Class Curriculum Update- February

Language Arts

The students are working on persuasive writing. Their current task is to write a four paragraph letter to you, full of persuasive language and good examples, in an attempt to sway you to their opinion. Be on the lookout for the final draft of this to come home later this week.

We continue to work on spelling, with the students testing themselves each Friday to see how many of that week's words they have learned since Monday. It's helpful to have your child spend a little time each night reviewing the words at home. Students usually bring home a copy of the list on a crossword or word search page.

Our class will be starting an all class book next week, Holes. There will be a variety of activities along with this including response to literature, vocabulary building, projects, etc. Each student will have a copy of the book to read, or read along with, as we go.

Math

Currently our main focus in math is multiplication, then we will move into division. We have been using different tools and games to practice our skills and knowledge of math facts, and students who are ready are working on multiplying multi-digit numbers. Being able to recall math facts quickly will help students advance to more complicated multiplication as well as division. Today each student identified which facts they are comfortable with, and which ones they need to focus on. Please help your child with these at home. Flash cards, card games where you turn over two numbers and multiply, and dice are some ways to practice, or any other method that works for your child.

Social Studies / Science

The class has been learning about maps, reading maps, creating maps, and discovering where things are located in the world. Coming up, each student will choose a European explorer to research, map the voyage of, and complete a project about. You can support your child at home by helping them find additional resources for researching their explorer (books and/or internet).