So Much to be Thankful For

First, I would like to thank all the parents for contributing towards and coming to our Thanksgiving celebration. It's always great to get together and chat over a meal. In a few days it will be December and soon Christmas will be upon us. We've begun preparing for our Christmas Concert and the students are very excited. Please read on to see get a glimpse at what else we've done this week and all we hope to accomplish next week. 

Reminders

December 12th: Christmas Concert

December 17th: Half Day

December 18th-January 4th: Christmas Vacation

This Week

Reading: We continued our nonfiction reading unit. Students used a T-Chart to compare features of nonfiction and fiction texts. We continued our Read Aloud: No Talking by Andrew Clements. In Shared Reading we read about Gandhi and shared a Thanksgiving poem. Students also read leveled readers and other nonfiction books in their reading groups. 

Writing: Students learned to play their heading and subtopics by using a web. Students also organized their subtopics by using boxes and bullets. Finally students learned to make their nonfiction writing more interesting by adding boxes for jokes, riddles, or fun facts. 

Math: We finished Topic 6: Multiplication Fact Strategies. Winston showed us how to multiply with 11 as a factor by using the Distributive Property of Multiplication. Katrina showed us how to multiply with 12 as a factor also by using the Distributive Property. Afterwards they even made an instructional video for the class by using Unifix cubes. Students also learned how to multiply three factors by using the Associative Property of Multiplication and how to solve multiple-step problems. 

Social Studies: We finished and reviewed Chapter 2: Communities and Geography. Afterwards students completed their Chapter 2 assessment. 

Art: Students created still-life art by observing pieces of fruit from different points of view. 

Next Week

Reading: Students will organize and categorize main idea and supporting details by using boxes and bullets. Students will also find the main idea by categorizing information and reteach information to their partner by using gestures and notes. We will continue our Read Aloud: No Talking by Andrew Clements. In Shared reading we will read a leveled reader about Dinosaurs and also a poem about the basic needs of living things. Students will continue 

Writing: Students will revise their writing by making sure they've taught new information. Students will make sure their information supports their main idea. Students will write more by using a T-Chart to generate research questions. 

Math: Students will assess everything they learned in Topic 6 and begin Topic 7: Division Meanings. Students will learn to divide by using bar diagrams and writing number sentences. Students will learn how to divide and find the remainders by using counters. Students will also explore division as repeated addition and learn to write division word problems. 

Science: Students will learn that living things have needs. They will also learn that living things need to compete for those needs and adapt in order to survive. 

Art: Students will create abstract, representational, and non-representational artwork by looking at the same object in different ways.