Here's what's coming up next week:
- Parent Teacher Conferences are Monday and Wednesday after school.
- On Thursday, October 31st, we have our Halloween Parade & Party!
- On Friday, November 1st, there is NO SCHOOL.
Social Studies
This week in Social Studies, students spent some time researching the first Missourians. We learned that our state was named after a Native American tribe, the Missouri people. We don't know for sure, but many believe the first Missourians came to our current place via a land bridge that connected Asia and North America. Early Native Americans created shelter using animal hides and branches.
Archaeologists call this time
prehistory, the time before people kept written records.
We kept a table of the new terms and facts we acquired, as well as a list of special
Informational Text Features. These features help readers to determine the most important information. By studying the headings and subheadings, maps, captions, text boxes, and other features, we can be sure to learn all the author wanted to communicate to us.
Math
During Math this week, we practiced collecting and showing data using a variety of graphs. Students participated in math stations where they compiled
line graphs about snowfall in the St. Louis area. They also created a
double bar graph comparing boys' and girls' favorite fall activities. We also spent some time playing Multiplication War, a game that allows us to practice our basic facts using a deck of cards. Ask your kiddo to teach this to you over the weekend!
Writer's Workshop
We are over halfway through our Realistic Fiction Study. This week, we discussed making decisions about paragraphing and appropriately punctuating dialogue. We learned that dialogue should be peppered throughout the story, and RF writers should have a balance of storytelling and dialogue. Writing partnerships worked together to help each other communicate ideas effectively. We helped each other tie up any loose ends and show how our main characters evolved throughout the story. Look for an invitation to our next Writing Celebration soon!
Reader's Workshop
Students reviewed the many features of
Informational Texts, then practiced using these features to make predictions about what the book would teach. We also discussed that sometimes informational text can seem challenging or even dull. As readers, we have all sorts of strategies we use to help us understand and stay engaged with the text including asking questions, exploring features, visualizing, making connections, and more.
Molly teaching the class about how visualizing can help a reader to become more interested in the text.
Paris teaching students about how making text-to-self connections can help a reader to become engaged.
