We are ⅓ of the way through the year!  We are excited to work hard and stay focused before a well earned winter break!

Important Dates & Reminders

• 12/7- Math Assessment (general ed math)
• 12/13-12/17- Human Growth and Development Lessons (please see Wednesday Folders for Opt Out Forms if you would like to opt out your student)
• 12/20- 12/31- No School, Winter Break

REMINDER: With the colder weather starting please send your student with a Jacket or warmer Layer to have during recess.

Regular school attendance in elementary school improves the chances that your child will read on grade level. Attending school regularly helps students feel better about school—and themselves. Please help your student to attend school regularly. Parents can log into the Student Information System (SIS) Parent Account to view your child's attendance.

Language Arts

What We Learned This Past Month:

In reading we have been learning to be critical readers as we read advertisements, articles and texts. We have been asking ourselves “What is the author’s message? How do they convey their message? And do I agree with this message?” 

In writing we have been practicing weaving facts into stories to create narrative nonfiction writing pieces. Students were challenged to integrate facts that they knew into a story about a nonfiction topic.

What We Will Be Learning Next Month: 

We will be starting our poetry unit next. Students will learn to understand that the meaning of a poem is constructed by the poet and the reader interacting with text and understand that poetic tools reveal images, evoke feelings, and produce sounds to create a message for the reader to interpret.

In writing we will be starting investigative journalism! Students will learn how journalists are responsible for incorporating multiple perspectives into the story and learn how investigative journalists investigate beyond the basic facts of the story to put that event in a broader context, remaining neutral observers.

Math

What We Learned This Past Month:

We are finishing up our latest unit on Rational Numbers and exponents. In this unit, students used context to explore integer and rational number values on the number line. Students used the number line to order fractions,decimals, and percents as well as interpret absolute value. This unit also included representing patterns with exponents and perfect squares.

What We Will Be Learning Next Month: 

We will be starting our next unit on Integer Operations. In this unit, students will build on their understanding of integers and absolute value. Students will learn to perform operations using positive and negative integers. They will be exposed to models, pictures, and patterns for supporting computation. We will also be connecting these concepts to practical situations such as measuring time, temperature, distance, and currency with integers.

Advanced Math 

What We Learned This Past Month:

Students are beginning unit 3: Real Numbers and exponents where they will build upon their knowledge of repeated operations with repeated multiplication represented as exponents. Students also investigate the concept of negative exponents through powers of 10 by analyzing patterns. This exploration connects to their existing understanding of place value. Students will be able to apply this understanding of an exponent’s expanded form to the square root of a perfect square, recognizing the connection between squares and square roots.

What We Will Be Learning Next Month: 

We are beginning unit 4: Expressions and Equations. In this unit, students will continue learning from previous grade levels about applying properties of real numbers to expressions, equations, and inequalities. A key concept is the consideration of equations as balanced systems. Additionally, they will explore inequalities as imbalanced systems, applying ideas about relationships and the applications of operations with real numbers to uncover the value, or set of values, that a particular variable might be.

Science

Quarter 2 Science

The Patterns of Weather unit develops student understanding of the properties of air, the structure of the atmosphere, weather, and air quality. It expands upon their understanding of the effects of solar radiation entering earth’s atmosphere on weather and the significance of convection and radiation in distribution of energy on Earth. This unit builds on the 4th grade science Weather unit in which students first learned about weather instruments and predictions. Students will understand that changes to the atmosphere can be caused naturally or by human action, whose results are not fully understood. We will also be working on a unit-long Project as they work in teams on one of three project options to present about the effects of climate change.

Social Studies

What We Learned This Past Month:

We completed our last unit on European exploration. We learned about major European explorers and their impact the lands and people.  We learned how people explore, move, and migrate for social, political, and economic reasons. And how moving to new places can change the people, land, and culture of the new place.

What We Will Be Learning Next Month: 

Our next unit will be on Colonization. Students will describe religious and economic events/conditions that led to the colonization of America and analyzing the role of slavery in the growth of the colonial economy and the development of the United States, end evaluate the choices European colonists made when creating an agricultural economy and the American institution of slavery.