Explorer’s Weekly News
9-30-13 to 10-4-13
We enjoyed the sounds of the world famous
Cleveland Orchestra on Thursday!
In reading, we wrapped up our mini unit of study on point of view! We have
been determining who is telling the story and from what perpective they are telling
it from; first person or third person. The explorers have also been working on
providing evidence for their response. We are getting close to ending our first
cycle of guided reading. Please continue to support your child at home as they read
for at least 30 minutes. I want this 30 minutes to not be a “timer” deal, but a 30
minutes of enjoyable reading time. Engage in their book with them and ask them
questions about their stories.
In writing, we completed our unit of study on opinion writings. These pieces
are great! We are all still working on “beefing” up our writing by adding more
detail and more “spice”. Our next unit will focus on writing an informational,
nonfiction piece that includes text features.
We will be starting word study next week and more information on what that
looks like in the classroom will be sent home.
In social studies, we have been studying the prehistoric Indians. We watched
a video of what archeologists do and why their jobs are so important. How do we
know prehistoric people existed? We have been focusing on that question this
week and looking for information on these 4 groups of people; The Paleo Indians,
The Achaic Indians, The Woodland/Hopewell/Adena Indians, and the Late
Prehistoric Indians.
In math, we took our topic 2 test on patterns and we ROCKED it. We started
our new topic 3 on place value this week and have been working diligently to dig
into the concepts of place value into the millions. We are studying the relationship
between the digits and the values of the digits in these very large numbers.
News and Reminders on the back!!!
News and Reminders!
*We are already halfway through the first quarter! It is unbelievable to me! Lots of
tests will be coming up, so please check the website for updates.
*Please continue to support your child in their reading and you can practice their
math at home with them.
*Math facts! Many of the explorers are NOT fluent in their math facts! There are
many different ways they can practice these. If you are not sure how they can do
this, please email me, and I will set them up with a link to a website or some
flashcards. Thanks!
*Severance Hall- Everyone looks stellar! We listened to the music from Harry
Potter and Jurassic Park and from the wonderful works of Mozart. It was a
tremendous show! We also heard a song from Shrek! 
*Please check your child’s Friday family journals this weekend!
*Next Friday: 10/11/13 TOPIC 3 assessment for math – PLACE VALUE
*Monday: 10/14/13 Social Studies test –Early History – More information on this
to come.
Have a wonderful weekend! 
Miss Lutsch