The Classroom Connection
Mrs. Jefferson & Mrs. Nesbit
January 16, 2014
VIP Folders
Today's VIP Folder should include:
- Graded papers
- Parent Contact Form - Please return as soon as possible with your most current contact information.
- Good News Club Handout
Literacy & Social Studies w/ Mrs. Jefferson
ELA
Beginning WWI this week has opened up many opportunities for me to expose your children to two excellent books. We've been starting our day by reading, America Enters World War I, an informational book, and we've been ending class with a read aloud of the popular historical fiction novel, War Horse which takes place during WWI. This novel is providing the students with information about WWI from a Calvary horse's perspective. It's also giving us the opportunity to have meaningful conversations about using context clues to figure out unknown words and war-related phrases. The standards we're covering while reading these books are listed below:
1. Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
2. Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.
3. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
Writing memoirs are coming along very nicely! This week, your child should be wrapping up his or her draft and learning to revise by showing not telling. Many students are telling their stories without "showing" the reader how it actually happened with sensory details, descriptive words, and their feelings.
Nest week, I'll help them become more aware of their sentence structure and how using transitions can make their writing flow better. I hope you see a difference in their writing once we are done. We're definitely trying!
After the Winter Break, our focus was to understand how and why the United States began to expand its territories overseas. This week we began to explore our involvement in WWI. Listed below are the standards your child is responsible for understanding. Please make sure they are studying and discussing these topics with you on a daily basis.
- 5-3.5 Summarize the reasons for the United States control of new territories as a result of the Spanish American War and the building of the Panama Canal, including the need for raw materials and new markets and competition with other world powers.
- 5-3.6 Summarize the factors that led to the involvement of the United States in World War I and the role of the United States in fighting the war.
Math & Science w/ Mrs. Nesbit
Math
We are working on multiplying and dividing decimals. As I said in my January 2nd email your child has been given the extra packet of math problems. If you will encourage your child to complete one multiplication and one division problem each night. This practice will really benefit.
Learn Zillion Quick Codes for Chapter 6 are: LZ545, LZ546, LZ547, LZ3094, and LZ3430.
Each lesson that is completed in class can be reviewed at home. In the inside cover of the student’s agenda (upper left corner), you will find a username and a password for the My Math series. We do this often at school but using this, your child can login to their student textbook/
workbook at home.
Science
We are continuing to work on Our Science Fair projects. The completed project will be presented to classmates Wednesday and Thursday, January 22 and 23.
Our next unit of study (Force and Motion) will begin Monday, January 27.
Edmodo: Math and Science
Each Tuesday and Thursday, I will assign either a Math problem or a Science “think” question that needs to be answered and submitted to me through Edmodo. Before Christmas several of these were completed, so your child knows what is expected.
Field Trip Update
Date: Wednesday, April 9th
Deposit Info: $25 due tomorrow on Friday, 1/17/14
Total cost: $45
Contact Nissi Jefferson
Email: Tjeffers@lexrich5.org
Website: http://www.lexrich5.org/webpages/tjefferson/index.cfm
Phone: 8034763965
Contact Jane Nesbit
Email: Jnesbit@lexrich5.org
Website: http://www.lexrich5.org/webpages/jnesbit/
Phone: 8034763900