Cluster 2 Newsletter
April 8, 2022
Hello Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers,
ELA MCAS will be on Monday April 11 and Wednesday April 13. Student should come to school with a charged Chromebook.
Best,
Cluster Two
ELA
Our research-based informational writing unit is coming to a close but not before all of our students completed work on their E-Books! Students developed their research, note-taking, and digital literacy skills over the course of this project. Maybe above all, they developed essential collaboration skills as they worked in small teams to research and compose their books on Google Slides. We’re really proud of how they turned out! Ask your learner to share their work with you!
After break we’ll begin our next round of book clubs. Students enjoyed the first round and will surely be excited to pick new books and jump into them with their classmates. Students will be expected to read at home, so please help us to keep them honest as much as you can. Thank you for all that you do to support our students!
Mrs. Murphy's ELA:
This week students reviewed prepositional phrases containing adverbs as well as learning strategies for improving writing skills. Students brainstormed new “trouble story” ideas (times when they experienced hard times/trouble) and made the connection that their trouble stories follow the same story arc author’s use when writing stories (including times of trouble). Please remember, English assignments are given Mondays through Thursdays weekly (except on MCAAS days) so please continue to remind your student to complete their English Independent work nightly.
ELD (English Language Development)
Entering ELD Our class keeps growing! The students are becoming excellent at welcoming each other and new guests and forging a warm environment in the classroom. This week, part of our class finished their oral presentations, where they compared and contrasted two characters in a movie of their choice. The other group compared members of their families and will present next week. Emerging ELD This week we started learning about conjugating verbs in the regular past tense. We have been sharing some stories about our lives that have happened in the past and are enjoying learning more about each other. This week we will learn about conjugating irregular verbs in the past which will require lots of practice. We also prepared last week and will prepare this week for the ELA MCAS by practicing using bilingual dictionaries. Developing ELD We have been talking about human rights this week. We also have been preparing to take the MCAS next week. Students have been practicing to use guide words in dictionaries to find translations of unknown words. Expanding ELD Students worked on skills and strategies to prepare for the ELA MCAS. For example, they worked on dictionary skills, writing claims and finding evidence, making outlines and webs for writing drafts, and strategies for eliminating incorrect answers on multiple choice questions. All Expanding ELD students will take the ELA MCAS on Monday April 11 and Wednesday, April 13. Phonics We have been reading passages to practice for fluency. Students have been recording their reading so that they can hear the difference practice makes.
Math
In math, we are currently working on our Expressions and Equations unit of study. This is the students initial introduction into Pre-Algebraic concepts. We have been writing and solving equations in the form `x+p=q` and `px=q`. We also learned about the distributive property and how to use it to write equivalent expressions with variables. As the unit progresses, the students will learn how to evaluate numerical and variable expressions with whole number exponents. We will wrap up by using tables, equations, and graphs to represent relationships.
Here is a link to Desmo’s Family Resources. There is also is a video overview of our unit on Equations and Expressions!
Science
♬Owl Pellets, Owl Pellets, Owl Pellets, a ball of bones and fur and other things!♬
Get ready to be humming that song all next week! We are so excited to be dissecting owl pellets next week. The pellets contain undigested parts of an owls’ meal (fur, bones, etc.). What exactly did the owl have for supper? A bird? A mouse? A vole? Students will examine the bones to find out!
Social Studies
This week we explored the story of “The Exodus” in more detail using “The Prince of Egypt” as our guide. We are now working on mapping out the Israelites’ journey using a series of texts to eventually create an interactive map showing our learning. Work on this map will conclude next week as we start to get ready for our next adventure – the study of Islam and it’s spread through Africa.