Mrs. Sweeney’s News
E-mail Blast 2
August 28, 2015
Dates to Remember
Labor Day Holiday
Early Release
Fall Fling
Donuts For Dads
Early Release
ERB Testing
Rowdy Rauder
Monday, September 7
September 9 2:00
September 11, 5:30-7:30
September 18 7:45 AM
September 23 2:00
September 28-Oct. 1
September 3
This Week in the Classroom
Math: Students explore the concept of volume as they
compare the volumes of 3-dimensional objects. They will
use nonstandard units to measure volumes of rectangular
prisms and learn to apply two formulas for finding volume.
In addition to Everyday Math, students take multiplication
fact assessments and continue to reinforce math skill
using Front Row Math.
Language Arts In Grammar Workshop students
recognized complete subject and complete predicates.
Next week, we will move to simple subjects and
predicates and learn about subjects in imperative
sentences.
Writing: Students will review the color coding steps
used in the writing process in Step Up To Writing. They
will write paragraphs following the model presented in
class including a topic sentence, details with
explanations, and a conclusion.
Reading: In this week’s humorous fiction selection, “A
Package for Mrs. Jewls,” we read about a school where the
students and teachers are unusual and the teaching methods
are even stranger! The focus reading skill was STORY
STRUCTURE. We also discussed POINT OF VIEW and
IRONY. Next week we will read “A Royal Mystery,” a play
about a young girl who discovers she is a princess while at
summer camp. We will examine a characters’ qualities and
motives to recognize the THEME of the text. We will also
begin discussing our first reading project on ABSTRACT
CONCEPTS based on the book Wonder.
As a reminder, students will receive a new list of
vocabulary words every Friday. Words can be found in their
Vocab section of their binder and on my website. Students will
be assessed on these words the following Thursday.
Social Studies: Students learned about early
civilizations of North America called the Mound
Builders. These people settled in a large area east of the
Mississippi River, as far north as the Great Lakes and as
far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Their mounds can still be
seen today, including areas around Tallahassee. Next
week, students will learn about other early civilizations
such as the Inuit, Anasazi, Maya, Aztecs, and the
Inca. We will also talk about current events based on
what students read about from their News-O-Matic app.
Science: Students received a Rubric for the Q1
Science Journal, to be kept daily in Book
Creator. They also collected photos of water
features and created an iMovie trailer about
water (ask to see it!). We moved into our
introduction to water (physical and chemical
properties, changes in state), then into a review
of the Water Cycle. Next week, we’ll play a
game utilizing Water Cycle terminology, and
learn how pollution enters and affects the scene.