Just a quick update for our month!
Reading
We've begun our nonfiction unit of study where kids delve into this genre by reading books of their choice. To raise the level of reading skills in this area, we focus quite a bit on how the text gets more and more complex. We've reviewed text structures, main ideas and supporting details. Next will be how many text have overlapping text structures as well as implicit main ideas. Vocabulary development, domain specific words, and using morphology will also be a big focus. This will lead to great summaries and hopefully a love of learning from nonfiction.
Writing
After reviewing a basic essay structure, we have combined fictional reading and writing to learn about the Literary Essay. This will solidify the structure of most essays that students will write for years to come, while also reinforcing those great reading skills we learned in September and October of theme, character motivation, and symbolism.
Math
After completing our unit on whole number multiplication, we are ready for multiplication of decimals. We begin by looking at place value, powers of 10, and a visual model. Students will be reasoning through many complicated word problems by the end of this unit.
Science
In our Body Systems Unit we are now looking at our digestive system. With each new system we learn the purpose, function of each part, how they work together, the level of interdependency on the whole system, and how the system as a whole helps fulfill a basic life process. We are also understanding when illness or problems occur and how to keep our bodies healthy.
Later this month we will have our Celebration of Learning where kids show off what they have learned. This will be the 30 minutes prior to our Thanksgiving Family Feast!
