English Language Arts, Reading and History
The main plan of the week is to use Interview notes to complete our 5 paragraph Interviews, revise and edit, and prepare for publishing using the Chromebooks. In addition to this, I hope to discuss prepositions and religion in Ancient Rome. We continue with The Phantom Tollbooth and we continue with the Massachusetts Book award books for reading fluency. Math and Science
The end is near! This week we will be finishing up chapter 11 in math. This is our last official chapter, as we already completed chapter 12 prior to MCAS testing. Because this is a short week, we will take our chapter 11 test next Tuesday (June 5th), and use Monday for review. For the next two weeks in science, students will be learning about density. We will learn new vocabulary, read about density, and calculate density using a formula. Next week students will be given the chance to put their STEM skills to use! They will be using common materials to build a boat, and we'll have a challenge to see whose boat can hold the most weight without sinking. Students should start thinking about bringing in materials for their boats such as craft sticks, straws, tape, foil, balloons, etc. English Language Arts, Reading and History Omnia Finis Imminet , Just to re-iterate Ms. Brach.... in Latin..... This is Julius Caesar week with information of his influence on the Roman Republic and subsequent history. I'll throw in a dramatic representation of the assassination as well. A cursory discussion of Roman government and the Roman Empire will follow. Grammar this week focuses on Adverbs. We continue with The Phantom Tollbooth. Great metaphors, complex sentences and idiom practice. The Interview I notes are due on Friday. Students should have a lot of details like names, dates, locations written in notes form, No full sentences or paragraphs! We start the writing on Friday! English Language Arts, History and Reading
We read the realistic fiction story "Ta-Na-E-Ka" and practice compare and contrast. We have been reading The Phantom Tollbooth as our class read a loud. Very much a local classic with piles of poetic and literary elements, many of which are above the heads of many 12 year olds, but still entertaining to discuss. Roman history continues with a brief discussion of Roman numerals, Roman Architecture including the Circus Maximus. I've been checking how students have been conducting interviews to make sure they do not wait for the last minute for this important writing assignment. I've seen lots of really good work and probably it has been a great opportunity to tell some pretty funny stories. I like to think this assignment is enjoyed by everyone. At this point, students should only have notes, nothing written as a text. I have given some time to work on Museum Books and provided so much paper for covering the walls and floors. By this time, students should be done with the wall paper and floors and we'll spend some time this week on the captions and drawings. We revisit spelling this week with a spelling test and homework due on Thursday. If we have time, we begin adverbs this week. Math and Science This week we will resume normal classes and schedules, as our testing is over! Hurray! In math, we are cycling back to chapter 10. This chapter has a focus on volume and surface area of rectangular and triangular prisms. We have done a lot of work with these concepts already, and students should feel very successful when applying their knowledge. There will be a quiz on Wednesday or Thursday, and a test next week. We will be moving through these last chapters quickly, as we have already done most of the lessons before MCAS testing. In science we will be learning about chemical reactions, which can be endothermic or exothermic. On Wednesday we will be doing a multi-part lab, where students will mix different ingredients together and measure the temperature change. Based on the change they will conclude if a chemical reaction took place, and whether it was endothermic or exothermic. A prerequisite to this experiment is the reading homework that will be assigned Monday and due Wednesday. Failure to complete this homework will result in students not being able to participate, since information for the experiment is contained in the reading. There will be a quiz on chemical reactions on Friday. English Language Arts, Reading and History We discuss the origins of Ancient Rome, Roman mythology and Roman numerals this week. The focus this week will be on sequence and cause and effect as we read "Exploring the Titanic" in the Treasures book. Students will not do vocabulary or the traditional test and instead use chromebooks to justify who is responsible for the sinking of the Titanic. Whatever does not get finished in class on Wednesday will be homework due on Thursday. We continue the wonderful wacky world of possessive, indefinite and relative pronouns. Students have their Interview Part II due on Friday. I would expect the full name of the person, the relationship, a location and the words and phrases answers for at least 15 questions. I've also assigned the History Museum Book due June 14. Details are posted in the homework upload section. We continue in Massachusetts Book Awards books for reading groups. Math and Science Finally, our last week of "drive by" math lessons! We will be finishing up our chapter 12 preview this week by looking at how the distribution of data on a graph can tell us even more information about the data, when to use what types of graphs, and how to interpret line graphs. These 3 lessons come from chapter 12. We will also continue to review math skills from the whole year in order to make sure everything is fresh for our MCAS tests this Thursday and Friday. I feel confident that students are prepared and will feel comfortable and successful on this exam. To prepare for our upcoming physical science units, students will have an article to read and answer questions about. This will be due on Wednesday. English Language Arts, Reading and History The Colosseum questions are due on Wednesday followed by some discussion of the famous slave Spartacus, film clips of Kirk Douglas and a gladiator game. The Interview Project Part II has a check in on May 18 with completed interview notes due on June 1. Remember students should only be jotting down notes in words and phrases. The rough draft will be completed in class. I hope you've been having fun talking about the"olden days." We're building a "Museum Book" in class this week. The project will require students to present main ideas and key details of each of the 4 units of history we have studied this year. More to follow... We started the classic book "The Phantom Tollbooth" today, another favorite book. The Tom Sawyer one pagers were remarkable, creative and very informative. Thank you! Math and Science
Happy Monday! This week in math and science we will be spending some time preparing for our standardized tests coming up on May 10-11. As we have only fully finished 9 of 12 chapters, we will be previewing chapters 10, 11, and 12 over the next week and a half. This week our topics will include measures of variation and deviation from chapter 11, as well as line plots, histograms, and box plots from chapter 12. Of course, once testing is over, we will fully cover all of these chapters as usual. For now, consider it a preview of things to come! In addition, we will be spending time each day reviewing math skills from the whole year. Not only will this help students prepare for testing, but for their end of year math exams as well. Spiraling back helps keep all math concepts fresh and current! English Language Arts, Reading and History We are starting our last writing project, the Spring Interview Project. Students will be interviewing a person born in the last century on 3 main topics: childhood, school and life. Due this Friday is only the name of the person to be interviewed and the list of questions from the handout. I would like the questions to be arranged with plenty of space to take notes between each question. Students will have My Green Home and fictional narratives in writing folders this week. Excellent job! Grammar this week demystifies the pronouns and the antecedents We finished "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" last week with some end of book activities this week including a "one pager" explanation of the book. We'll work on this is class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and students will have the option of bringing it home on Thursday to make any finishing touches. The directions will be on the reverse side of the handout. There are some last parts of ancient Greece to tidy up: a video of the Greek alphabet to make and a discussion of Alexander of Macedon and then onto Rome! Math and Science
Welcome back to school! We hope you all had a great April vacation week off! This week in math and science we will be spending some time preparing for our MCAS tests coming up on May 10-11. As we have only finished 9 of 12 chapters, we will be previewing chapters 10, 11, and 12 over the next two weeks. This week our topics will include volume and surface area from chapter 10, and mean/median/mode from chapter 11. Of course, once testing is over, we will fully cover all of these chapters as usual. For now, consider it a preview of things to come! In addition, we will be spending time each day reviewing math skills from the year. Not only will this help students prepare for testing, but for their end of year math exams as well. Spiraling back helps keep all math concepts fresh and current! English Language Arts, History and Reading For the record, there will be a modest amount of homework this week. Taking the standardized tests so soon after a vacation, almost requires some brain exercise! In English Language Arts, we will skim over a review of some of the basic skills that they may see on the upcoming test as well as take another peek at the open responses and how they are graded. This year, I am not giving a test to get ready for a test. They are ready. We've gone over all the material and skills they need. I trust them to try their best and that is all anyone can ask. Double reading slips are due on Wednesday. We finish Tom Sawyer this week. There will be a short "single page" assignment on the novel that will be announced at the end of the week. We are wrapping up Ancient Greece with some short assignments about Trade, the Alphabet and War. In addition, we are beginning Ancient Rome with a wordsearch map due on Friday. Math and Science
Happy vacation week! We are going to be wrapping up 2 chapters this week, one in math and one in science. Math tests will be on Friday, April 13th. This test will cover chapter 9. Chapter 9 has a focus on geometry, and specifically area. Students will need to be able to properly apply formulas to find the area of parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids. Students will also need to understand how area and perimeter change as the dimensions of shapes change. A practice test is available on the McGraw-Hill website, and will give students 5 extra credit points if completed. In science, we are finishing up our study on adaptations and evolution. Students will have a choice whether to take their test Wednesday or Friday, depending on their readiness. Either way, this test will be OPEN BOOK. Students should be sure to reread the chapter and study vocabulary. The book is there as a tool, but hopefully not needed for every single question. English Language Arts, Reading and History The theme for the week will be Cause and Effect. We'll be talking about energy and resources, and cause and effect in the story "Building Green". Instead of the traditional vocabulary and Friday test it has been fun and different to work on a diagram with accompanying paragraphs about "My Green Home." This will include vocabulary.The website I used last year is gone but just google designing a green home for all kinds of good ideas. We'll use some class time to do some research on this idea. This is due on Friday. Cause and Effect will also come into play when we discuss Greek Science and Greek philosophy as class actiivities. Students are beginning the next pen pal letter process. The pen pals from Israel are asking for a connection to social media with your children. If you are ok with your child communicating with the student in Israel, please send an email or a note indicating your permission. We continue with Massachusetts Book Award Books, and Tom Sawyer, about to read the most famous scene in all American literature. The cave section. Math and Science
This week in math we are beginning our unit on Geometry! Students will be working to find the area of parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids this week. As part of our geometry goal this year, we have actually already previewed each of these lessons already throughout the year. These should be a piece of cake! Students should expect a quiz on Friday. In science we will be reading section 2 of of chapter 5 in our science books. This section focuses on how fossils are created, and how their ages are determined by scientists. A reading assignment will be sent home on Monday and due on Wednesday. On Tuesday, we welcome special guest Mrs. Marino, who will speak to both classes about her work at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We are very excited for her to join us! English Language Arts, Reading and History We've been focusing on completing our fictional narratives on the Chromebooks and reviewing how to write an open response compare and contrast essay on Athens and Sparta. Preliminary results look good. If further review is needed, we'll do some additional work on this important skill. In Reading , we'll be reading "The Emperor's Silent Army" as an example of information non-fiction with skills of summarizing and identifying key details. We continue in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and practice reading fluency with Massachusetts Book Award books. In English Language Arts we continue with the perplexing world of subject and object pronouns In History, we practice with making inferences with primary and secondary sources using examples of Greek pottery. |