Classroom Update - Week of May 7th

Upcoming Events / Reminders:

• Another purchase order went home on Friday to buy an autographed copy of the books (The Creature of the Pines: The Unicorn Rescue Society #1 and The Inquisitors Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog) written by Adam Gidwitz. He is the author who visited MES's 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders last Monday. The order form and money is due tomorrow, May 8th.

• Morrisville's Got Talent for Track 4 students will be on Friday, May 11th. If your child is interested in performing, they should complete THIS form online.

• There will be no school on Wednesday, May 16th due to the scheduled teacher rally in Raleigh.

• Field Day for Track 4 will be on Friday, May 18th.

• Morrisville 5K Stampede will be on Sunday May 20th from 2:00-5:00PM at Morrisville Elementary. To register, please visit this website: https://runsignup.com/Race/NC/Morrisville/Stampede5KRun

• Memorial Day is Monday, May 28th - there will be no school

• 4th Quarter Interims will go home on Friday, June 1st.

• Tentative Dates for the EOGS for 4th graders will be on Monday, June 18th (Math) and Tuesday, June 19th (Reading). These dates are subject to change and the entire week of June 18th is blocked off as potential testing days. Please let me know, as soon as possible, if you think your child will miss this week of school.

Single Subject Acceleration(SSA):

• Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) information can be found in the SSA Resource for Parents and Teachers at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JWpfeH5xL61ekU7VIMWDaLDDK1vliTKdnWvH5qC8IhA/edit. You may also find the FAQs for SSA helpful at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JFev-vRocfVD9nO87b6QO5V9ttaGArdeNqZlONlaeDE/edit.

• Your nomination window for Track 4 opens this week and nominations will be accepted beginning Friday, May 4th through the end of the school day on Thursday, May 17th. Your

• Nomination forms can be found at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IyIiz_EOdTOjCphTvWZX-qEg-TcHJj8Y00I4wLSVKnk/edit.

• The testing window for Track 4 is from May 25th through June 1st and Morrisville's exact testing day and time will be announced after the nomination window is closed.

• If you have any questions about SSA or the nomination process, please feel free to contact Mrs. Heir at cheir@wcpss.net.

Reader's Workshop:

This week the students will continue to study the genre of informational texts. The students will learn to apply the following strategies when reading informational texts:

• Readers preview the text and text features prior to reading to "rev" up their brain for what they are about to read.

• Readers stop and jot down the main idea of each section and go back and reread when texts are tricky

• Readers identify the text structure to help them determine the main idea, or the “so what?”

• Readers think about the author’s purpose or intent for writing the text.

• Readers pay close attention to the type of question it is and identify the question type before answering: Main Idea, Inference, Right There, Vocabulary, or Author’s Purpose

• Readers use the strategies “read around the word” and “fill in the blank” to gain information about the meaning of an unknown word.

Next Tuesday, the students will take a common assessment on the genre of informational texts. The students will be expected to use all of their informational reading strategies on this assessment. Students should continue to expect to have two reading passages to complete for homework each week that coincides with the genre we are currently focusing on. Students are required to annotate their thinking by showing their thought process as they are reading, as well as applying the strategies they have learned thus far.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• What are the characteristics of the nonfiction genre?

• What reading strategies do good readers use when reading nonfiction texts?

• What should you do when you come across an unfamiliar word when reading?

• Show me how to annotate your thinking when reading nonfiction texts.

Writer's Workshop:

This week in writing the students are continuing to work on practicing their persuasive writing by writing a special essay that will go home this weekend. For this essay the students have drafted a plan and will compose a 5 paragraph essay that includes the Fab 5 for each of their body paragraphs. Mom's don't ask too many questions about it right now, so it will be a pleasant surprise this weekend! :)

Math:

In math this week, the students will continue to learn all about the metric system. They will be investigating meters, liters, and grams. They will learn about all of the metric system prefixes (kilo-, hecto-, deca-, deci-, centi-, and milli-), the value that they hold, and how to apply it to the different forms of metric measurement. The students will practice converting metric numbers (2,000 meters = 2 kilometers) and solving word problems involving metric measurements. The students will take on assessment on these concepts next Monday. Below are some helpful instructional videos that your child can watch at home:

• http://learnzillion.com/lessons/2631-compare-and-convert-metric-units-of-weigh

• http://learnzillion.com/student/lessons/2571

• http://learnzillion.com/student/lessons/2498

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• What types of things would you measure in meters? Grams? Liters?

• 1,000mg = ____g?

• 250m = _____km?

• 2L = _____mL?

Science:

The students will continue their electricity and magnetism unit with Ms. Wade. They will continue to investigate electricity. The students will learn which components are needed to build a circuit. Then, they will learn the difference between conductors and insulators. The use of a switch will also be explored, and the students will learn the difference between open and closed circuits.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• What components are needed to build a circuit?

• What is the difference between conductors and insulators?

• What is the difference between open and closed circuits?