Happy Thanksgiving!
Here's what we're up to this week:
Reading/Oral - We will continue reading poems by Langston Hughes and discussing this great poet's life and work. Although Hughes died in the sixties, our class was very interested in his work. They each wrote a "letter to Langston," which I will display in the hallway. If you have an old fashioned typewriter we could borrow, please let me know. We'll take good care of it. In Reading we will also be working on identifying the main idea and author's purpose.
Writing - Students should complete their second draft of his or her personal narrative, or be completing their good copy. Students will begin writing poetry for their poetry portfolios. Each week, students must have at least one poem in the "published" section of their portfolio. This week we will be working on free verse poems. There will be a spelling quiz on Wednesday or Thursday (last week's words). Students will have ample opportunity to test themselves in class.
Media Lit (link to Social Studies) - Students will continue examining logos and will also learn about slogans.
Math: We will begin Patterning this week. Patterning will be connected to Number Sense as we will be investigating increasing and shrinking number patterns. We will also be working on our six times tables.
Science: (Human Organ Systems): We will begin the digestive system.
Social Studies: I hope to wrap up Local (Municipal) Government. Time permitting, we will look at symbols used in Canadian government.
Health - Healthy Eating and Canada's Food Guide. We will discuss the Food Guide in class and students will begin graphing their food consumption at home.
Homework:
1. Students will write an entry in their Home Reading Journal. Included in their entry will be one higher-level thinking question using the Q (Question) Matrix. We have been using the Q-Matrix in class and they should be able to come up with an open-ended question and a response to it.
2. Math Basics work - multi-digit addition, subtraction, and multiplication. I hope to move into long division next week.
3. Graphing what we eat using the Canada Food Guide. Using graph paper, students will created a bar graph with each square representing a serving of food from the various food groups each day. I will explain this to the class using an overhead.
4. Students will create a colourful repeating pattern on grid paper. I like to have pictures of the children up on display at the front of the room all year. These patterned frames will be the border for their individual portraits.
* In Science, there will be a short oral quiz Friday afternoon. Using their cell model, students will tell me about four different parts of the cell and the function of these parts. Students have made study booklets with the definitions of the four cell parts they wish to disuss. These should be in their homework folder so that they may study.
** On Friday it was confirmed that we will be going to the Science Centre to see the Body Worlds exhibit next week (it was either that or January). Forms will be coming home soon. If you are able to volunteer to come with the class, we could use four or five parents. Please let me know in your child's agenda.
Thanks as always,
E. Hawkins
