Math: Our third unit is fractions. Essential questions include: What does a fraction bar mean? Can you define a fraction as a division number sentence? How do you find common denominators? How do you simplify fractions? How do you add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers? What is a ratio? Lastly, when do you need these things in real life? Continue to bring math into every day situations where possible. Math is all around you...show your child its importance and he/she will value it too. Our unit test will be December 3rd.
Language Arts: We will be reading an assortment of stories of differing genres this year.We will use the anthology, novels, and do a lot of writing! We will be reading nonfiction works over the next couple of weeks. We will be examining text features that aid in finding important information. Concurrently, we are working on our point of view and persuasion writing/presentation unit. Students are researching unusual pets and finding ways to make you want one for your own!
Social Studies: We begin our third unit, "Turn of the Century America." We will explore the continued United States expansion, big cities and the problems created by rapid population growth, the Progressive Movement to solve the problems of the poor and widen democracy's reach to include women, and the growth of corporations including "robber barons" such as Carnegie. On an international level, the US gained world power with the Spanish/American War, the Panama Canal, and territory acquisitions. This is a three week unit. Ms Becker's class is currently with me.
Science: Ms. Becker teaches science for our groups. The first semester includes topics in biology. General topics include classification of organisms and animals, microrganisms, and heredity. We are with Ms. Becker until the week prior to break for our genetics unit.