Classroom Update - Week of November 13th
- Jennifer Bracke
- Nov 16, 2017
- 3 min read
At Home Book Survey - Please Complete!
Please take a few minutes to complete the following short survey regarding your at home libraries, if you haven't already. . We are looking to gain some information about how many books students have at home so we can better support literacy at home. Thank you!
Classroom Spelling Bee
Congratulations to Serena and Puspakhi for winning our classroom spelling bee!
Fall Conferences
Fall conferences are happening now. Please take the time to sign up for a conference, if you have not already. These conferences should last about 15 minutes and your child should plan on attending with you and bring their LIGHTHOUSE binder as we will be looking at some of the data in it.
Upcoming Events / Reminders:
November 21st is Early Release. School will dismiss at 1:15.
November 22-24 is our Thanksgiving holiday break - no school
November 30th is our field trip to downtown Raleigh. The students will be visiting our Legislative Building and the North Carolina History Museum. Parent Chaperones will be needed for this trip, so please make sure that you have taken the time to register. More information about this trip will be going home soon.
December 5th is Literacy Night and School-wide Spelling Bee. Mark your calendars more information will follow soon!
December 21st is not only an Early Release Day (school will dismiss at 1:15) but also our last day of the quarter.
Reader's Workshop: In reading this week, the students will continue to analyze the text structure of nonfiction texts. The text structure refers to how the text is organized or the manner in which the author is presenting the information. The students will also learn how each text structure has a thinking map that is paired with it to better help them understand the text and more concretely visualize how the text is organized. The students will be assessed on this standard on Friday, November 17th.
The Text Structures We Will Focus on Include:
-Description (bubble map)
-Sequential (flow map)
-Cause & Effect (multi-flow map)
-Problem & Solution (flow map)
-Compare & Contrast (double bubble map)
Next week the students will start to learn about firsthand and secondhand accounts in nonfiction texts.
Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:
What text features did you notice while reading?
How did the text features enhance your comprehension or understanding of the text?
What are the five main text structures that we studied this week?
What are some qualities that the description or sequence text structure has?
What vocabulary is essential to know to deepen your understanding of the text?
Writer's Workshop:
This week in writing the students will be working on finishing up their drafts for their research reports. Each paragraph is expected to include the "Fab Five". The students will also be working on carefully editing and revising their work and then moving on to publishing their research by typing it and including relevant text features.
Fab Five:
A topic sentence that states the main idea
At least 3-4 supporting detail sentences
Transitional words/phases
Content specific vocabulary
A concluding statement that restates the main idea in a new way.
Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:
What is the Fab 5?
How are you making sure to include the Fab 5 in your own body paragraphs?
Math:
This week in math, the students will be working on solving a variety of multi-step word problems. They will review estimating strategies, write variables, and interpret remainders. The students will use math talk engage in strong discourse as they work through the steps below:
CUBES Strategy for Problems Solving:
C - Circle the key numbers
U - Underline the question
B - Box in any math action words
E - Eliminate unnecessary information / Evaluate how you will solve the problem
S - Solve and check your work.
The students will take their problem solving assessment on Monday, November 20th. Our final units in math will focus on geometry concepts.
Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:
Can you take me through the CUBES Strategy for Problem Solving?
Is there another way that you could solve this problem?
Social Studies:
This week, the students will work on understanding the North Carolina Declaration of Rights and the rights and responsibilities that citizens have. We will spend the rest of the week reviewing the previously taught concepts in preparation for their Social Studies Assessment that they will take on Monday, November 27th?
Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:
What are the roles and responsibilities of the three branches of government?
Can you explain how a bill becomes a law?
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