January
15, 2016
Dear Families,
Our
mornings have been dedicated to drafting our persuasive writings…
and the students are making great progress as they develop each reason to
support their thesis or opinion. Many are working on their conclusion at
this point and will revise next week. Great job writer’s.
In
math this week we have finished unit 4 which
started out with a geometry focus and moved to measurement, perimeter and
area. We have taken a two-day
assessment that has also included a cumulative test on concepts taught thus far
in the year.
And
we have officially begun our biography study with our
non- fiction narrative genre study.
At this point most students have selected a person (or two!) to read
about. Please consider stopping by
Rice Public Library this weekend and check out the kids’ biography section. It’s a good one! Our focus will move beyond dates and
basic facts as we read. Rather we
will try to understand the person’s character traits and what helped him/her prevail;
also teasing out obstacles and difficulties that the person faced perhaps due
to the time period that person grew up in; and lastly who was influential in
this person’s life to help him/her succeed.
Our cursive
practice continues, slow but steady.
You might consider writing a sentence in cursive for your kiddo to practice
reading in the Family Letter! It is great watching the kids practice each new
letter for they are very focused, attentive and determined to master it.
Our read aloud book, Hoot is a highlight after lunch. Each chapter is a rollercoaster of
excitement as the various sub plots come colliding together for a big bang of a
conclusion. We are on the edge of
our seats. Have a great MLK three-day weekend…