What a great week we just completed. We have moved along steadily in all our units, which this time are all interconnected, except for math.
Our reading unit is learning how to understand more complex non-fiction books. We have done this through looking at several articles which show some of the complexities of reading. These are titles, headings and subheadings that are not descriptive, more than one main idea in the text, having the main ideas and central ideas hidden (implicit) in the writing and the use of more technical language and vocabulary. This ties is nicely with our unit on Matter and The Scientific Process since next week’s home learning will us this teaching. More on that later.
Our writing unit has been how to take notes and prepare for a research report. The subject of the report can be anything that falls under the giant umbrella of Matter. This gives the students lots of choice in what they finally write about. This week we learned how to take notes in our own words, how to find main ideas and evidence/support for these main ideas, asking and writing questions about what you are reading, even if they never get answered, thinking while reading takes place and noting the thinking down and finally doing writing along side of note taking and not waiting until the end. This last part is fairly new for students so I am doing it on a regular basis and also asking them to do it as they feel the need. On Monday we will do yet another flash draft of one of the main ideas they have been researching. We have also planned a one-hour block in the MS library this coming week for research. They have a wider array of books for students to use.
Now that we are well along in these units it is time to put them into practice. The first four books in a series about the Scientific Process will be uploaded to our Google Classroom page. The only home learning that students have this week is to read these books, take notes, question what they read and to think while they are reading. Each morning there will be a sharing time where the students gather together to share what they read and found out the previous night. As there are 8 books in the series, this will continue next week as well. Students will take home their UOI books to keep track of their thoughts and ideas. Each day these will need to be returned to class as we use them for our unit as well.
Our UOI this week started to look at physical and chemical changes in matter. We started an experiment where two eggs are placed in vinegar and water and then observing the change. Our second one will be a look at the movement of molecules due to temperature. We are also starting to research why these experiments work and once completed, the presentation will be posted on Seesaw for you to see.
Our math unit has now looked at the addition and subtraction of mixed numbers. The students learning is on Seesaw for you to look at. We will continue this week with word problems and also a brief introduction to decimal fractions. We should complete this unit by Friday with the final assessment. Our next unit is on multiplication and division of fractions.
I had two interesting conversations with parents this week about certain processes I have in place in my room. The first one was about the planner. The idea here is two fold - remind students what is coming up and allow parents to stay in tune with the class. While I do not ask for planners to be signed by parents, all my students know you can ask to see them. The second one was on home learning. Each night there is a home learning assignment that is marked, discussed and reviewed the next morning. At any time parents should be able to ask students to see their homework, just like the planner. All my students are aware of this.
This coming week is chapel at 8:30 on Tuesday in Robb Hall, picture day for Korea Days on Thursday morning, and Korea Day activities on Friday. Please note we do not celebrate Halloween in school. Band on Monday has been postponed to Wednesday due to limitations for us to practice our chapel.
Let me know if you have any questions.
