October 14-17

October 14-16

Writing

This week we will be “batty” over writing.  We will work on writing a diary entry from the perspective of a bat.  We will include fact and fiction in our writing.  We’ll also get to design, name, and add captions to our very own bat.  We’ll take our writing through the writing process, working on editing and peer conferencing.  We will continue to practice the spelling rule of the week each day.  On Fridays we will assess how well they know the spelling pattern.  If you would like additional “at home” practice there are some links on the blog under “websites”.

Reading

This week we will be discussing the elements of fiction by reading many books by the same author. Students will compare similarities and differences in the plots and setting and will be able to describe the main characters in the books, including their traits, motivations, and feelings. We will also discuss the theme, or moral lesson, in the book as well.

Spelling

The spelling list will come home on Tuesday and we will assess their knowledge of the spelling pattern on Friday.   

Math

We’re getting in shape this week with our new unit on three-dimensional geometry! After checking what we learned about telling time on Tuesday, we will jump into learning about the attributes of different three dimensional shapes. We will learn some new vocabulary words: vertex, edge, face, and surface and how those words apply to certain shapes. We will ask ourselves why a rectangular prism has 8 vertices but a cone only has a point. We will also that a cube is made up of 6 squares and a square-based pyramid has 4 triangles and a square.

Science

This week in Science, we will be continuing our unit on matter and energy. We will classify matter by physical properties, including shape, relative mass, relative temperature, texture, flexibility, and whether material is a solid or liquid. We will discuss the misconception that students may think materials have only one single property. Students will discover that the same materials can have multiple properties.  (Ex: An eraser is pink, rectangular, small, lighter than a rock, and feels cooler than the Sun.)  We will use our senses to explore objects and describe their physical properties. At the end of the week we will have a review and assessment.

If you’re looking for enrichment fun at home, here are some ideas:

SUPER Objects Story

Cartoon superheroes possess properties that humans do not have like stretching bodies to any size, throwing their own fire, or having incredible strength. Students create a short story booklet imagining they are a scientist who can change the properties of common objects into SUPER objects. Their cover picture should be in divided in half, with the object picture with a list of its common properties on top and the SUPER object picture on the bottom with its new properties drawn on the bottom. The remaining pages (2 or 3) are for the creative story of what happened with the SUPER object. For example, if the student wanted to use a cereal bowl as their object, they would draw an image of a ordinary cereal bowl on the top half with properties listed as: plastic, bowl shaped, a little flexible, doesn’t break, holds cereal and milk. On the bottom they would create a SUPER cereal bowl that might be able to change temperature and freeze the cereal into ice cream; or changes shape into a spaceship that transports the student into another world just for breakfast and returns them back to their breakfast table. Their story could be a short breakfast adventure they have in their new breakfast world.

Changing Texture Challenge

Take a small old object at home and change its texture. For example if your child has a  plastic ball, they could glue on sand to make it rough or add blobs of glue to make it bumpy. Draw a before and after picture with the texture change words at the top of each (Smooth - Bumpy).

Reminders

Library Day is Thursday: Don’t forget to return books to school!

Thursday, October 16: Caraway Science Night

Thursday, October 16: Coffee and Conversation with Mrs. Bailey 7:45-8:30

Friday, October 24: First nine-weeks ends

Saturday, October 25: Caraway Harvest Festival

Wednesday, October 29: Early Release - school ends at 12:45pm