Weekly Update

Reading Workshop
We are nearing the end of our Mystery Unit.  Each mystery group will finish reading the final chapters of their mystery and discuss the outcome.  During each group meeting, students continue to share clues from their "clipboard" and possible suspects they've recorded.  Last week we discussed the importance of the setting.  We also looked at patterns in characters' behavior.  Students continue to practice supporting their claims with evidence from the text.  They began to work on completing a Detective Case Report.  Look for an example of a finished case report next week.

Writing Workshop
Now that students have written an introduction to their Personal Essay, they have begun to write two small moment stories, which support their opinion statement.  Each small moment story is meant to more clearly explain the student's big idea.  Our goal is to finish our first drafts this week.

Math
We worked on telling time with students last week.  We reviewed telling time to the hour and half-hour and practiced telling time to five minutes and to the minute.  Students also learned how to tell time before and after an hour.  Telling the minutes before an hour was tricky for some students.  For example, if the clock read 7:34, students are expected to know it is 34 minutes after the hour and 26 minutes before the hour.  Students learned to check their work by adding the minutes after and before (they should add up to 60).  We will continue to work on telling time in class.

Science
Through an investigation students discovered the difference between transparent, translucent, and opaque materials.  They also learned about refraction.  Students discovered light bends (refracts) when it passes from one material to another.  Students' favorite discovery, however, was optical illusions.  Optical Illusions can use color, light, and patterns to create images that can be misleading to our brains.  They trick our brains into seeing things which may or may not be real.  Students enjoyed watching the following YouTube video...



All-Star of the Week
Megan was our Amazing All Star last week!  The students loved her sharing sack items and pictures.  We really liked her favorite picture, which was an action shot of her playing soccer.  Students were familiar with her favorite book, The Elf on the Shelf, and enjoyed listening to her read it aloud.  They also enjoyed her parent letter, titled The Shiny Object.  We learned more about Megan while listening to a fun story :)  Megan loved having a special lunch with her mom on Friday.

Gingerbread House Workshop
Students had a lot of fun building and decorating their gingerbread house!  Thank you so much to all of our volunteers who helped students build, decorate, and clean up!!  We couldn't do the gingerbread workshop without you!

Weekly Update

Reading Workshop:
We continued our mystery unit last week with students meeting in their detective clubs to discuss the chapters they are reading. We modeled for students how to keep track of important clues and possible suspects (see examples below). Supporting their claims with evidence is extremely important when recording ideas in their detective case file and when sharing their ideas during the detective club discussions.

Students write important clues on their "Clue Clipboard."

Students keep track of possible suspects and incriminating evidence on their Suspect List.

Writing Workshop:
This week students chose a "big idea" that they wanted to feature in the personal essay they are beginning to write. First, they learned to write an opinion statement in which they stated their opinion on a big idea.  For example, "I think all people should respect nature."  Students then created an idea/detail chart.  On the chart, they listed two reasons, or experiences, that supported their big idea.  They also wrote introductions for their essay.

Math:
We are continuing lessons in Unit 3: Measurement, Time, and Graphs.  This week students learned about metric units of liquid volume (milliliters and liters), customary units of units of weight (ounces and pounds), and metric units of mass (grams and kilograms).  They also practiced solving word problems involving liquid volume and mass.


Social Studies:
We have been busy on our Northeast region tour!  Since the last update when students were in Plymouth, MA, we have made additional tour stops in Boston, Massachusetts (where we learned about the Revolutionary War), the Erie Canal (where we learned about why it was built), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (where we learned about the declaration of Independence and the Constitution), and Hershey, Pennsylvania.  In Hershey, students took a virtual tour of the Hershey Chocolate factory as a way to learn about mass production.  They also worked on an assembly line as chocolate makers from the early 1900s to compare how many Hershey Kisses they could make in 5 minutes compared to how many Hershey Kisses are made by machines in 5 minutes at the factory.  Most groups made 20-30 Hershey Kisses, but that's not much compared to the 100,000 that are made in just 5 minutes at the factory!

Ready to travel to Boston, MA!

Photos of the tour stops are projected on the SMART Board while we travel.

Raghav and Elena work on their travel journal following a tour stop.

Example of a students' first 4 completed travel journals.

Hershey Kiss Assembly Line Jobs:

Cutter: Cuts a small square tin foil

Placer: Places the Hershey Kiss in center of tin foil square

Wrapper: Wraps foil around Hershey kiss

Inspector: Inspects the Hershey kiss to make sure it is covered and colors in a Hershey kiss on the inspection sheet if it passes the test.

Students enjoyed eating Hershey Kisses (that were not used on the assembly line) after the activity!

Watch the video below to see your child in action on the Hershey Kiss assembly line!!

All-Star of the Week:
Adam was our awesome All-Star of the Week!  He loved sharing and telling us all about his sharing sack items.  He also showed us some great family photos, each one with a detailed story.  He did a great job reading aloud "Charles the Ranch Dog," and he loved when his dad joined him as his lunch buddy!