Hello Families,
Students did a terrific job last week sharing their research about different national park landforms in the United States. I got some pictures, but they weren’t quite “blog quality”. We are going to finish up the last of our “hands-on” projects for the “Changing Earth” science unit by engineering some model solutions to erosion issues that we investigated in the schoolyard. Students will complete a final task to investigate fossils and determining the age of layers in the earth next week. Our next science unit will be a PLTW (Project Lead The Way) experience that I will co-teach with Mrs. Johnson. Students will learn all about how energy is transferred in this physical science unit through investigations and design challenges.
In social studies, researchers have completed their work for the Northeast Region including the Mid-Atlantic states. Most students completed two essays. The depth of knowledge demonstrated by a majority of the essays met my high expectations. I strongly recommend looking at your child’s work by logging into Google Classroom. Students will share their research with classmates soon.
Our nonfiction reading has progressed to the second unit. Students are using strategies for understanding informational text by questioning contradictions, extreme language, number facts, quoted words, and word gaps. In January, we will return to fiction and do the first whole class shared reading of the year with the book, Hatchet. Students can even listen to chapters on Youtube to vary the way they access the text.
If you want to send something in for the winter pre-break party, which will be a small reward for the students hard work to be held at 12:15 on Friday, December 21, please use this link to go to the sign-up. (I appreciate all thoughtful notions of the holidays, but would really love donations made to worthy causes, a book/game for the class, or maybe home-baked goodies or kid-made cards, crafts…)
Report cards are going home on Friday. Let me know if you have any surprises or questions. Thanks for making this a great and successful marking period for the students!
-K. Talbot
Students did a terrific job last week sharing their research about different national park landforms in the United States. I got some pictures, but they weren’t quite “blog quality”. We are going to finish up the last of our “hands-on” projects for the “Changing Earth” science unit by engineering some model solutions to erosion issues that we investigated in the schoolyard. Students will complete a final task to investigate fossils and determining the age of layers in the earth next week. Our next science unit will be a PLTW (Project Lead The Way) experience that I will co-teach with Mrs. Johnson. Students will learn all about how energy is transferred in this physical science unit through investigations and design challenges.
In social studies, researchers have completed their work for the Northeast Region including the Mid-Atlantic states. Most students completed two essays. The depth of knowledge demonstrated by a majority of the essays met my high expectations. I strongly recommend looking at your child’s work by logging into Google Classroom. Students will share their research with classmates soon.
Our nonfiction reading has progressed to the second unit. Students are using strategies for understanding informational text by questioning contradictions, extreme language, number facts, quoted words, and word gaps. In January, we will return to fiction and do the first whole class shared reading of the year with the book, Hatchet. Students can even listen to chapters on Youtube to vary the way they access the text.
If you want to send something in for the winter pre-break party, which will be a small reward for the students hard work to be held at 12:15 on Friday, December 21, please use this link to go to the sign-up. (I appreciate all thoughtful notions of the holidays, but would really love donations made to worthy causes, a book/game for the class, or maybe home-baked goodies or kid-made cards, crafts…)
Report cards are going home on Friday. Let me know if you have any surprises or questions. Thanks for making this a great and successful marking period for the students!
-K. Talbot