Weekly Update 3/13/2017

Updates/Reminders: 

• Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) is the practice of assigning a student to a higher-grade level than is typical, given the student's age, for the purpose of providing access to appropriately challenging learning opportunities.  SSA is an accelerative practice that allows students to show mastery of the content of a course without having taken the course.  If you want to learn more about SSA, there are a number of upcoming Parent Information Sessions that you can attend.  You can view the schedule here: http://bit.ly/2m0U7pC or by visiting the WCPSS Accelerative Practices website at http://wakeacceleration.weebly.com/.   
• Our school is partnering with St. Baldrick's.  This is a wonderful organization that raises money to fight pediatric cancer.  One of our own, Matt Tussey, a 4th grade teacher has agreed to get his head shaved if we raise $2,000!  If you would like to donate please go to this website   https://www.stbaldricks.org and search for MES Mustangs.  You can also get more information on the head shaving event that will take place on March 18th at Glenwood South.  Please let me know if you have any questions!  
• The students will be taking the Quarter Three Benchmark Assessment on Wednesday, March 22nd (Math) and Thursday, March 23rd (Reading).  Please let me know if your child will miss either date, so I will be able to plan an alternate date for their assessment.  
• Friday, March 24th is our last early release day.  School will dismiss at 1:15 and a Google Form will be emailed out closer to the date to inform me of dismissal changes. 
• Track out day is Friday, March 24th.  Report cards will go home this day and we will be moving out of the trailer.  Students will need to bring in an additional bag on Thursday, March 23rd to take home their school supplies.  Please keep these supplies somewhere safe, as they will need to bring them all back when we track in for quarter 4. 

What We Are Learning This Week:
Reading: 

This week in reading, the students will continue their third reading unit that will focus on poetry.  This unit will force the students to look beyond the literal meaning of the words of the poems and instead read them with careful and creative eyes to uncover their true meanings.  They will focus on making inferences as they read this week.  The students will take their last reading common assessment, which will focus on poetry on Monday, March 20th.

The Students Will Be Working on the Following Concepts:

          •Good readers pair textual clues with what they already know to make inferences.

          •Good readers notice that poems use imagery to paint vivid pictures in the reader’s       

            mind.

          •Good readers notice that poets use figurative language (alliteration, similes, 

            metaphors,  personification, etc.) to add strong description.

          •Good readers can identify the speaker, theme (message), and mood of the poem.

Questions You Can Ask You Child At Home:

*Tell me about the three ways you read a poem.

*What shape does your poem have? How many lines / stanzas?

*Does it rhyme?  If so, can you identify a rhyming pattern or point out the rhyming words?

*What is the mood of your poem?  What words help you think that?

*Can you identify the imagery the poet uses?

*What figurative language do you notice in this poem?

Writing: 

This week in writing, the students will continue to work their way through the writing process.  The students should finish another opinion piece this week.  They will then work on revising and editing their opinion writing asking themselves the following questions before publishing it.

Editing/Revising Checklist:

•Does my introduction hook my reader?

•Does it include my three main points and thesis/opinion statement?

•Does each paragraph begin with a topic sentence and end with a concluding statement?

•Do I have at least three details to support each topic sentence?

•Did I use a variety of transition words in each paragraph?

•Does my conclusion leave my paper with a sense of completeness?

•Does my conclusion stress the importance of my opinion statement?

•Does my conclusion leave a final impression on the reader?

•Did I proofread my paper for spelling, punctuation, grammatical errors?

•Did I change any easy or overused words to more interesting ones?

Questions You Can Ask You Child At Home:

*Tell me more about where you are in the writing process.

*What changes have you made to your paper?

*What suggestions did your writing partner give you?

Math: 

This week in math, the students will be working on multiplying a whole number by a fraction.  They will be using number lines and fractions bars to visually represent how to multiply these numbers.  The students will focus on solving a variety of word problems, where they will practice this strategy.  They will especially focus on the real world problems of doubling, tripling, and quadrupling recipes.  They will take a multiplying fractions assessment on Friday, March 17th.  

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home: 

*What are some ways that you can multiply a whole number by a fraction (ex. 3 x 1/4)?

*Can you create a real world problem involving the equation 5 x 2/3?

Science: 

This week, the students will take the science unit assessment on Rocks and Minerals. On Tuesday, they will take the multiple choice portion, and on Wednesday, they will take the open-ended portion. For the science test, students should focus on mineral and rock properties, the types of rocks, and what fossils reveal about life long ago.  The key information they need is in their science notebooks.