In Writing, we explored story elements and character traits by designing our very own storyboards. Students exaggerated these characteristics as a way of exemplifying their character’s trait. We used careful word choice, sequencing of events, illustrations and comic relief to bring our characters’ traits to life. This month, we will return to WEX writing with response to literature. Each student will receive their own individual copy of the novel, The Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going, to read closely and annotate.
A reading strategy we focused on in December is questioning the text. We used the non-fiction text George vs. George by Rosalyn Schanzer to ask meaningful questions. Book clubs were our focus for novel studies as well in December. We chose a books based on our interest. Students met in their student-led discussion groups to identify different author’s crafts, like mood, point of view, irony, flashback, foreshadowing, figurative language and symbolism. In addition, students were able to analyze story elements like setting, conflict, characterization, conflicts, as well as reading strategies they learned to improve their understanding of the text. This month, our reading genre will be mystery. Students will write a response to literature letter and create a persuasive presentation on their novel.
In math, we completed unit 4 on division. Starting this week, we will take a detour from Everyday Math to learn about algebra with Hands-On-Equations, a hands-on algebraic program that introduces algebraic concepts in a child friendly approach. This program opens the door to understanding more complex and abstract algebraic concepts, and the students really enjoy it too! We will then begin unit 5 also this January. This unit covers fractions, decimals and percents, as well as reading a graphs and data analysis.
IXL Math Links:
Adding & Subtracting Fractions: M1 - M23
Decimals: C1 - C18,
Adding & Subtracting Decimals: 1 - E 8
Percents: V 8 - V 12
Graphs & Data: S1 - S16
Personalized Learning was the subject of choice in December. Students explored topics that interested them and wrote questions to help them further explore the topic. We used Bloom’s Taxonomy of Questioning to learn how to write open ended questions that allowed us to search, gather, analyze and interpret our research to come up with new ideas and answers to our questions. While this PL is considered a mini-project. Students gained valuable habits of minds skills that can be applied across all learning, as well as gear them for the more rigorous expectations of middle school.
We also completed chapter 13 of History Alive which focused on how the Continental Army won the Revolutionary War. Students were able to relate to different sides of the war with an introductory tug-of-war activity we completed prior to starting the chapter. It was a lot of fun, but more importantly, students were able to relate to both the British and the Colonists' motivation for winning, and gain a better understanding of how the war was won. This month, we will switch back to science with the Watery Earth unit.
A reading strategy we focused on in December is questioning the text. We used the non-fiction text George vs. George by Rosalyn Schanzer to ask meaningful questions. Book clubs were our focus for novel studies as well in December. We chose a books based on our interest. Students met in their student-led discussion groups to identify different author’s crafts, like mood, point of view, irony, flashback, foreshadowing, figurative language and symbolism. In addition, students were able to analyze story elements like setting, conflict, characterization, conflicts, as well as reading strategies they learned to improve their understanding of the text. This month, our reading genre will be mystery. Students will write a response to literature letter and create a persuasive presentation on their novel.
In math, we completed unit 4 on division. Starting this week, we will take a detour from Everyday Math to learn about algebra with Hands-On-Equations, a hands-on algebraic program that introduces algebraic concepts in a child friendly approach. This program opens the door to understanding more complex and abstract algebraic concepts, and the students really enjoy it too! We will then begin unit 5 also this January. This unit covers fractions, decimals and percents, as well as reading a graphs and data analysis.
IXL Math Links:
Adding & Subtracting Fractions: M1 - M23
Decimals: C1 - C18,
Adding & Subtracting Decimals: 1 - E 8
Percents: V 8 - V 12
Graphs & Data: S1 - S16
Personalized Learning was the subject of choice in December. Students explored topics that interested them and wrote questions to help them further explore the topic. We used Bloom’s Taxonomy of Questioning to learn how to write open ended questions that allowed us to search, gather, analyze and interpret our research to come up with new ideas and answers to our questions. While this PL is considered a mini-project. Students gained valuable habits of minds skills that can be applied across all learning, as well as gear them for the more rigorous expectations of middle school.
We also completed chapter 13 of History Alive which focused on how the Continental Army won the Revolutionary War. Students were able to relate to different sides of the war with an introductory tug-of-war activity we completed prior to starting the chapter. It was a lot of fun, but more importantly, students were able to relate to both the British and the Colonists' motivation for winning, and gain a better understanding of how the war was won. This month, we will switch back to science with the Watery Earth unit.