In reading we began the Bunnicula story. We are reading this story with literature circles and working on a job each day. The jobs are Inquisitive Questioner, Vivid Visualizer, and Word Finder. As a class we are discussing mood also. Mood is how the author makes you feel in the story. An author creates mood by the words they choose for their story. We will be exploring this topic more with our writing also. The students seem to be really enjoying the story. James Howe has written quite a few stories about Bunnicula that you might want to consider for home reading. One is pictured to the left.
NOVEMBER READING CALENDARS will be due the week students return to school on Monday, December 1st. Students should have read 12 times this month and should have responses for those readings in their notebook. Please make sure you tally up the minutes for the month and sign the calendar. They will bring home the responses for December when we return from break. Remember each month the students respond differently.
In math students are working hard on multiplication and estimation. Though we learn many different multiplication strategies in class; students may always choose the one they would like to use for homework and tests.
This week students have focused on estimating sums, differences, and products. When we estimate we always round to the highest place value. This has been a review for rounding for most of us. Students did have a few quizzes on estimation, which should have come home earlier this week. We will complete unit 5 after returning from Thanksgiving break.
In social studies we completed our Native American unit with a test, and then completed our presentations for the class. I was very impressed with the group work. Students seemed well prepared and shared lots of interesting facts about their tribes. Thank you to all the parents who helped students search for facts or supplies for their group. During this project we graded our group on cooperation. We talk in class about the importance of working together and how to do that effectively. I feel students not only gained knowledge about the Native Americans, but practiced conflict resolution and responsibility in their group.
Now we are beginning a short science unit over measurement. This will be a very quick unit, so it should finish up before midterm, which is Friday, December 5th.
Mrs. Stratton