Due to holiday week, camp week and international day, it has been three weeks since I last sent you an update. That could mean this one is a little longer than normal.
Camp was very successful even though it was also very unusual. It is true that it started snowing within the first hour after we arrived and did not stop until around 2:00pm. Do not get me wrong, this is not snow as in drifts of snow but rather light flakes falling.
Then on Friday of the same week we had international day and WOW did the class go to town over this. Great national costumes or clothes to represent their own country and nationality. We also had Mrs. Rane come in and talk about some of the customs of India. Students then shared their own customs of both their family and also from their home country. It was a great day and we all give our thanks to Mrs. Rane for organizing a great start to the day. I really liked that I had incense smell in my room for the next 4-5 days.
This week we started our new unit on Globalization. With this note there is a picture of the essential questions for this unit in case you want to know what we are going to study. We started off the week by playing an altered version of Settlers of Catan where students learned how to trade and why it is so important to countries. In the game they were to act like they were a country to them-selves. The we spent some time looking at Good and Services and Producers and Consumers. As we continue with this there are a number of simulations I will use to drive home the point of why globalization happened and both the positive and negative consequences.
We have started our next math unit on Multiplication and Division of Whole Numbers and Decimals. So far we have covered how to look at multiplication in both the regular algorithm and also in model form. I have taught them about ribbon models and will start with area models next. We are also doing a project called the Math Market that is part of this unit.
Our writing unit is looking at gathering evidence to use as part of a persuasive argument. The entire class is using the idea of whether or not Chocolate Milk should be in schools as a subject and later on will choose a topic of their own to research and write about. This is not a long unit but does pave the way to future essay writing in both grade 5 and for the rest of my students educational career. It is an important start to this kind of writing.
I am really looking forward to meeting with all of you during Parent Teacher conferences next week. It is a time when I can catch you up and also try to answer any burning questions you might have. One thing I will ask is that you have your cell phones turned off during the time of our conference. I really do not want any interruptions. Please note that students are not to attend these conferences. The student led conference will be later this year.
Please note that due to parent teacher conferences, there is no school for students on Monday and Tuesday.
We have had to put our elections on hold as we cannot break a tie without the one student who was absent on Friday. As soon as I know I will be sure to let you know as well.
If you have any questions or concerns please let me know right away. I will gladly set up a time for us to meet.
