Literacy | Work DUe |
Reading-We have started our third reading unit-Social Issues Interpretation in book clubs. Each club will choose a set of books centered around a particular issue. We will develop skills in interpretation of themes, collaboration, and talk. Students are expected to keep up with their club's reading plan, and may also read another book independently if they wish to read more. Clubs will have scheduled talk days once or twice a week. Students are expected to come to their club meetings with their book and some written work. Writing- Alongside our issues-based clubs, we will be writing personal or persuasive essays that explore issues we care about. | Students are setting goals for both reading volume and kinds of thinking they want to do. Students are expected to read 30-40 pages per day (6 days/week), and develop their thinking across each book through jots on post-its and at least one longer entry per week. |
Math | WORK DUE |
With the new year, we start a new unit, Prime Time. In Prime Time, students apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers. We do this by providing students with opportunities to look for important number patterns that have emerged in prior grades and to express these patterns more generally using algebraic language. In the first week or so of this unit, students break whole numbers into equal-sized pieces or finding a number into which a given number will divide evenly. Solving problems like these involves finding factors and multiples. By the end of this month, students will be looking at real-life situations to uncover the use of least common multiples and greatest common factors. A family letter will be sent home with your child soon. Please ask him/her about it. | Homework daily. Sometimes it is a handout or finishing up class work. Please review your child’s planner. Homework is copied down in math class and reviewed in homeroom. Quiz #1 - week of January 13 The quiz is mostly solving word problems on factors and multiples. Quiz #2 - week of January 27 The quiz is mostly using understanding about prime factorization. |
Science | WORK DUE |
Students have been busy working in research teams to develop complex food web models of the Hudson River Ecosystem Food Webs. The research question they have been thinking about while doing this research is “What are the feeding relationships between organisms in the Hudson River Ecosystem Food Webs?” For the final part of our Hudson River Ecology Unit, students will be analyzing and interpreting data of the Hudson River to construct a scientific explanation that answer the research question “How do changes in the abiotic and biotic factors of the Hudson influence its food webs?” As students conclude the fourth section of the Hudson River Ecology unit, they will be working in their research teams to create a chapter for our classes Hudson River Ecology Coffee Table Book based on all of the research they have done throughout the unit of study. | Annotated Diagram of a Complex Hudson River Ecosystem Food Web Project: Due Monday, January 13th |
Social Studies | WORK DUE |
We are researching Ancient Egypt through the lens of Social Studies Categories (Geography, Daily Life, Religion, Government, Inventions and Achievements). We are gathering information from a variety of sources (written, audio-visual and visual). Students will be choosing a subtopic within these categories to specialize in and create an exhibit about. Students will be working in partnerships and groups of 3 or 4 based on subtopic. | Notebooks graded Jan 7-10. Homework 3-4 times per week in Notebook. Project: Ancient Egypt Museum Exhibit, Jan 29-31 Product (Communicate & Interpret) Process (Collaborate, Plan & Prepare) |
Advisory
We continue with our advisory unit focusing on growth mindset.
One of the main purposes of advisory is to spend time building social/emotional skills. Social emotional learning and growth is about engaging in the world around us - it helps support us in all aspects of our life. However, it takes practice to build up our social/emotional toolkit.
Over the next few weeks in advisory we will be continuing the work of building our social/emotional learning skills through the lens of growth mindset.
One of the main purposes of advisory is to spend time building social/emotional skills. Social emotional learning and growth is about engaging in the world around us - it helps support us in all aspects of our life. However, it takes practice to build up our social/emotional toolkit.
Over the next few weeks in advisory we will be continuing the work of building our social/emotional learning skills through the lens of growth mindset.