Happy spring!
This week in reading we used nonfiction to help us understand our historical fiction. We looked at pictures from the time period of our book to help us visualize our books better. We then researched things that were confusing to us or that we had questions about as we were reading. One problem that tends to happen when reading historical fiction is to over generalize from our stories. We talked about not thinking that all Germans during that time were bad or that no one had sugar during the war, for example. The book is one person’s perspective. We talked about who has the power in a book, and who is the resistance. One of the themes of Number The Stars is the family showing the power to resist hatred and violence. Finally, we talked about how after you accomplish a big feat, like climbing to the top of a large sand dune, you do not just turn around and run back. You stand at the top and celebrate for a bit. The same should be true for books. When you finish, you shouldn’t close the cover and put it away. We should look for how the problem is resolved, or if the theme becomes clear, or if they make it obvious there will be a sequel!
In writing this week we worked on the three body paragraphs for our literary essays. We “followed the recipe” for each paragraph, then added direct quotes from the test and parallel lists to make it more interesting.
In math this week we added and subtracted angles and then went through the testing cycle. Today we began our next unit in geography by reviewing parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting lines.
In social studies we learned what incentives are by talking about coupons, sales, etc. We watched an episode of “I Love Lucy” in which Lucy gets the idea to sell salad dressing, but learns about marketing, expenses, earnings, and profit. We are getting ready for Market Day by creating our posters in class. All commercials are due by Monday! We will be sending those to the rest of the school for viewing.
Important Dates:
Tuesday, May 8 – Front Porch Night
Friday, May 11 – Market Day – Product commercials due May 7
Tuesday – Thursday, May 15-17 – MSTEP testing
Friday, May 18 – tour the Intermediate building
Tuesday – Friday, May 22-25 – i-Ready testing
Thursday, May 31– Chicago trip
Friday, June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rockets Day
Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip
Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration
Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days
Friday, June 8 – last day of school