READING: The students are continuing to read books at their level. Each week they are responsible for writing three letters that include a short summary of what they are reading and a reaction to that particular reading. They are given time in class to finish this assignment and it is not homework!
WRITING: We have finished our first five paragraph essay of the year! Each student is now working on a second paper on a topic of their choice. This is a five paragraph essay with three body paragraphs, an introduction and conclusion. They are in the process of collecting information and filling in a graphic organizer to help them construct a final copy.
MATH: We have completed our unit on place value. The final test was sent home this past Monday, January 4th. The kids really did well! Now we are doing a short review of graphing and will pretest on Thursday, January 7th for our next unit - geometry. This will be a unit where students will be switching classes. This unit will begin on January 11th.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our study of Mesopotamia has come to an end - next stop, GREECE!
SCIENCE: This week we have started electricity. The kids will be completing quite a few hands on experiments with batteries, bulbs, wires of all sorts, switches, etc. They really are enjoying themselves!
SPELLING: Each Monday the kids are given a pretest of words at their level. They then take words they have missed on the pretest and words that I have noticed they are spelling incorrectly and add them to their weekly list. They are tested over these words each Friday.