As we enter the new year we are focusing on stamina or the ability to work independently for longer stretches of time. We have been working on building our stamina in a variety of ways since September, but now we are really focusing on being able to hold our attention on independent work for a longer period of time. We spent a lot of time reviewing expectations and practicing transitions last week to help with this.
Reader's Workshop
Last week the class took an assessment of character traits and theme in a text. We will continue to review character traits and theme in small groups and during RTI.
This week we will start our next reading unit on Nonfiction. We are going to be noticing how nonfiction text is ALL around us. From the directions on a worksheet, to the words on a cereal box, to the washing instructions of our shirt, nonfiction really does pop up everywhere! I am going to be encouraging the kids to read nonfiction texts at home for their Reading In the Edges. You may notice that your child is reading nonfiction texts that seem too "easy" for them. At this point I am okay with that. Often times when we read about topics we don't know a lot about, it is important to build our background knowledge. One way to do this is to read books that are really easy for us to understand.
Writer's Workshop
We started to talk about what authors of realistic fiction write about. We learned that every great author starts with a THEME. This went along perfectly with what we had learned in reading. The kids started to brainstorm story ideas keeping the idea of theme in mind. This week we will be choosing one of the topic ideas and start typing a draft. We will be using Google Docs to type our drafts instead of writing them by hand. I'm sure it will be slow at first, but with some practice it will get easier.
Over the next few months we will be working on Google Docs quite a bit. It will be important that the kids become more efficient at typing. Mrs. Gasek, our technology teacher, introduced the class to www.typing.com last week. It is a fun website where the kids get to practice typing. Spending a couple of minutes each night, will help the kids to become faster at typing. This will eventually help them in their day to day typing on the computer as well. To sign into www.typing.com each student has a username (Google Docs password ending at 2025) and the password is hudson. If your child has any trouble signing in, please let me know. This will be in your child's homework planner. My goal for them would be to practice for at least 20 minutes per week!
Math Workshop
We are finishing up our Multiplication and Division unit in math. The class will be taking the End of the Module Assessment later this week. To go along with our focus on building stamina last week, we also talked a lot about using our resources to help us to work more independently.
Our next unit will be on Geometry. There is a lot of vocabulary in the Geometry unit. The homework helper packet for Module 4 will be sent home soon.
Here is a copy of the most recent Math Menu:
Math Menu January 2-20th!
I hope everyone has a great week!
~Jen
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