Week 14

Wow! It’s already December! We have a lot of learning to do before we close out 2017!

Reading

The students are studying how to use text features like headings, captions, text boxes, charts, maps, and more. The students have learned that text features can help them better comprehend nonfiction texts. Next week, the students will practice drawing conclusions and making inferences based on clues the author includes in the story.

Vocabulary

The students will study homophones, or words that sound the same but mean something different. Our words for the week will be agree, bare, famous, feast, gentle, hero, leader, notice, search, and weak.

Spelling

The students learned to add “s” or “es” to singular nouns to make them into plural nouns. Words that end in “ch”, “sh”, “s”, “x” and “z” need “es” added to the end so that the reader can hear that the word is now plural. We will learn more ways to spell plural nouns in the coming weeks. Next week, the students will study words containing the long “i” and “u” sounds, like in the words frighten and uniform.

Writing

The students worked on wrapping up their stories with feelings. They learned that it is the writer’s job to make their pieces feel complete for their readers. The students edited their work with partners to make sure they wrote in complete sentences and used the spelling skills we have studied. 

 

Below the students are working on editing sentences and paragraphs. They are very focused learners during this time!

Math

The students practiced shopping and estimating costs this week. They learned that finding a “ballpark estimate” means changing the numbers they are working with into close to but easier to use numbers. For example: If your problem is 27 + 52, then your ballpark estimate can be 30 + 50 = 80, so you know your true answer should be about 80. We will continue working on this skill and practice measuring next week.  

Project Based Learning- Social Studies

The students studied how groups and countries trade with one another to get the goods they need. They learned about importing and exporting goods. Below, the students got to pick one good that is grown in North Carolina and decide which other country might buy it as an export. They did a fabulous job thinking deeply about this complex topic! We will continue this unit next week.