Week of October 26-30

It's hard to believe October is almost over and the first quarter is winding down. In this week's Friday Folder be looking for a Parent-Teacher conference reminder. Here's what's going on this week in Mrs. McCann's class!

This week in Language Arts... we are continuing reading our Literature Circle books and taking a close look at how the authors develop the main characters and how they change because of conflicts and events in the novel. We will be having our first student-led Literature Circle discussions on Tuesday, October 27. Check out the calendar on Angel to double check the reading assignments. Reading assignments are also recorded in each student's agenda. Each student should also have completed a job sheet in order to bring a certain perspective to the discussion. After Tuesday, students should continue reading their novel and completing a different job sheet for the Literature Circle meeting #2 which will be a week from Tuesday.

Word Study continues this week -- students have WS homework each night this week.

This week in Math... we are continuing our graphing unit. We are working on analyzing data by determining the mean, median, mode, and range of a set of data. A review packet for our graphing unit will come home this week for students to work on to prepare for our upcoming math test next week.
This week's homework assignments:
Monday - Wks: Finding the mean, median, mode, and range
Tuesday - Study guide going home -- due FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30
Wednesday - Study Guide due FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30
Thursday - Study Guide due FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30
Friday - No Homework -- Graphing Test on Tuesday, November 3rd.

This week in Science... we are continuing our matter unit. We'll explore mixtures and differentiate between even and uneven mixtures. Students will receive instructions on how to finish their Matter projects at home either by handwriting the final draft or typing the final draft by downloading the Word document from Angel and typing in their research in the texts boxes. Final drafts of the Matter projects are due the first week of November.

Week of October 19 - 23

This week in Language Arts... students have been given a new class text. We are studying character development using books with Native American characters. We will also work on our decoding unknown words from context skills during this unit. Students have their reading pace marked out in their agendas, they have a calendar in their Language Arts folders, and the dates are also posted on ANGEL. Students will meet every Tuesday for the next four weeks to discuss their reading in a small group. They will meet with me throughout the week to work on character development. Students should be reading their Language Arts text and working on their job sheets at home -- this counts toward their reading log.

We are having a full Word Study week so students will have Word Study HW each night this week.

This week in Math... we are continuing to study graphs. We'll learn about Stem and Leaf plots as well as practice making them. We'll also visit the computer lab on Friday to make a line graph with the weather data we collected on the computer!
HOMEWORK:
Monday - No Math HW
Tuesday - Wks: Stem and Leaf Plots
Wednesday - No Math HW
Thursday - Wks: Median, Mode, and Range with Stem and Leaf Plots
Friday -No Homework

This week in Science... we are exploring the difference between Chemical and Physical changes. We are also working on our Matter/Element research project. We'll visit the library Wednesday/Thursday depending on the section and choose our elements to begin research! Some of this project will be done in school but students will definitely need to spend some time working on it at home as well, especially when we get to the final draft. The project is due Wednesday, November 4th for Atlantic and Thursday, November 5th for Pacific.

Week of October 12 - 16

NO SCHOOL Monday! I hope everyone had a nice and restful 3-day weekend!
Progress Reports go home Friday, October 16

This week in Language Arts -- we are not having a full week of Word Study. We will do a class-wide sort and have only two nights of Word Study homework and no test on Friday.
Assignments:
Tuesday - Reading Log 30 minutes -- be sure you are keeping up with this!
Wednesday - WS: Star Sentences (compound words sort) and Reading Log 30 minutes
Thursday - WS: Choice Activity (compound words sort) and Reading Log 30 minutes
Friday - Reading Log 30 minutes

We will wrap up our Junior Great Books unit by having our small group discussion (accountable talk) about the story Barbie. We will begin our next reading unit -- Native American Protagonists where we will also learn elements of character development and decoding unknown words from context skills. This week we'll be learning how Literature Circles will work and practicing the jobs we will all have during this unit to prepare for discussions in the Literature Circles. Students will receive their books for this unit on Friday or Monday of next week along with a unit-long calendar showing what needs to be read, what work needs to be done, and by when.

This week in Math... we are continuing our graphing units by learning how to make bar graphs on the computer. We will also explore line graphs -- reading, interpreting, and making predictions based on the information displayed -- we'll collect data and make our own line graphs as well.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Tuesday - Wks - Reading & Interpreting double bar
Graphs
Wednesday - Finish side 2 of The Cookie Sheet (analyzing double bar graphs)
Thursday - Wks: Reading a Line Graph
Friday -NO HOMEWORK

This week in Science... we are still exploring matter! We will explore what happens when two elements bond together. We'll make models of molecules, explore compounds, and chemical reactions. Students will also be introduced to their first research project in science. Look for the assignment and rubric to come home. MOST of this project will be done in class but students may need to spend time at home finishing it up. The project will be due the first week of November.

Week of October 5-9

This week's Announcements:
No School next Monday -- Columbus Day!

This week in Language Arts: We will have a group discussion/accountable talk about the story Lenny's Red Letter Day. Students have prepared a response to the question: Why does Prakash try to be friends with Lenny? We will continue with Junior Great Books this week by reading a third and final story. Word Study also continues this week. Students will bring home a new list of words this week. The activities are the same as last week!
Monday - S.A.W. Wks (directions and blank copies of the worksheet can be found on ANGEL)
Tuesday - Word Hunt - Students should find 8 new words that follow the pattern they are learning and sort them into the correct category
Wednesday - Star Sentences (5); Students should also finish their re-reading of Barbie and take notes in their Reading Spiral. Some students may have finished in class.
Thursday - Choice Activity
Friday - Word Study Test.

This week in Math... we will begin our Graphing Unit! We will explore components of a good and useful graph, reading and interpreting bar graphs, line graphs, and stem and leaf plots.
HOMEWORK:
Monday -Measurement WKS
Tuesday - Wks: Bar Graphs
Wednesday - Collect 25 pieces of data for survey
Thursday -
Friday -

This week in Science... we are beginning our new unit on Matter! What is matter? What is an atom? How small is an atom? What makes up an atom? We'll try to answer all of this and more!!