Newsletter for the week of 12-13

Reading: This week in reading we will read the story "Everglades".  With this story, we will focus on making interpretations from the evidence, minor and significant details, and analogies.  The extended response will be an ongoing skill.  The following is the extended response question for this week into next week. How have the Everglades changed throughout time?  Use information from the text and your own ideas to answer the question.  We will also continue to work on using context clues and affixes to define words. The vocabulary words for this week are: peninsula, multitude, scurried, eons, pondered, and plentitude.

Book Report:  The next book report is due on Friday, December 17.  The genre for this book report is a biography or autobiography.  The students will create a power point for this project, and it will be done at school.  The following information is required:

• Photo Collage
• Birth and Childhood
• Education
• Adulthood - Family and jobs they had before becoming famous
• What made them famous
• Interesting facts about your person
• Later Years/Death

Math: In math we will start unit 6.  The first lesson will focus on organizing data and using our landmarks.  The landmarks are maximum, minimum, mode, median, range, and mean.  The students will also learn how to make and interpret a stem leaf plot.  The stem leaf plot is a way to organize data.  The students will also work on using personal measures and probability.

Writing: This week we will finish working on poetry.  We will also continue working on our A to Z book, and our power point for the book report.

Science: This week in science we will continue learning about the basic parts of an atom.  The proton has a positive charge and is located in the nucleus.  The neutron has no charge and is also located in the nucleus.  The electron has a negative charge and is located in the outer shells of the atom.  The students will also learn about an element and how to read the periodic table of elements.  On Tuesday, the students will build a 3D model of a salt molecule.  The rest of the week we will start working with magnets.  The students will learn about a natural magnet called lodestone.  They will also learn about permanent magnets and temporary magnets.

Social Studies: We will go back to social studies next quarter.

Spelling: Unit 14 Words:
absent       servant       present       instant       accident       assistant       current       moment
resident       ignorant        pleasant       distant       innocent       intelligent       restaurant
patient        government       statement       migrant       participant       efficacious       orbiting
continent        magma        landforms       embarrassment       magnificent       amendment
resistant       pungent       expedient       resilient       immigrant       incident       consonant
electricity       traitor       static       map scale       Congress

Important Dates:

Spelling Test Wednesday, December 15
Paw print redemption day is Thursday, December 16
Book Report due on Friday, December 17