He does so well during the contest that he is given the name Sees Behind Trees. Because of his ability to see the unseen, he is chosen to accompany Gray Fire in search of the mysterious land of water. Can he really see behind trees or will he fail when all are depending on him? Ask your child to tell you more about this intriguing book.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr

This is the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl stricken with leukemia after the bombing of Hiroshima. While in the hospital, Sadako learns about an ancient Japanese legend and begins folding paper cranes in the hope that when she completes 1,000 cranes, the gods would grant her wish to be well again. There is a statue of Sadako in Hiroshima's Peace Park which to this day is covered with paper cranes made by children from all over the world.
**Reading Logs will start again this Monday. Please make sure your child is reading at least 20 minutes a night. Logs are due every Monday.

Writing Workshop:
After returning from our field trip to the Natural History Museum, students wrote thank you notes to the docent for taking us around and teaching us more about Ohio's Indians. We are starting to learn how to write How to writing pieces. We will discuss how our writing should be organized, using transition words, juicy adjectives, and figurative language. We also finished a personal narrative about a memorable event. The thank you note and personal narrative will be documented in the gradebook for Quarter 2.

Word Study and Grammar:
Cycle 8 word study words came home earlier this week. The skill is el and le. Students have homework and a test this Wednesday, January 11. In grammar our skill is helping verbs. A helping verb always stands in front of a main verb. In this example, the helping verb is can and the main verb is ride: Kate can ride her sister's bicycle. We also discussed the differences between linking verbs and helping verbs. Linking verbs link the subject to something that describes it and helping verbs “help” out the main verb.

Science:
Students did an excellent job on their States of Matter test! This week we started discussing the Changes in Matter. We will focus on the Physical and Chemical changes of matter. Students learned a physical change does not result in a new substance, the appearance only changes. Students were about to discover how we can physically change objects by cutting, coloring, shredding, and carving to name a few. Next week we will discover all about chemical changes. A chemical change is a change that results in a new substance. We will do several labs such a burning, to teach students about chemical changes.

Social Studies:
Students have been working hard on finishing their Ch. 3 projects on the six historic tribes of Ohio. Next week, we will be presenting their projects which they will receive a grade for in gradebook. Also, they are practicing presenting skills of looking up, speaking loudly and clearly, and creating vibrant visuals the audience can see. Additionally, they are answering questions from Ch. 3 that will be entered into gradebook for Quarter 2. Later next week, I will be giving students a study guide for the Ch. 3 test. The test will be given the week of the 18th. This will not go into Quarter 2, but will be one of the first grade for Quarter 3. Finally, we are back on track with OSW. It is going home today and will be due next Friday.

Math:
Students created their own multiplication story problems for a class book. They are busy discovering new ways to multiply double digit numbers using the magic box. If you feel your child needs a practice page on double digit multiplication or a strategy explanation sheet, please let me know. I will be happy to provide them with one for at home. Please check your child’s 5-subject notebook as we have been solving double digit multiplication problems in there. Our next unit will be division. We will be exploring using pictures and the side-bar division method to help us solve challenging problems.