Weekly Update

Math 
We have finished Unit 4 on multiplication.  Pat yourselves on the back, students!  Unit 5 deals with division.  For homework, students should study their division basic facts.  We will start with a review of division facts before moving on to long division.  

Reading
We have started our read aloud, No Talking, and we love it so far!  We reviewed questioning by talking about green, yellow, and red questions.  Ask your child how they can tell the difference between these three types of questions.  We have also discussed how book clubs will work, and we will choose our Andrew Clements books next week!  In book clubs, the students will be responsible for reading an agreed upon number of chapters outside of book club time.  During book clubs, students will use the assigned role sheets (i.e. predictor, connector, summarizer, clarifier, characterizer, and discussion director) to guide them in having a conservation about the chapters' events and characters.  These book club role sheets must be completed outside of the book club meeting time along with reading the assigned chapters, so that all students are prepared!  Book clubs will start by meeting twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays.  

Writing/Spelling
We are editing and publishing our persuasive essays, and we will be done with them this week!  Our next writing unit is an informational unit.  I am excited for students to research and add text features to this writing piece!  In Spelling, students took their test on Friday and will get their new word sorts this week.

Social Studies

This week we will start Chapter 5, "Becoming a State."  In this chapter we will learn about pioneer life, Missouri becoming a state, the Missouri Compromise, the Oregon Trail, and many other fun topics!  As a reminder, we will have a combined test over Chapters 4 and 5, so students should keep their Chapter 4 vocabulary words.  

Important Info.
The Friday Homework this week is an interesting nonfiction reading titled, "Is That a Boa or a Python?"  As a reminder, students have an end of book activity due at the end of this month, January 30th.  They need to finish their independent reading book, and then choose an activity to complete about the book.  

Also, we are collecting soda can tabs to support a K-Kids fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities.  The collection will run though April, and we will gladly take any soda tab tops that you are able to send to school!