Week of September 28

Please remember to log in to Achieve and iReady through our blog or the DCPS website. Students will not be credited if they log in directly through the websites as they did last year. Let us know if you have any questions about this.

Our Book Fair days...
Mrs. Kluge: Tuesday 9:00 - 9:20
Mrs. Cox: Wednesday 9:00 - 9:20
Family night is 
Thursday from 5-7 PM.

• Mid-term progress reports go home Monday, September 28
• Monday, September 28 is the last day for the Charleston Wrap Fundraiser.
• Wednesday, September 30, is the DCPS Dads Take Your Child to School Day. 

Resources this week:

Cox:
Monday: Computer Lab
Tuesday: ART and Media
Thursday: MUSIC
Friday: PE

Kluge:
Monday: PE and Media
Tuesday: Computer Lab
Wednesday: ART
Friday: MUSIC

ELA: We will finish working with The Boy Who Loved Words on Monday. Please ask your child to share some of the awesome new words we learned!
Tuesday, we will read The Incredible Book Eating Boy. Click on the cover to watch a teacher read it aloud. We will discuss reading stamina and talk about what it means... Students will also self-assess their reading stamina and set goals to improve. We will also look at individual data from our baseline assessments and our first reading fluency check to determine our reading strengths and where we need to work.
In writing, we have been writing "expert" paragraphs about topics on which we have a good deal of knowledge. We have learned about strong leads, transitions, powerful endings, and voice.

MATH: This week in math we will work on modeling the relationship between multiplication and division using tape diagrams and number bonds.  We will be applying the distributive property of multiplication to decompose units. The students will be solving two-step problems involving all four operations and examining the reasonableness of their answers.

Example of a number bond:

 The distributive property of multiplication:

                         7 x 9 = 7(4 + 5)
                                  = (7 x 4) + (7 x 5)
                                  = 28 + 35
                                  = 63
                                 same as 7 x 9 = 63

Homework:

Lesson 17

Lesson 18

Lesson 19

Lesson 20

Things to practice at home:

Practice multiplication facts 2-10

Use arrays to model multiplication (2 x 5 or 2 rows of 5, 4 x 4 or 4 rows of 4)

Write word problems and solve using tape diagrams or number bonds

SCIENCE: This week in Science we will discuss ways scientists collect and record data during their investigations and reasons why it is important for scientists to maintain accurate records of their work.                        

Math videos to assist with math homework:

Module 1 Lesson 17:

Module 1 Lesson 18:

Module 1 Lesson 19:

Module 1 Lesson 20:

Week of September 21

Please vote for 

your favorite book!   

Thank you for joining us last week for Open House! If you would like us to email you the Power Point for review, please let us know!

Individual school pictures are this Friday, September 25!!!

Resources this week:  Wednesday is EARLY RELEASE!
Mrs. Cox -
Monday: ART
Thursday: MUSIC
Friday: PE
Mrs. Kluge -
Tuesday: ART
Friday: MUSIC

The BSE Scholastic MONSTER Book Fair will be the week of September 28. On Friday, a catalog came home with some of the books that will be for sale. We will let you know which days we will visit as a class as soon as we sign up. Students can bring money any day. We will allow them to go to the book fair every day.

ELA: 
Students completed the mid-module reading assessment on Friday. I was quite proud of how hard they worked and were very familiar with the tasks! This week, we begin unit 2 with a great book, Thank You, Mr. Falker. This text is more complex than our previous books. We will work through the close reading cycle using familiar routines.

• Capturing the gist
• Identifying unfamiliar words
• Somebody - in - wanted - but - so...
• Answering text-dependent questions
• Focusing on determining meaning of vocabulary from the text

When we read new text, one of the things we do is write down words that are unfamiliar to us in meaning. This is something students can do at home when they are reading independently. If they write the word and page number, you can talk about what they think the word means based on the clues in the text when they finish.

At school, after we identify an unfamiliar word, we use 2 strategies:

1. Reread the sentence or paragraph the word is in and think about the possible meaning using text clues.

2. Plug - it - in strategy: Substitute another word that you came up with based on clues in the actual sentence. 

MATH:

This week in math we will focus on multiplication and division using units of 4.  The students will skip count objects in models to build fluency with multiplication facts using units of 4.  Relate arrays to tape diagrams to model the commutative property of multiplication.  Use the distributive property as a strategy to find related multiplication facts and model the relationship between multiplication and division.

For Example:

This model above shows how the part and whole are related through multiplication and division. We could show that if we had 15 stickers and we divided them evenly among 3 people, each person would get 5 stickers. 

Example of distributive property:

Math Practice at Home:

** Mid-Module Assessment Tuesday – Please review study guide sent home on Friday.

Continue practicing math facts 2-5

Write/solve multiplication and division word problems

Math Homework:

Review study guide

Lesson 14

Lesson 15

Lesson 16

SCIENCE:
This week in science we will continue learning about tools scientists use during explorations.

Here is a math video to assist with Wednesday Night's Math Homework Module 1 Lesson 15:

Thursday Night Video: Module 1 Lesson 16:

Week of September 14

We have finished our iReady Math and Achieve3000 diagnostics. These programs are up and available for use at home. The link to the right under "Student Technology" will take you to the DCPS page to access both programs. This year students have a common user name and password for all programs! In reading class this week, we worked through a complete Achieve3000 lesson so students will be familiar with the format. Parents are encouraged to sit and learn about Achieve3000 early on so you know how it works!

Resources this week...
Cox:
Monday - Art
Wednesday - Music
Thursday - PE
Kluge:
Tuesday - Art
Thursday - Music
Friday - PE

ELA: Listening and speaking are very important in our curriculum and are part of our Florida ELA standards. Below are our norms for discussion and some photos from an activity called a carousel. Groups read a question related to a selected text, think, discuss, and work together to determine their group answer.

This week, as we continue to work with the text, Nasreen's Secret School, we will plan and write effective paragraphs about Nasreen's special story. We will look at a well written paragraph and identify the following elements:

Topic sentence

Detail #1

Explanation of detail #1 (example from the story)

Detail #2

Explanation of detail #2 (example from the story)

Our next story in our unit focusing on the great lengths people around the world go through to gain the power of reading and education is:

This book tells the story of a boy from Appalachia who is reluctant reader.  After repeated visits by a traveling librarian, the boy sees the joy and value in reading. Below is our graphic organizer we use for each book we read. The SIWBS will be a part of our upcoming mid-unit assessment. It can be applied to most fiction books. This is a great tool to use at home when you talk about what students are reading. 

MATH:

This week in math the students will solve two types of division situations.  Division problems where the group size is unknown and problems where the number of groups is unknown using factors of 2 and 3.   Students will use tape diagrams and arrays as tools to compare and analyze problems.  Students will use arrays and tape diagrams to practice solving division problems and transition to problem solving using abstract division and multiplication equations. The students will skip count objects in models to build fluency with multiplication facts using units of 4. 

Example of tape diagrams:

Math homework this week:

Lesson 11

Lesson 12

Lesson 13

Lesson 14

Math to practice at home:

·     Practice labeling tape diagrams to solve problem situations.

·     Discuss and practice analyzing problem situations comparing different unknowns. 

·     Ask your child how what the quotient represents affect the way a tape diagram is represented/drawn?

·     Practice multiplication facts  (2, 3, 4, 5)

SCIENCE:

This week in Science we will continue discussing how scientists work together to answer questions about the natural world.  

Week of September 7

Wednesday is Early Release! Dismissal is 1:40 PM.
We are almost finished with our baseline assessments! A few students need to complete i-Ready and Achieve baselines.

Resources this week:
Cox:
Tuesday: Music
Wednesday: PE
Thursday: PE
Kluge:
Wednesday: Art
Thursday: Art
Friday: PE

ELA: Remember to complete your R.A.H. log throughout the week and have a parent sign Thursday night. They are collected on Friday and new ones are passed out the same day. Also, study your spelling words for the quiz on Friday. The Word Work tab above has several suggestions for spelling activities.

This we will read Nasreen's Secret School, the story of a young girl in Afghanistan, who faces many obstacles to be able to go to school and learn. We will read the text closely and use the same organizational tools we used with Rain School to determine the gist and lesson of the story. We are becoming familiar with the term, gist.

The gist is the main idea, what the page, section, chapter, or book is about. The gist does not include many details, but at the same time can be supported with details.

When we read closely, we read a text numerous times, each time with a different purpose or focus. One focus we have is to make note of words that are unfamiliar in meaning to us as we read. We then go back in the text and try to use context clues to determine the meaning of the new word.

Example: Poor Nasreen sat at home all day because girls are forbidden to attend school. Because the author writes "poor Nasreen" and tells us she is staying at home, we can guess that forbidden means not allowed. We can use the "plug it in" strategy and see if "not allowed" makes sense and it does. Poor Nasreen sat at home all day because girls are not allowed to attend school.

We will also use the S-I-W-B-S graphic organizer to help us focus on the important details in the story as we read closely.

Somebody (the main character)...

in (setting)...

wanted (motivation)...

but (problem)...

so (resolution)...

When reading at home this week, think about the gist, look for unfamiliar words, and see if you can fill in a S-I-W-B-S chart about your book.

MATH: This week in math students will continue to build fluency with math facts using the array model and familiar skip counting strategies.  We will begin to manipulate arrays to study the commutative property. We will continue distinguishing rows from columns and noticing that the meaning of the factors changes depending on the orientation of the array.  Students will be writing the 2 different multiplication sentences to interpret the same array (different orientation).

For example:

                              

The students will find related multiplication facts by adding and subtracting equal groups in array models.

For example:

                                 7 threes = 5 threes + 2 threes

                                   7 x 3 =    5 x 3     +      2 x 3       

                                     21      =     15       +        6

Things to practice at home (math):

Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 x 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each.  Apply properties of operations as strategies to multiply and divide.  Examples: If 6 x 4 = 24 is known, then 4 x 6 = 24 is also known. (Commutative property of multiplication)

Math Homework:

Lesson 7

Lesson 8

Lesson 9

Practice 2, 3, 4, 5 math facts at home

SCIENCE: This week in Science we will continue our discussion on the “Scientific Method” and how scientists raise questions about the natural world.