Week of May 11 - 14th

The Clay Guy

On Tuesday our class had a visit from The Clay Guy.  He taught the students how to work with clay and they made Peruvian masks.  Their clay will be taken away to be fired and then will be returned to the school in a week or two.  The students really enjoyed the morning and they can't wait to paint their masks!  Thanks again to our parent volunteers for coming in to help with the clay project!

    

                 

Language Arts

During Writer's Workshop this week the students were introduced to persuasive writing.  Persuasive writing is all about expressing a strong opinion and trying to convince your readers to agree with you.  Using "I am the Cat, I am the Dog" by Donald Hall as a mentor text, the students were asked to compare/contrast the two animals.  After comparing and contrasting the animals, the students began writing a persuasive paragraph about which animal is better - cats or dogs?

We also began our Charlotte's Web novel study this week.  This beloved book by E. B. White is a classic of children's literature.  It's a novel of friendship, love, life, and death that has been enjoyed for generations.

Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.

Math

We concluded our Multiplication and Division unit in math this week.  The students spent time reviewing the unit in class and then completed a "Show What You Know" assessment of their learning.  Next week we will begin our study of Fractions!

Science

The students began typing their animal diary entries using the Storyboard program.  Once their stories are typed and illustrated the students will be presenting them to the class.

 Social Studies

The students finished their Ukraine Travel Brochures this week.

We also began our study of our last country, Peru.  The students have been put into 4 groups in order to research various aspects of Peru which include:

1. Traditions and Culture
2. Food
3. Environment
4. Goods and Services

The groups used bubble maps to begin recording their research on chart paper.