We are finishing up our "Bringing Characters to Life" unit by focusing on character change. We continue to use Because of Winn Dixie as our mentor text to study characters whose struggles have led them to change in some way or another during the course of the book. Students are also using their own books that they are reading to think more deeply about how those characters are growing and changing as well. We also revisited The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane to reflect on how Edward's character changed during the story. Students used the sheet below to record their thoughts.
Writing Workshop:
Students finished the Story Mountains that they created last week and began a first draft of the story that they planned out. We reviewed how to start with a strong lead and will review other strategies that make narrative stories more exciting. As students draft, they are using the checklist below as a guide to make sure that they include all of the writing tools we have taught them so far.
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| Students use this checklist as a guide so that they know what to include and what we will be looking for when we assess their stories. |
We are at the end of Unit 2. This week's lessons introduced students to what we call "order of operations" and 2-step story problems. Students learned that when a problem includes more than one type of operation (+, -, x, /), there is an order of operations to follow when solving the problem.
Order of Operations Rules
1. Solve problems in parentheses first.
2. Solve multiplication and division BEFORE solving addition or subtraction.
Example #1: 7 + 3 x 4 = ?
In this problem, students should solve 3 x 4 =12 first and then add 7 + 12 = 19
Example #2: (4 - 2) x 5 = ?
In this problem, students should solve 4 - 2 = 2 first and then multiply 2 x 5 = 10
We then solved story problems in which there were 2 steps. Students were asked to write equations with more than one operation to show the 2 steps that they completed to solve the problem. This is challenging for students, so we spent multiple days on this skill. Below is an example of a 2-step story problem and the multiple operation equation that was used to solve it.
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| Example of 2-Step Story Problem with Equation |
Social Studies
We began our tour of the Northeast Region last week, and we are having a great time! We have made stops in West Quoddy Head, Maine, and Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Our next stop will be in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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| Students sit in a train formation with conductors leading the way as we begin our journey through the Northeast region! |
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| Students follow along in the textbook as we listen to our "tour guide" on an audio CD. |
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| Students write travel journals after they visit each tour stop and also include a drawing of a sight that they "saw." |
RED RIBBON WEEK
Hill school celebrated Red Ribbon Week in school with fun spirit days to help students demonstrate their desire to be healthy and drug-free!
Monday: Sock it to Drugs (Crazy Sock Day)
Tuesday: "I Dream of a World Without Drugs" (Pajama Day)
Wednesday: "Team up Against Drugs" (Husky Team Shirt Day)
Thursday: "Being Drug-Free is No Sweat!" (Sweatshirt Day)
Friday: Red Ribbon Day (Wear Red)
Fire Safety
Students enjoyed their first of 3 sessions they will have this year on fire safety!
All-Star of the Week
Pearl was our awesome All-Star this week! She shared a special doll (among other things) in her sharing sack and loved reading aloud her favorite book to the class. She gave detailed descriptions of the photos that she brought, which helped us learn more about her family. On Thursday, she enjoyed a special visit from her lunch buddies!
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