I apologize for being late on this blog update!!!
We started our 4 day week discussing our country's landmarks. It was ironic that most were closed at the beginning of the week, but we were happy that the landmarks had opened by the end of the week! We had a class discussion about landmarks and monuments that the students would like to visit. We learned that landmarks could be a statue, in nature, or a building! Our stories included "A Natural Beauty," about the Grand Canyon and "A Mountain of History," about Mount Rushmore. We learned so many interesting facts about these two different types of landmarks! During reading, we focused on asking questions about the text to better help us understand. Our grammar lesson this week included simple and compound sentences. The class used a graphic organizer to help us with the main idea and 3 details from "A Mountain of History." We have now finished Unit 1 of Wonders and are testing this week and doing some fun research projects!
In science, we continued to talk about the layers of the Earth and the types of volcanoes. We read an interesting article that gave us lots of information about volcanoes. The three types are shield, cinder cone, and composite. We took notes on all three and looked at what they look like by using Google to search for some pictures. This "Global Changes" unit will continue for a few more weeks before we will have a quiz on volcanoes and the layers of the Earth.
Unit 2 in math was also completed this week! We practiced making ballpark estimates for subtraction and used the trade-first method to help us find the "real" answer. Another lesson included strategies to add 3 or 4 digit numbers. On Friday we reviewed and we are having our math assessment on Monday! Whew!!!
I hope that you all saw the invitation for our sign language presentation on November 12 at 2:30 in the library! Please invite any Veterans you know, as well as family members that are able to attend. If you are not able to attend, you may certainly send a grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. in your place! The students have been working very hard on this special presentation and they would love to share it with you. Remember, we are also taking donations for the VA Hospital. Here is a link to the letter that went home last week.
