Here's what we're working on this week:
Reading/Oral: Last week, our focus was locating the main idea in a text. This week we will work on summarizing. Students will be writing their CASI reading assessment this week. We will also be reading more poems by Langston Hughes. Students will select one poem by Hughes and discuss why they are drawn to that particular poem.
Writing: Completing personal narratives, neighbourhood poems, and letters to Langston. I'd like to move into creative writing before Halloween, so some students will have to work hard to complete their writing in class.
Media Literacy: Storyboarding and caption writing. We will look at some examples of storyboards. Students will have the opportunity to write captions. If time permits, students will create a storyboard of Where the Wild Things Are before we see the film this Friday.
Math: We are working on Patterning and problem solving (combined). There will be a Patterning quiz on Friday, based on what we've learned so far. Help your child by reviewing what a patterning rule is. They must say where the pattern begins, what kind of pattern it is (increasing, decreasing, or repeating), and how much it increases or decreases by each time. For example: 37, 42, 47, 52, 57... This pattern starts at 37 and increases by five each time.
Science: The Digestive System cont. Look forward to some goopy experiments and a gross question of the week (the kids thought it up, not me!). Students who were not tested orally last Friday, can talk about the parts of the cell on Monday.
Social Studies: We still need to complete the municipal government. I hope to begin provincial government this week. * This Friday, there will be a short quiz on Canadian government. Students must know the following: The name of the Toronto mayor, the name of the Ontario Premier, the name of the Prime Minister of Canada. They must also know the names of the main federal parties and which political party the Ontario premier and prime minister are affiliated with. There will also be some questions related to the municipal government. We will create a study sheet in class Monday afternoon. Tell you child about Toronto/Scarborough before amalgamation. They were very interested to learn that Scarborough once had its own mayor.
Homework:
1. Home Reading Journal - Students will write a letter to either a character in the book they are reading at home or the author if he or she is reading non-fiction.
Math sheet - Patterning.
Math Basics - long division
Science - digestive system worksheet.
*Study for Social Studies quiz. See details in Social Studies section above.
** Remember that according to the TDSB Homework Policy, students should be given no more than 10 minutes per grade of homework each evening. This work may take more than 50 minutes if it's all done on Thursday evening. Spread the work out over four days and it will be more manageable.
If you suspect your child has conjunctivitis "pink eye," please
do not send him or her to school. See your doctor and follow treatment until it has cleared up.
Conjunctivitis spreads easily in an environment such as a classroom.
I think that's it for now. Have a great week. If you haven't already done so, scroll down the page to see the wonderful bone models your children made last week. They will label them this week.
