You can tell by this blog that March is going to be a very busy month with lots to do. This year is on it's downward slope and seems to pick up speed from this point on.
March Calendar
Tuesday, March 2nd: DWA
Tuesday, March 2nd: Dr. Seuss's Birthday:-)
Wednesday & Thursday, March 3rd & 4th: Parent Teacher Conferences/Book Fair
Friday, March 5th: No School
Wednesday, March 17th: Indoor Fitness Testing/St. Patrick's Day:-)
Friday, March 19th: Book Character Day
Monday, March 29th: 5th Grade Engineering Day at the U of U
Sneak Peek: April 1st, 2nd, & 5th - Spring Break (Yea!!!)
Language Arts
Some groups are finishing their 1st and beginning their 2nd survival novel. The others will soon be following. The new books we are reading are The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Weasel, Call it Courage, and Captain Grey The students seem to really be enjoy this unit. We will be finished in a couple more weeks and then move to some stories in our readers that will go along with our social studies unit.
Writing
We have done a lot of practicing for the Direct Writing Assessment and will all sigh a "big sigh of relief" when it if over!
Since it is March, we will be learning about leprechauns and the myths surrounding them. After we read several books about them, each student is going to write their own understanding on "How to Catch a Leprechaun". They will then wrap their composition in an art project.
Science
We have only a couple of days left in our Inherited Traits unit. The students are creating their own animal in it's own environment on "Planet Wakayabi". They need to include 3 physical adaptations or specialized structures (the animal is born with these things) and 2 behavioral traits (things the animal does).
Beginning next week, our class will be going to Mrs. Larsen to learn about physical and chemical changes in matter.
Math
Students have been working really hard learning fractions. There are a lot of concepts to cover - comparing & ordering, equivalent fractions, finding common demoninators, and equivalent decimals & percents. We will be taking the chapter test with electronic clickers. The students haven't had a chance to use them yet, but will love them.
Social Studies
We just finished a very educational unit on the constitution. Our field trip to the State Capitol was perfectly timed. We got to see the House of Representatives and the Senate at work. We even got the see the Governor's office and where he hold his press conferences. It is such a beautiful building to visit.
We are now continuing our study of the 19th century and the changes for the U.S., including westward expansion, constitutional crisis, and economic growth.
The students are in the process of researching and writing a one paragraph report about an explorer, an outlaw, a lawman, or an historical event having to do with the Westward Expansion. This will be a fairly easy project done at school.
Our next project will be a little tougher and will begin next week. Here is some information so you will know what is expected.
Each student will be required to do a President Report on a U.S. President of their choice. The research and completion of the report can be completed at school if time is used wisely. There may be some instances where some work will need to be done at home. I will require this report typed with five complete paragraphs and a cover page. I will give the students two weeks to complete the project. Having laptops available in our classroom will be very beneficial to them. I will guide them through it with simple easy steps using notecards. I will also give them instructions to format the report they type - it will probably only be one double-spaced page. The following image is a sample of the information I gave to each student. You can enlarge it so you can see it better by clicking on the image. This is a good practice for them to get ready for the state report that will be completed later. If you have any questions about this project, please let me know. A wonderful web site to get information is Pioneer Library (Utah's Online Library).
The web address is: http://pioneer.uen.org
Login Name: pioneer
Password: look
Another great site for presidential information is: www.whitehouse.gov
Go to About the White House and click on Presidents
No comments:
Post a Comment