April 25

Current updates:

Language Arts

We have finished our report / narrative writing about our biographical figures.  We are currently working on choice reading / writing assignments.  Students are working independently and are asking for and signing up for lessons which they feel are important to their learning.  It is going very well.

After SBACs, students will begin new book groups.  This is a science fiction unit.  The books that students could choose from are the following:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM by Robert C. O'Brien
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns for your student.

Our writing will continue in as above.

SBAC Testing

Next week, we will be taking the SBAC test Monday-Thursday mornings with makeups on Friday.  Students will not have homework during this time.  Students will be having a later lunch this week, so please send them in with a snack.  We will not have Math and Language Arts this week.

Integrated Studies
This week we started our studies on the Revolutionary War.  This will help us get ready for our walk on the Freedom Trail when we take our trip to Boston.  We will also be doing Science lessons that will help us get ready for our visit to the Aquarium and Museum of Science.

More about Boston in our next letter!

Math
On Tuesday, we started our Pre-Algebra unit, beginning with graphs and tables.  After SBAC week, we will continue by looking at the relationship between tables, graphs, and equations.  

April 7th

CoCoRaHS Citizen Science!  Citizen Science is happening on Quest.  We are measuring rainfall and inputting it on a national website.  We even have our own Weather Station name!  Duxbury 0.4 SSW.  Here is a the first episode of The Cloud and the Crowd about about CoCoRaHS and Citizen Science.  We got .93 inches of rain in our last storm.  That qualifies as a "heavy rain."  We agree!

Boston Field Trip
  It is on June 7th.  If you would like to chaperone, please email Mrs. Williams.

Video to Russia
As a part of our penpal exchange, we are sending a video to our penpal school in Tikhvin, Russia.  Students will say hello to their penpals and say a sentence about themselves.  We hope to receive one in return!  Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Here is a link to the video.

Math
We will calculating with percents next week.  Have your students calculate your tip when you go out to eat or your discount when you are out shopping!

iBlock
We will be switching iBlocks after vacation.

Student Led Conferences  Thank-you to all of you who could make our conferences.  We appreciate the time we have to talk with you all and make plans to best support your student.

Trout in the Classroom  We continue to feed our fish and monitor for ammonia and nitrates.  We are planning to release them into our Crossett Brook sometime in May.