Math

Unit two will finish up in the next week or so.  They are working really hard (and I finally corrected homework this weekend!) and are doing really well with the math concepts we are covering.  5^th graders are building up their U.S. Customary Multiplication skills.  It’s still really helpful for them to use and understand the Partial Products method, as it is the basis for what they are learning now.  And, as always, they need to practice their facts if they don’t come pretty automatically.  Xtramath is a great place for them to practice!

4^th graders should continue to practice their facts too.  We have spent a lot of time working on the formula to find AREA (lxw=a) and they should be able to do this easily!  We have also spent time working with factors, factor pairs, and multiples.  The word EQUATION keeps popping up in their journal pages, math boxes, and homework pages.  Practicing writing the equation really helps them to understand what they are working on, and what to do. 

Practice those facts!

Reading

We are finishing our first book in our reading books (some will take a little longer as their first book was a lot longer than the rest of the books) and will start our next group this week.  We also read another nonfiction piece about Andy Warhol and spent time discussing the facts we learned and how we know it’s a nonfiction book vs a fiction book, despite their being facts. 

Reading groups are one of my favorite parts of my job.  There are so many ways to organize them, and I love mixing kids up, hearing what books they are reading and working on common skills.  Reading group books CAN and SHOULD come home.  Kids should be reading EVERY SINGLE NIGHT and their reading group book is a great thing for them to read.  It’s okay to have them read it out loud, or even for you to take turns reading it to one another.  If you have a more reluctant reader, this is often a great way for them to get interested in the book without using up all of their energy to read.  They can also do LEXIA at home.  If they can’t figure out how to do it (we will have a tutorial on Monday), let me know and we will get them some help.

I’m Thankful assembly

This is my FAVORITE assembly!  I LOVE it!  To prepare (and because we couldn’t meet on Friday because of the Walkathon), we met on Tuesday and discussed what we are thankful for.  What are YOU thankful for?  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love everything about it.  I’m excited to be a PART of the assembly this year!  All of our kids, both 4^th and 5^th graders will participate!  Yay!