Weekly Update 3/6/2017

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!  
• 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: 

Today, the students took their Social Issues reading assessment. The rest of the week, will be devoted to starting 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.
The Students Will Be Working on the Following Concepts:
•Good readers read the poem three times to better understand and enjoy this type of text.
•Good readers notice that poems have a special shape, sound, lines, stanzas, rhythm, rhyme, and tone, or mood.
•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.

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 be working on composing their three body paragraphs.  They will be focusing on using the "Fab 5" for each paragraph and working on elaborating their details to make them stronger and easy to read and understand.  They will also work on writing a clear conclusion at the end of the week. 

Fabulous Five Must Haves in Each Body Paragraph:

1.Clear Topic Sentence

2.3-5 Well Elaborated Details

3.At least 3 Transitional Words/Phrases 

4.Descriptive or Content Specific Vocabulary

5.Clear Concluding Statement

Questions You Can Ask You Child At Home:

*Tell me what you are writing about.  Why did you choose this topic? 

*How did you begin your introduction?  Does it catch your reader’s attention?

*Do you have topic and concluding sentences for each paragraph?

*Do you have at least three details to support each topic sentence?

Math: 

In math, the students will be working on adding and subtracting fractional numbers with common denominators. A large focus will be placed on adding and subtracting mixed numbers. The students will be relying on strategies such as using pictorial representations (fraction bars), number lines, converting the mixed numbers to improper fractions, or decomposing mixed numbers to make it easier to subtract. The students will also work on finding equivalents between tenths and hundredths and representing them on a tenths/hundredths board. Their next assessment is scheduled for this Thursday, March 9th.

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home: 

*Show me at least 2 different ways that you can decompose the fraction 5/6.
*What are some strategies that you use when adding and subtracting mixed numbers?
*Solve the following problems:
     *4  2/3 + 5  1/3 =
     *5  2/4 - 2  3/4 =
*How many hundredths are in 9/10?
*How could you add 3/10 + 50/100?

Science: 

This week in science we are learning about fossils and what they reveal about life on earth a long time ago.  Our science test for Rocks and Minerals will be on Tuesday, March 14th.  Students should study a little each school night to help them be prepared.  They should focus on mineral and rock properties, the types of rocks, and what fossils reveal about life long ago.