Dear Parents,
In these last two months the children and I have been very busy completing projects and learning new concepts. In Language Arts, we have been writing,rewriting, editing, and practicing while improving our presentations on our anti-bullying skits. The children did an excellent job of writing their own scenarios of why and how children should not bully and what to do if a child comes across a bullying situation. They created an 1/2 hour performance demonstrating different bullying scenarios and what to do if they come across someone bullying another. We presented to the entire school our anti-bullying skits, reports and presentations and answered questions about bullying from other students right before Thanksgiving break. The students really enjoyed performing and worked hard on t heir presentations. We also worked on finishing up our narratives and created a final copy of "Our Favorite Things".
The fifth graders have finished reading a fictional book called Savvy and and are now reading a non-fictional book called "An Indian Winter" by Russell Freedman. We have been discussing and answering questions on what we have been reading concentrating on characterization, theme, inferring and using what we have read in the text to support our answers. The fourth graders finished the book, "The Homework Machine" and have started and have just finished reading "The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo. It is a national bestseller about the story of honor, courage, love, a mouse, a princess, some soup and a spool of thread. We have discussed about the various themes, the different characters, using information from the book to support our answers. We have inferred and predicted what we think would happen next and are finishing up answering some questions now on the different characters and conflicts that have arisen during the story. The fourth and fifth graders in addition to reading their books have also spent time analyzing short stories concentrating on theme, characterization, inferring and using the text to support their answers.
In math, the fifth graders have learned long division by using two-digit divisors dividing into a 4 digit dividend , have practiced multiplying 5 digits by 3 digits using the standard form.. The children also have been learning divisibility rules, prime and composite numbers, factors, how to create a factor tree by factoring the numbers down into prime numbers. We have looked at order of operations while using parenthesis and exponents. We have studied area and perimeter of different quadrilaterals and triangles and trying to find the area of irregular shapes. We have worked on measurement, examining the metric as well as the customary system looking at length. We have looked at different properties such as the Commutative, Associative and Distributive properties for Algebra and have looked a little bit at algebra trying to solve for unknown variables. The fifth grade is currently working on angles, how to measure angles, and the different types of angles, measurements of angles as well as looking at different quadrilaterals and triangles.
The fourth grade has learned how to multiply 2 through 4 digit numbers by using 2-digits as their multiplier. They have learned how to find factors, factoring down numbers into their prime numbers. They students also learned about how to find multiples of numbers, using divisibility rules. The 4th graders have worked on order of operation rules while solving different arithmetic equations also using exponents and parenthesis. The fourth grade is currently working on learning how to use standard division rules while dividing with one and two digit divisors. We are currently also working on identifying points, lines, rays, angles and measuring angles. In January we will be finishing up some of the geometry and starting to examine the fractional and decimal relationships with each other along with ratios and proportions.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas and holiday.
In these last two months the children and I have been very busy completing projects and learning new concepts. In Language Arts, we have been writing,rewriting, editing, and practicing while improving our presentations on our anti-bullying skits. The children did an excellent job of writing their own scenarios of why and how children should not bully and what to do if a child comes across a bullying situation. They created an 1/2 hour performance demonstrating different bullying scenarios and what to do if they come across someone bullying another. We presented to the entire school our anti-bullying skits, reports and presentations and answered questions about bullying from other students right before Thanksgiving break. The students really enjoyed performing and worked hard on t heir presentations. We also worked on finishing up our narratives and created a final copy of "Our Favorite Things".
The fifth graders have finished reading a fictional book called Savvy and and are now reading a non-fictional book called "An Indian Winter" by Russell Freedman. We have been discussing and answering questions on what we have been reading concentrating on characterization, theme, inferring and using what we have read in the text to support our answers. The fourth graders finished the book, "The Homework Machine" and have started and have just finished reading "The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo. It is a national bestseller about the story of honor, courage, love, a mouse, a princess, some soup and a spool of thread. We have discussed about the various themes, the different characters, using information from the book to support our answers. We have inferred and predicted what we think would happen next and are finishing up answering some questions now on the different characters and conflicts that have arisen during the story. The fourth and fifth graders in addition to reading their books have also spent time analyzing short stories concentrating on theme, characterization, inferring and using the text to support their answers.
In math, the fifth graders have learned long division by using two-digit divisors dividing into a 4 digit dividend , have practiced multiplying 5 digits by 3 digits using the standard form.. The children also have been learning divisibility rules, prime and composite numbers, factors, how to create a factor tree by factoring the numbers down into prime numbers. We have looked at order of operations while using parenthesis and exponents. We have studied area and perimeter of different quadrilaterals and triangles and trying to find the area of irregular shapes. We have worked on measurement, examining the metric as well as the customary system looking at length. We have looked at different properties such as the Commutative, Associative and Distributive properties for Algebra and have looked a little bit at algebra trying to solve for unknown variables. The fifth grade is currently working on angles, how to measure angles, and the different types of angles, measurements of angles as well as looking at different quadrilaterals and triangles.
The fourth grade has learned how to multiply 2 through 4 digit numbers by using 2-digits as their multiplier. They have learned how to find factors, factoring down numbers into their prime numbers. They students also learned about how to find multiples of numbers, using divisibility rules. The 4th graders have worked on order of operation rules while solving different arithmetic equations also using exponents and parenthesis. The fourth grade is currently working on learning how to use standard division rules while dividing with one and two digit divisors. We are currently also working on identifying points, lines, rays, angles and measuring angles. In January we will be finishing up some of the geometry and starting to examine the fractional and decimal relationships with each other along with ratios and proportions.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas and holiday.