We now have 100% of our forms and money turned in for Austin! Thank you so much; parents who are planning to go as chaperones must be approved through the District prior to loading the bus so please make sure you have done that. Please check the HISD website for how to do this if you haven't done so already. The process can take 2-3 weeks.
It's a very busy week. On TUesday, 16 of our class will be taking the NAEP. Information has gone out in previous Tuesday folders. The 5 who are not taking it will be in Ms. Heemer's room for the 1 1/2 hours the test will take. Students have been told who is/isn't taking the exam. If your child is, please tell them it is imperative they give their best effort. Then on Wednesday, it is an Early Dismissal. Thursday will be an Expository Writing Benchmark as required by HISD.
This week's other learning:
Math- We continue working in Unit 6. Our focus this week will be with angles. We will measure angles using a protractor and we will look at the relationship of angles and clocks. We will also do some work with elapsed time. Example- If a movie began at 7:15 and lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes, what time will the movie end?
Writing- We are going to begin writing a mix of narrative and expository pieces each week. Teachers will assign prompts for students to write to. We need to make sure students are getting plenty of time to write to both genres and are using the strategies we have been teaching since August. ***On Thursday all students will be given a writing benchmark (practice STARR). Please make sure your child is well rested and has a good breakfast. They will be given 3 hours to write to the prompt. Our grammar focus is adverbs.
Reading- We will focus on cause/effect relationships in reading. Students need to know how to find the cause/effect relationships and how they affect the plot of the books we read. We continue with our Daily 5 rotations.
Science- We are learning a lot about conserving and natural resources (both renewable and nonrenewable). This week our focus is on water. We will discuss the percentage of water on Earth that is actually clean for drinking, and what we can do to conserve it. We will also look at the water cycle and how it affects us. Students will be expected to draw/label the water cycle. Another aspect of next week’s lessons is water pollution. We will show images and discuss the Pacific Garbage Patch. **Students will be coming home with a Water Wise kit. There are some fun activities you can do at home to learn about water.
Social Studies – We begin reading chapter 6 and learning about the Texas Revolution (the students can’t wait for the battle to begin)! We will also read about the Battle of the Alamo.
