Class News

Dear Families,


We had another great week, despite the early release & late start due to snow. Here's what we've been up to:

Social Studies

• Students ventured further in their teams (corps) on the Lewis & Clark simulation expedition
• Captains calculated mileage, determined latitude/longitude, assigned roles in their corps and assisted others
• Journal writers took notes on their corps ideas about the daily dilemma, researched what Lewis & Clark's actual decision was to that exact dilemma, and wrote a journal entry with all that information
• Interpreters researched a native American tribe, near their corps' location and wrote/illustrated a detailed post card to the president--Thomas Jefferson about this and other details
• Privates completed a variety of tasks including making beaded bracelets, rainmakers, researching Fort Mandan or Clatsop and creating drawings/models, plus much more
• Example Daily Dilemmas: should your corp trade weapons for 20 horses? After a boat tipped over on the river--should your corp try to salvage what they can? Should your corp agree to take along a man named Toussaint Charbonneau, and his pregnant wife? (ask your student what their corp decided to do about each of these dilemmas)

Math

• Took unit 5 assessment, received graded assessment back. Thank you for your additional support at home in helping practice the types of problems that were problematic for your child.
• Started unit 6. Please see the Family Letter Here
• Just introduced the partial quotients division algorithm

Reading

• In honor of MLK Day we read a couple books relating to slavery the underground railroad: A Place Called Freedom and Aboard the Underground Railroad
• Read about/discussed the Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation, and Civil Rights movement from our Washington Adventure Textbook
• Watched a Youtube video of the Martin Luther King I have a Dream Speech

Writing

• Practiced writing more essays and stretching a train of thought by using discussion prompts

Art Docent

• Thank you to Lynne Varner, Leigh Karvasek and Karla Olson for a great Art Docent Lesson last week (see below)

Picasso Art Docent Lesson. Students paint a self-portrait, emulating Picasso's rose and blue periods. More pictures here.

Class News

The Year at a Glance:

As a grade level team we would like you to know ahead of time what some potential costs may be throughout the year. Please keep in mind they may change due to unexpected opportunities, and we will also have additional opportunities for you to support our classroom by donating specific items for class celebrations.  Our hope is to help families with planning and budgeting.  The costs outlook at this time is as follows: $15 February field trip, and $35 March field trip.  Please let us know if you have concerns or needs in order for your child to participate.

Class News

Products of Washington Celebration:  Students had a fantastic time today reviewing what they have learned and eating products of Washington.  I would like to thank all those who sent in food items and helped out during the celebration.  We couldn’t have done it without you.

Global Reading Challenge – If your student is interested in participating, please have them complete the paperwork and return it on Monday.  Meetings will begin within the next couple of weeks.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

The Farm Field Trip

The field trip to the Corn Maze was definitely the highlight of our week!  We started with some rain, but it quickly tapered off. Aside from some soggy and muddy routes through the maze, it turned out to be a great day. The kids thoroughly enjoyed navigating their way through the corridors of Washington State Freeways and stopping along checkpoints to learn about Washington History!  Thank you again to everyone who chaperoned! If your child would like to go again, they can get in free if they wear the orange sticker that is coming home in their Friday Folder.

Math – Unit 2, Using Numbers and Organizing Data, started with students taking a virtual field trip to Washington D.C..  Next week students will practice reading and writing numbers up to one billion as well as review number place value.  On Monday students took the Unit 1 assessment.  Their graded tests will be coming home soon.

Reading – We continue our journey through the decades learning about Washington’s History in our novel, Horse’s Tale.  This week we read about the decades of the 1900s, 1910s, and 1920s, following the horse from Ritsville to Yakima, to Roslyn. Ask your child what Henry’s phobia was, and why he had to get over his fear.

The class is still engrossed in our read aloud, Maniac Magee. Ask your child what’s been happening lately. What unfair things have happened to Maniac recently? Why did he get in a huge fight with Angela? Have them tell you about Cobble’s Knot.

Writing – This week we’ve been working on choosing a favorite personal narrative piece. We’ve spent time studying great leads and endings in books at school and at home. Students have practiced writing different types of leads and endings for their favorite piece. They also have practiced writing a discovery draft—re-writing their favorite story quick and long in order to bring out more details. Ask your student about which story they selected. Ask them to explain why it’s a seed story and not a watermelon story.

Social Studies – Students worked on team tasks and individual tasks this week in our studies of Regions of Washington. Meanwhile, I met with expert groups. Every student will be an expert on one of the four remaining regions: Coastal Region, Cascade Mountain Region, Columbia Plateau, and Okanogan Highlands (we studied our region: Western Lowlands as a class). In expert groups students read, sketched, labeled, highlighted, and mind mapped. They’ll have a chance to teach the rest of the class about their region, and then we’ll play the process grid game. Ask your student what region they are an expert on. See if they can tell you a major city, a landform, a product produced there, what the climate is like and an interesting fact.

Class News

CLASSROOM CAMPGROUND
In a couple of weeks we begin our first classroom simulation – “Classroom Campground”.  This is a standards-based program addressing health, science, Language Arts, technology, and math standards.  It will be the central piece of our Forests and Ecosystems Thematic Unit. Students work individually and in groups on writing, drawing, planning menus, as well as learning about food chains and safety.  “Classroom Campground” increases student awareness of their environment and stresses our responsibility to preserve it.  We will be setting up camp in a couple of weeks and I am looking for a small tent (domed preferred) that I can set up in my classroom and other campsite items. If you have one that I might borrow please let me know.  FYI- students will be allowed to use the tent.

I am also looking for any “nature-ish” decorations for the classroom during the simulation. If you have any pine garland, small artificial Christmas trees, forest animal stuffed animals, cabin décor, or any other forest related items that might make the classroom feel more like a campground, I would love to borrow them. The simulation is scheduled to start Wednesday, 9/30. Thank you so much in advance!

CORN MAZE:  The field trip to the Corn Maze is fast approaching (next Friday, 9/24). Please make sure to send your child to school with a sack lunch (with their name and my name on it) on Friday and encourage them to wear sturdy walking shoes. Parent chaperones need to arrive at school no later than 9:15.