Blog Update

Hello Families,

I apologize for not keeping the blog as updated as usual.  The holidays have made things a little hectic, as I'm sure many of you know.

In the past two weeks, we have been working on our Cartographer's Challenge in Social Studies.  Students handed in their rough drafts and I gave them notes for corrections.  They are now in the process of making their final copies.  Some of your children opted to take their maps home for the long weekend, while others have kept theirs in school.  We will be completing this project next week in class.  Our gallery walk will take place on Friday, either during 2nd period or 4th.  I will send a formal notice as to the time next week.

Our Science curriculum has been very exciting.  We created wonderful travel brochures for the planets in the Solar System.  They are also hanging in the classroom and can be viewed during the gallery walk as well.  I will post some pictures of both projects onto the blog next week.

We have now transitioned to studying the moon.  Next week we will take a look at some of the history of our country's endeavors to outer space.  Specifically, we will look at the original video from the first moon landing as well as John F. Kennedy's famous speech declaring the need for advancements in U.S. space exploration.

In Math, we are continuing to study calculations with whole numbers.  Your children have been focused on multiplying and dividing by 10s, up to billions and the order of operations.  We are now working on the distributive property as well as compensation for mental math.  Next week we will begin studying word problems and using model drawings to solve them.

Our Writing curriculum has focused on collecting journal entries to prepare for our narratives and practicing correct capitalization.  Other units will include punctuation and grammar and usage.  We expect to begin our narratives once the holidays have ended.

Reading continues to focus on our read aloud, Sahara Special.  We are studying the author's use of various language and descriptive words.  We call this, "Show, Don't Tell."  This study connects with our writing as the main character in our book keeps a journal.

I'm looking forward to a terrific day at Chabot!

Chag Sameach,
Debby