THE MANLEY MESSENGER
February 2016
Volume 5, Issue 6
What Will We Be
Learning in February?
Reading: This month we will be working on a unit on Traditional
Literature. We will be reading a variety of fables, folk tales, and tall
tales. During this unit students will learn specific characteristics of
different types of traditional literature and use reading strategies to
support comprehension.
Writing: Students have finished researching their chosen state. They
are now synthesizing the information from a variety of texts to write
paragraphs for their books and also including a variety of text features
in their final books! Soon we will move on to a mini unit focused on
reading and writing poetry.
Math: In our next unit, students are investigating area and perimeter.
Students will use grids to find the area of figures in square centimeters,
square inches, square feet, and square meters, as well as multiply to find
the area of rectangles. They will add to find the perimeter of figures.
They will also learn to divide figures into multiple rectangles in order to
find the area. During each math unit, we will be “putting on our
thinking cap” to build on our problem solving skills and strategies.
Social Studies: Students are working on their final projects for our unit
on the first people of New Jersey. They are working in groups to
research different aspects of the life of the Lenni Lenape – land, homes,
clothing, food, and children. They will work together as a group to
create a poster to teach others about what they have learned.
Science: We will soon begin our second science unit on sound. Students
will learn about sound and its characteristics, what pitch and volume are
and how they can be changed, and how sound travels best.
Important Dates
2/5 – Spirit Day - Sports Day
2.11 – Spirit Day - Red/Pink Day
2/11 – Valentine’s Day Celebration
2/12-2/16 – Winter Recess – Schools Closed
2/26 – School Store Open at Lunch
2/26 – Me and My Guy Dance – 7:00-9:00pm
Mrs. Caitlin Manley
Central Avenue School
50 Central Avenue
Madison, NJ 07940
973-593-3173
January Recap
3MN had a jolly January! In reading, we focused on
expository non-fiction. We had previously read biographies,
which are narrative non-fiction books. We learned ways
that expository non-fiction differed from narrative nonfiction. In addition to the text, expository non-fiction uses
text features, such as headings, photographs and captions,
maps, and diagrams, to teach the reader information. We
practiced finding the main idea and details of a section and
also learned about the five text structures that non-fiction
authors use. In writing, we worked on an expository nonfiction writing piece. Students each researched a state in
the United States. They used Internet resources, such as
World Almanac for Kids, World Book Online, and Enchanted
Learning, to find information on aspects of their state such as
geography, famous landmarks, economy, climate, and famous
residents.
In math, we learned about the metric system of
measurement. We learned how to convert between metric
units for length, mass, and capacity. (We even learned how
to use the prefixes to help us!) Then, we did a mini-unit on
geometry. We learned what makes a polygon, as well as the
special polygons. We worked very hard to learn the
characteristics of the different types of quadrilaterals. In
social studies, we learned about New Jersey’s first residents –
the Lenni Lenape. We learned about how the first people
came to New Jersey over the Land Bridge over a period of
thousands of years. These people adapted and changed with
the times and eventually began settling in villages.
This month we celebrated the life and legacy of Martin
Luther King, Jr. We learned about his life through a video
reading of Martin’s Big Words and websites and videos on our
Chromebooks. We talked about what MLK teaches us about
compassion, kindness, honesty, respect, responsibility, cooperation,
and independence. We ended the month with a visit from
the Dinoman who taught us about dinosaurs and fossils!
manleyc@madisonpublicschools.org
https://twitter.com/MrsManleysClass