Week of March 18th

           Hopefully, we've had our last snow day of the year!

Dates to know:

• Sports Day - Wednesday - March 27th
• Good Friday - No School - Friday, March 29th
• ELA MCAS - Monday and Tuesday - April 1st and 2nd
• Day and Evening Conferences - Wednesday, April 3rd
• Day Conferences - Wednesday, April 10th

Reading

Written by: Keith, Hallie,Shane, Kaitlyn and Liam

During this week we did lots of reading MCAS prep. Including:

• Jane on her Own - about a flying cat who wants to escape from a farm
• Ida B - about a girl who had to read out loud for her sick teacher
• The Seed - about an emperor choosing a new emperor
• Annie Smith Peck - about a female mountain climber

We did open responses and multiple choice questions mostly on our own but sometimes together in partners or as a class. We planned a lot of open responses as a whole class.

Writing

Written by: JACK.F , Cassidy, Stacey

• We reviewed three types of prompts and how to plan them.
• We began to type our persuasive essays on the computer.
• We reviewed the things we need to do for the test on Monday.
• We browsed through all of our writing in our portfolio to see how much we have improved as writers.

Our wall of Celebrity Writers!

Students browsed their writing portfolios to see how much their writing has improved over the year! It was great to compare their writing from September to today! Hopefully it boosted their confidence for the long comp test!

Science/Social Studies

Written by:Annie, Sophie, Brenna

• On Monday and Wednesday, we finished If your Name was Changed at Ellis Island and answered the questions that went with it.
• On Thursday and Friday, we went on an Ellis Island website and another website to learn about more about immigration and the different groups that came.

Math:Brien, TOMMY, Jack C, DEREK.

Written by:

• We worked on decimal place value with tenths and hundredths. Students also added decimals on the mimeo.
• On Wednesday and Thursday, we had a math review workshop. We reviewed fractions and decimals and got to use the mimio to review too.
• On Friday we had a math test on decimals and fractions.

Week of March 11

I hope everyone enjoyed their snow day! Hopefully we'll have better luck as spring officially rolls in!


Classroom News: 

• We will be having a fractions and decimals test on Friday, March 22. Students are encouraged to study and can use the links on the website to help. 
• Once you have filled out the conference sheet, please send it in with your child. I'm hoping to send home the conference confirmation times by the end of the week. Please note that the night conferences are April 3rd, not April 10th.

Dates to know:

• MCAS Long Composition - Monday - March 25th
• Sports Day - Wednesday - March 27th
• Good Friday - No School - Friday, March 29th
• ELA MCAS - Monday and Tuesday - April 1st and 2nd
• Day and Evening Conferences - Wednesday, April 3rd
• Day Conferences - Wednesday, April 10th

Writing

Written by: Cassidy

• We finished revising, editing and started publishing our expert project writing.
• On Tuesday we planned our persuasive essay about your favorite season.
• We drafted  our intro and closing paragraphs.
• On Thursday we planned our expert project for Hanlon School and took some of it home for homework.
• Lastly, on Friday we reviewed personal narratives and planned one to work.

Our trick to remembering the revising checklist

Science/Social Studies

Written by: Stacey

• We reviewed an article about peoples names being changed at Ellis Island. Then we did a line up activity to guess how many immigrants went through Ellis Island.
• We also watched a Ellis Island powerpoint video and learned what life was like once they arrived in America.
  
  

Math

Written by: Hallie

• On Monday we learned how to play a game called Fill Two. This game helped us practice adding decimals.
• We worked on adding decimals using running logs from our math workbook.
• On Thursday and Friday we were in a two day workshop. Students worked with Mrs. Stygles on creating running logs and finding numbers that equaled 10.5. Students got to play Decimal Compare and Fill Two. Students could also do IXL and challenges.
  
  

Reading

Written by:Keith, Brien, Shane

• First, on Monday, we did the voyager open response and made a t-chart organizer for planning the open response.
• We started our biography book for book clubs and we learned how to be prepared for a book club discussion.
• We started a new reading practice called the photograph. It’s a poem about a boy watching her mom take out the photographs of her while she was younger.
• We did our photograph open response and this was different because it had two parts so we had to write two paragraphs. We also started a new practice reading mcas called Ultimate Field Trip, which is about a trip to the U.S. Space Academy for kids and we did the multiple choice questions for that.
• We did the Ultimate Field Trip open response. We also read the play Baker’s Neighbor and acted it out.
  
  Students acting out Baker's Neighbor
  
  

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Week of March 4th

What crazy weather we had on Friday! Hopefully the snow day provided extra time for rest and relaxation!!!

Dates to know:
MCAS Long Composition - Tuesday, March 19th
Sports Day - Wednesday - March 27th
Good Friday - No School - Friday, March 29th
ELA MCAS - Monday and Tuesday - April 1st and 2nd


Reading

• We read a book about Harry Houdini, the greatest escape artist. Part of our biography unit is to discuss how the setting affects the character. Since he was one of the first real magicians, the class believes that this is the reason why he was so famous. They do not believe that he'd be as famous today since others can do those tricks.
• On Wednesday, students read a passage called Digging Dirt. This is a nonfiction MCAS passage about dirt and soil. Students worked in partners to answer the multiple choice questions. Later that day, students worked on creating their own organizer and finding specific evidence to support their thinking. 
• The class started another non-fiction MCAS passage called Voyager, which is about one of the first airplane rides that successfully completed a flight around the world after overcoming many challenges. 

Writing

• We learned how to "show, don't tell" within nonfiction writing. This is a strategy that will help students stretch out their ideas. 
• On Tuesday, students completed the Mock Comp. I am in the process of typing up a strengths and goals sheet for each student, which will hopefully go home on the 12th or 13th. 
• On Wednesday, we talked about what went well on Tuesday and we came up with a list of tips and ideas to help us on the real day. 
• Using a Google Presentation, we revisited the structure of a conclusion paragraph in an expert project. Students drafted their conclusion paragraph and began to revise their writing. 

Math

• On Monday, we began our unit on decimals and exploring the place value of tenths, hundredths and thousandths. 
• Students began comparing decimals and using place value to help them determine which one is larger or smaller. Students learned a new game called Decimal Compare to help them practice this idea.
• Students participated in a math workshop where they placed fractions on a number line, played Decimal Compare and chose activities from the fractions and decimals menu. 

Social Studies

• On Monday and Wednesday, we read a picture book called Coming to America, which highlights the history of immigration. As we read the book, we filled out an organizer to keep track of all the information.
• On Thursday, students read a story called Grandfather's Journey. This book is about a man's immigration from Japan, the reasons why he left and how hard it is to live in a new land when you miss your old home. 

Week of February 25th

My mom came up from North Carolina for a visit. While she was here, she came to school with me one day. Luckily, she was very willing to help run some small group activities.

Reading

Written by:Jack,Cassidy, Annie, Paris

• On Monday we read a biography of Marian Anderson and talked about the organization of the biography.
• On Tuesday we finished the Marian Andersons biography and discussed that biographies are usually birth to death order (chronological order)
• On Thursday we did an MCAS passage called Americas Best Girl and answered the multiple choice questions. We also talked about test taking strategies.
• On Friday we talked about making graphic organizers  for  the open response . We also did the open response for America’s Best Girl.

Math
Written by:  Jack f Stacey Parsa, brien,

• On Monday, we finished our workshop on comparing fractions.
• We learned how to add and subtract mixed numbers
• The next few days, we learned how to multiply fractions. We also worked with Mrs. Stygles on different strategies and visual models. We also got to do challenges and IXL after we completed our work.

New fraction manipulatives I picked up at the teacher store (fraction cubes and magnetic fraction strips). 

New fraction manipulatives I picked up at the teacher store (magnetic fraction circles). 

Writing
Written by: Derek, Keith, Thomas, Sophie, Giana

• We revised and edited our persuasive essay and published it.
• We started a new prompt which is an expert project. The prompt was what we liked to do in our free time. We started to pick our topic and most people picked one.
• For Wednesday and Thursday we planned our body, intro and conclusion paragraphs.
• Today we drafted our intro paragraph and talked about headings.

Science/Social Studies
Written by: Hallie, Amy, Tyler, Liam, Kaitlyn

• We did a yummy experiment with graham crackers and frosting to review how plate tectonics move and change the surface of the earth over time
• We finished our concept map of how the surface of the earth changes over time.

• We took our science check in and we wrote a paragraph about how the surface of the earth changes over time.
• We took a pre assessment on immigration to show what we know.
• We started a book on immigration.