Weekly Update

Writing/Spelling
Students started their essay writing unit with learning the format of an essay.  We also brainstormed ideas for our personal essay piece by thinking of important people in our lives that have made an impact on us.  We will continue to draft and learn more about the structure of an essay this coming week!  

Meeting with our new writing partners!

In Spelling, students will take their next test this Thursday, 10/30.  (There is no school Friday, 10/31.)  Also, students took home The Great American Spell Check newspaper to help them in studying for the classroom spelling bee and possibly the school-wide spelling bee at home.  Our classroom spelling bee will be held in December.  Our classroom winners will then participate in the school spelling bee on Friday, January 16th!  Good luck, students!  

Reading
This past week in reading we reviewed main ideas and supporting details in nonfiction texts.  Then we moved to studying narrative nonfiction, which means we read nonfiction texts that were written as stories.  In these books (such as the "Who Was..." and "I Am..." biographies series), we discussed that the main idea followed the character's struggle.  Just as in fiction, there were characters, problems, and solutions in these narrative nonfiction books.  However, just like nonfiction, there were also maps, timelines, and facts.  Again, this was a focus in reading groups as well. The Friday Homework is an interesting reading titled, "Jack of the Lantern."  It is due Thursday, 10/30.  (There is no school Friday, 10/31.)

Math
Ask your child about the "zeros trick" that we use in multiplying big numbers with zeros at the end (ex. 8 x 700).  This past week we also reviewed rounding in estimating products as well as the distributive property in multiplication.  All of these strategies help us to solve bigger multiplication problems.  This coming week we will discuss multiplying by multi-digit numbers and the difference between estimates and exact answers in solving word problems.  The Chapter 4 Test is scheduled for Wednesday, 11/5.  Students should continue to study their multiplication facts at home. 

Science

This past week was an exciting week in science!  Students logged on to the online science textbook to review Chapter 4 topics with the diverse activities and resources available.  For every activity the students complete, they receive a 1/2 point extra credit to go towards their test- which is up to 13 possible extra credit points!  The online textbook can be accessed at home.  Usernames and passwords are posted in students' Take Home Folders.  Students are currently working on their Chapter 4 study guides, and some took them home. These do need to come back to school if taken home to study.  Our Chapter 4 Test over Ecosystems is this Wednesday, 10/29.    

This past week we gained a "class pet," as we welcomed a Venus flytrap.  We are having a great time learning about this carnivorous plant and taking care of it!  Check out the video below.

Also, check out our trip to the Gempp Property this past week!  We explored a pond and prairie ecosystem and looked for producers, consumers and decomposers as well as living and nonliving parts of these ecosystems.  

We also played a food web game!

Ability Awareness Day

On Friday we enjoyed learning with Ability Awareness Day!  We got to hear a lot about Autism, Down Syndrome, deafness, and prostheses.

Other Important Info.

• The Scholastic Book Fair will be open for students to purchase books until Wednesday, 10/29. 
• Parent-Teacher Conferences are this Monday, October 27th and Wednesday, October 29th. 
• The classroom Halloween parties will be held Thursday, October 30th from 2-3 pm.  The school parade will start at 1:30 that day.  
• There is no school Friday, October 31st!