Week of May 24-28

MATH:
Last week we didn't get to everything I said due to the ITBS testing. This week we will continue with reviewing division by two-digit divisors.
No timed test this week.

SCIENCE:
Students should be almost finished answering the questions about their cool place in space. They will then take the information they have learned and write it in a report that they will share with the class.

FIELD DAY:
Tuesday afternoon is field day. T-shirts will be provided. Please don't forget to bring in donations for the pizza.

FRIDAY:
Friday is the year-end assembly, free colours day, as well as early dismissal.

HAPPY LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

Week of May 17-21

MATH:
This week in math we will be reviewing long division as we take a look at dividing by 2-digit divisors. This is in preparation for 5th grade, as they do dividing by 3-digit divisors.

SCIENCE:
In Science we will be working on their solar system research projects/reports. Please make sure your child has chosen their "cool place in space" and has printed out at least one page of info from the internet. Because the computer lab is being closed down to start year-end clean-up, students will have to do the research at home, and bring the information to class so they can answer the assigned questions, and compose their reports.

Solar System Project

For the next week or so, we will be working on solar system research projects on strange and interesting places in our solar system.
Your homework this weekend is to choose an interesting (and non-popular) place to research. Here are some ideas of places you could look into:

- The moons of other planets
- An interesting star (other than the sun)
- Other galaxies beyond the Milky Way
- A specific Nebula
- A dwarf planet (other than Pluto)

http://www.space.com/ is a great place to search around for cool articles and places. Check out the dogo news site under "space" as well. Also, if you type "cool places (or things) in space" into a Google search, you may find some interesting things!

Once you have decided on a place, please print out some information on that place that you may use for starting an assignment on Monday. You MUST have something to work from on Monday as we will be spending an entire period on this project, and will continue the work all week.

Literacy Homework: Monday, May 10th

a) Go to http://www.popularchildrenstories.com/stories/Kids-Picture-Story-The-Wise-Mamma-Goose-0732.htm

b) Answer the following questions
1) What is the main idea of what you read?
2)List three events from the story
3) Did you like this story? Why or why not?
4)What is the problem?
5) How did the story end?

Week of May 10-14

MATH:
This week we continue with decimals. We will be looking at adding and subtracting decimals. Today it was adding and subtracting by first rounding the decimals to the nearest whole number. Tomorrow and Wednesday we will be adding/subtracting decimals by lining up the place value of each. Students will be quized on adding and subtracting decimals on Friday.

Timed Test: Students will have their timed test on Thursday and it will focus on 8 as a divisor.

Problem Solving: We will be having an Orders of Operations Quiz on Thursday during bellwork. This is something we've been doing for over a week now during our bellwork times in the morning. We're using the acronym BEDMAS (brackets, exponents, division, multiplication, addition, subtraction) to explain the order that equations should be solved.

SCIENCE:
We continue with our new Solar System unit. Friday we discussed the sun. Today and tomorrow we will be talking about the moon. Wednesday we will review both, then students will have a quiz on the sun and the moon on Thursday.

HOMEWORK:
Students who are involved in the musical will not be expected to complete homework this week. I have told all students, however, that if they are not using their time wisely in class, then I will require those students to complete the homework as well.

Literacy Homework: Thursday, May 6

Go to read this article:
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=9091906328414655512

Questions:
1. What are scientist worried about?
2. How can Earth be saved?

Read this article:
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/our_sun.htm

Questions:
1. How did the solar system get its name?
2. How old is the sun?
3. What is nuclear fusion?
4. What are sun spots?
5. What percentage of all matter in the solar system is found within the sun?

Literacy Homework: Monday, May 3rd

a) Go to http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/aw/wr/article/0,28138,536985,00.html to learn about China.

b) Answer the following questions:
1) Why was the Great Wall built?
2) What is so special about the Great Wall?
3)What important athletic event took place in Beijing?
4)What is unique about the Forbidden City?
5) Which is China's biggest city? How many people live there?



c) Go to http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/aw/wr/article/0,28138,1156560,00.html to learn about Thailand.

d) Do the following: There are 5 places you are going to click on Thailand. Write the most interesting fact you read about each one.

Week of May 3rd-7th

MATH:
This week we continue with decimals. Today we compared and ordered decimals. Tomorrow we will be rounding decimals. Wednesday is fractions as decimals. Thursday will be review and Friday will be our first decimals test. The test will focus on the following topics:

• reading and writing decimals
• decimal place-value relationships
• ordering and comparing decimals
• rounding decimals
• fractions as decimals

Please remember that I posted MANY online site (under the Math sites section at the side of the blog) so that students may practice these concepts at home. If you did not see my important note last week on the blog, it was about how most students have admitted that they are not practicing or studying at home. This is concerning. Please ensure that students are putting forth much effort at home as well.

Plato Test: Concludes Friday. Please review previous concepts using blog links, etc. to help improve the score :)

Timed Test: This week we will be doing 7 as a divisor. This is different than usual, as we normally combine two divisors before moving on, but at this point in the year we are running out of time to fit in all factors/divisors and I would like to move on. Please review these facts with your child.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
Today students worked independently on interactive editing on 4 pages from their texts. Some students finished in class, although many will have some work to do at home tonight, as this is being collected as assessment.
Tomorrow we will be reviewing the Gold Rush that we started last week. Students will have a Gold Rush quiz on Wednesday. This will conclude our "West" unit in Social Studies.

SCIENCE:
Thursday we will begin our last Science unit - The Solar System! This will take us until the end of the year.
Science Fair: Projects should have been handed in today. I will be turning them in to the judges for judging. Friday, projects will be on display for parents and students to browse.



LITERACY:

Read Aloud
The Girraffe nd the Pelly and Me, by Roald Dahl, focus on exploring humor in literature, word play and comic effect

Shared Reading
An interview with Roald Dahl, focus on drawing conclusions
Roald Dahl's Biography, focus on chronological order, past tense verbs, and a recount (answers to fatual information, who, what, when, where, why)


Independent Writing
We will be working on a special gift for Mother's Day

Students will also participate in Independent Reading, Book Clubs, and Reading Cycles.