March News

In Language Arts students are reading nonfiction texts and discussing how to make inferences.  They have learned there is a formula they use in order to do this.

BK (background knowledge) + TC (text clues) = Inference

First students used this new information to make inferences about vocabulary in a nonfiction article. Then they used it when looking at headings and subheadings. Students learned the importance of being good reading detectives by making sure they had enough background knowledge before they could make an inference. Below is a youtube lesson on inferencing.

Students are also returning to the concepts of main idea and supporting details from an earlier unit in the year. When students read articles they are keeping in mind what the big idea is of a paragraph and of an article.  Also they are looking for clues from the important details in an article to determine the main idea.

                                    

In math students have just completed a unit on multiplication entitled Muffles Truffles.  Here is a short video describing the scenario that students started with before they undertook this unit.

Students will use doubling, halving, the commutative property of multiplication and the distributive property of multiplication throughout this unit. The problems become more complex as the unit evolves. Ask your child what they learned from this unit of study?

In social studies the students are learning about North American explorers.  At this point they have studied the Vikings.

                                  

                    

After students studied the Vikings they wrote an opinion essay entitled, Would you want to be a Viking? They used various sources to support their opinion. Below is a sample of a student's work.

                                                      Would you Want to be a Viking?

By Kyden

I would want to be a Viking. There were brave. The Vikings sailed across the sea and they did not know what was out in the unexplored places. They also fought in wars and could have died. Vikings hunted very large animals. Large Animals are deadly.

Another reason I would want to be a Viking is they were good sailors. The Vikings used birds to find land. If birds were flying a certain direction that means land is near. Vikings used the sun and stars to find their way around. Vikings also found Greenland, Iceland and Vinland. These lands were not discovered yet.

Another reason is Vikings were good with cooperation. Vikings worked together to build ships. If they did not work together the ships would be all messed up. When Vikings fought in wars they had to work together. If they didn’t, they would all be dead. Vikings hunted together. If they split up they would not catch an animals and have food. Then they would starve. That is why I would want to be a Viking.