A number talk on our new year. Check out all the ways 5th graders had for naming it.

Looking ahead to the first six weeks of 2019

Welcome back to school, work, and the second-to-last year of the current presidency. Rain and gloom is great weather  for learning…as long as the clouds part for recess. Following is a bulleted list of what to expect between now and February break.

  • The Chanterelle will come out again at the end of this month. Students participated in a letter writing unit in November and December that will be the backbone of this issue, but they will also publish a smorgasbord of poetry, fiction, and memoir in this anything-goes literary mag. Revision, editing, typing, grammar lessons, and illustrating are in the works.
  • Gizmos! As the culmination of the Energy unit in science, students will build gizmos using their knowledge of electricity, magnetism, and transfer of energy. We may even put together a little science fair to celebrate their conclusion. We have high hopes of connecting their engineering plans to a real life problem, using the Design Thinking model – plastics in the ocean, for example, or a problem refugees face. Stay tuned.
  •  MAP testing. At the end of the month, starting January 29, we will do our second round of MAP testing and see what kinds of progress students have made.
  • Slavery. It’s no fun to even write that word, but alas, it’s a chapter of American history that needs our attention. We can’t much study the birth of our nation and the Westward Movement without a deep dive into African American history. We will examine primary source documents of slave ships and slave auctions, listen to slave narratives recorded by Alan Lomax et al., and visit the Museum of the African Diaspora on January 17. Want to come? We will take BART to SF, and we could use a couple chaperones. Shoot me an email if you’re interested.

And much, much more. Stay tuned for photos and documentation.

 

Homework

Math

  • 4th grade: worksheet due Friday
  • 5th grade: 4-page packet due Friday

Reading

always, always. Snuggle up, it’s great reading weather.

Science

Draw your gizmo. Make a list of materials you will need. Write a paragraph about how it will work.

Wordly Wise

Finish your whole chapter and know your words by Friday.