January 24th Update...

Hi Parents!
Thanks for visiting today!  Check out below to see what we've learned this week.

Grammar:  We continued learning about comparative and superlative adjectives and the spelling patterns associated with these adjectives. We learned that for most short words, just add -er or -est.  For words ending in a -y, change the -y to an -i and then add -er or -est.  And for words with multiple syllables, use the words more or most before the adjective.

Writing: We continued our work on persuasive writing, creating papers on noteworthy people (specifically our moms and dads). We learned how to make bold statements, give reasons, then examples in order to persuade our audience.

Reading: We read several chapters in Because of Winn-Dixie. We learned how to identify "text-dependent" questions versus "whole-text" questions when answering comprehension questions. This helps us determine if we need to be looking back in the passage, or thinking about an entire section.  We also learned about the roles secondary characters play. They can be sidekicks, advisors, or challengers in their interactions with the main character.  We worked on our fluency skills, learning how to push our eyes ahead and then go back and read with good expression and pace. 

Math:  We specifically worked on showing fractions on a number line.  We also compared fractions with different denominators. We practiced using the ACE strategy to solve multi-step word problems.  We practiced our fluency with our multiplication facts and took a quiz on Friday.

Science: We discussed animal adaptations and watched a National Geographic video on how animals survive in their habitats.

Dinner Conversation Starters...

*ask your child who Gloria Dump is and what role he/she thinks she plays in the chapter book
*ask your child what a unit fraction is
*ask your child which parent he/she is writing about and why


Class News and Announcements...

New homework packets will be coming home on Monday!  Great job encouraging your child to do his/her best on this work! I'm impressed with the effort I have been seeing.

Make sure in addition to the homework packet, you are encouraging your child to practice his/her math facts every night. Just ten minutes can make a HUGE difference in computation!

I will be out of the classroom next Wednesday-Friday.  Please direct any dismissal changes to the front office or send a note in with your child to give to the substitute teacher.