Weekly Update 5/22/2017

Updates/Reminders - Mark Your Calendars!! 

• Spring Pictures went home a couple of weeks ago.  Please remember that if you plan on purchasing your child's photos, to return the photos that you do not want along with a check purchasing the ones that you plan to keep.  If you are not interested in purchasing these photos this year, please just return them to school with your child. 
• School yearbooks went home on Friday.  If you would like to purchase your child's yearbook, please return $16 in the envelope or pay online (checks can be made out to Strawbridge Studios).
• Student Led Conferences will be held in the next few weeks.  Please visit this link to sign up for a conference: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4dafa62fa13-endofyear1
• Reading EOGs are scheduled for Wednesday, June 21st and the Math EOGs are scheduled for Thursday, June 22nd.  If you know that your child will be absent for this assessment, please let me know as soon as possible, so a make-up day can be planned. 
• Meet the Teacher for the 2017-2018 school year will be on Tuesday, June 27th from 5:30-6:15PM.  

What We Are Learning This Week:
Reading: 

This week the students will study the genre of realistic fiction texts.  The students will learn to apply the following strategies when reading realistic fiction and traditional literature texts:

          •Readers identify how a character changes throughout a text.

          •Readers identify the problem and lesson learned

          •Readers make a mind movie to better understand how a character feels.               

          •Readers make inferences about a character based on their dialogue and actions. 

          •Readers reread and reword test questions to better understand what is being asked.

          •Readers use “read around the word” and “fill in the blank” to determine the meaning        of unknown words.

Students will also continue to have two reading passages to complete for homework each week that coincides with the genre we are currently focusing on.  Students are required to annotate their thinking by showing their thought process as they are reading, as well as applying the strategies they have learned thus far. 

Questions You Can Ask You Child At Home:

*What are the characteristics of the realistic fiction genre?

*What reading strategies do good readers use when reading realistic fiction texts?

 *Show me how to annotate your thinking when reading realistic fiction texts.

*What inferences can you make about the main character? 

Writing: 

This week in writing, the students will either be finishing publishing their first persuasive writing piece or starting their second one. In their new persuasive writing piece, they are allowed free choice in their topic selection.  They will create a tree map that organizes their three body paragraphs and with their second writing piece, they will work hard to conduct research on this topic to strengthen their supporting details. They will then continue to progress through the writing process by composing a strong introduction and body paragraphs with topic and concluding sentences and transition words.  

Questions You Can Ask You Child At Home:

*What have you chosen to write about?

*Who will be your audience?

*In which format would you like to write? (blog, letter, essay, etc.)

Math: 

In math this week, the students will be working on solving word problems involving the customary terms of measurement.   It is very important that your child memorize the following conversions.

•12 inches = 1 foot

•3 feet = 1 yard; 36 inches = 1 yard

•1,760 yards = 1 mile; 5,280 feet = 1 mile

•4 quarts = 1 gallon

•2 pints = 1 quart

•2 cups = 1 pint

•8 ounces = 1 cup

•16 ounces = 1 pound

•They will have an assessment on customary measurement on Wednesday May 31st or Thursday, June 1st. 

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home: 

*How many inches are in a foot?  Feet in a yard?  Yards in a mile?

*How many quarts are in a gallon? Pints in a quart? Cups in a pint?

*How many ounces are in a pound?  How many pounds in a ton?

Social Studies: 

This week in social studies the students will be learning about the different cultural traditions in the three regions of North Carolina.  They will be presenting their geography Google Slides presentations to the class on Tuesday.  On Thursday and Friday (for those students who may need more time) the students will be taking an open notes Social Studies assessment, which will cover the material that we have discussed so far this quarter. 

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home: 

*Tell me about some of the cultural traditions in North Carolina.
*Are your social studies notes complete?  Are there any areas that you might have missed that you need to catch up on?
*Can you tell me how the environment, communication, transportation, and/or population has changed in North Carolina?