Weekend Update: Solar Systems and Secondary Characters

Announcements:

• Case21 Reading assessment Mon.

• Integrated Studies quiz Tues. (study guide will be sent home Mon.)

• Reading mid-unit Thurs.

• Reading HW: Read 15-20 min. and record in reading log

• Math HW: Zearn 10-15 min.

Reading

​In reading this week we have been working on noticing how other characters within a story are important. Generally, these characters fall into three categories: Advisor, Sidekick, or Challenger. This week we worked to understand the role of other characters within a text and how they help or hurt the main character through the story. This ties into also understanding where in their story the main character is - as students come to understand the general structure of all stories they can better understand and predict how most stories go.

Writing

In writing we are combining the previous unit on opinion writing with our reading work in our literary essay unit. All of this week our class has been working on closely looking at a short story in order to understand its theme, or lesson. This is no easy task and involves re-reading a text several times, understanding the structure of the story, and reflecting on what lesson the main character or the reader has learned. Next week students will be analyzing their own stories and writing literary essays about their themes.

Math

This week marked the start of our new unit on fractions! Your students have been hard at work learning about the basic concept of a fraction as a whole equally divided into parts. This can be a challenging concept, and is usually the first time that students use fractions in a meaningful way, so we will be working on this unit for quite a while.

I have set all student's homework on Zearn to this new unit. For those students who have been excelling, I have reduced the amount of learning-modules in zearn so they can spend more time practicing. It is important - especially if your child is struggling in class - that students spend at least 10 min. a night working on their math homework. Zearn is directly aligned with every lesson we do in class and is a great way to review and get a head start on these concepts!

Integrated Studies

We are nearing the end of our integrated studies unit on the Earth-Moon system. While it might seem simple, understanding how the sun, earth, and moon interact is actually quite challenging. Students have learned about how the earth orbits the sun while rotating on its access, as well as how the moon orbits the earth. In addition, we have spent time understanding how this produces night and day as well as the different phases of the moon.

We capped off this unit with (of course) a project. I love to see students come up with creative ways to solve problems - so I gave them the challenge of building their own model of the sun, moon, and earth that showed how the earth and the moon move. Their ideas and solutions were awesome!