October/November 2017 Where We Are in Place and Time Newsletter

Coming up..

in October…

3rd – Extreme Pizza Day

5th – No school (teacher

work day)

6th – No school (professional

learning day)

9th – Missoula Theater

(Gulliver’s Travels)

10th – Picture Retake Day

13th – Book Fair

13th – Missoula Gulliver’s

Travels performance

14th – Missoula Gulliver’s

Travels performance

15th – Bikes, Bites & Books

18th – Parent/Teacher

Conferences (4-8 pm)

19th – Parent/Teacher

Conferences

20th – No school

23rd – Red Ribbon Week

25th – PTO meeting

27th – Trunk or Treat

31st – Fall Party

in November…

2nd – Vision/Hearing

Screening

What we are learning…

Where we are in Place

& Time

Unit of Inquiry

“Shaping Societies” Our new unit of inquiry is under the transdisciplinary theme Where We are in Place & Time.

Students will be learning about the lives of many of the great explorers. They will also be participating in an interactive role-playing activity during which they will create their own colonies and make important decisions regarding their survival based on knowledge obtained during the unit. Topics to discuss: Westward Expansion, life in the early colonies & relationships with Native American tribes.

Announcements: *WWAPT Summative Assessment Task (SAT) will be due October 26th – please make sure to ask your child about his/her progress.

Transdisciplinary Theme –

Where We are in Place & Time An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal

histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries,

explorations and migrations of humankind; the

relationships between and the interconnectedness of

individuals and civilizations, from local and global

perspectives.

Central Idea Human interactions and historical events influence

the future.

Lines of Inquiry *Historical context of events (form)

*Causes and consequences of movement (causation)

*Various perspectives change the understanding of events (change)

October/November 2017 Where We Are in Place and Time Newsletter

What We are Reading…

We will begin reading Pedro’s Journal, a historical fiction novel which follows a ship boy’s journey with Christopher Columbus. Focusing on perspectives and points of view, students will then make comparisons to the novel, Encounter, which is told from the point-of-view of a young Taino boy during that same time period.

What we are learning…

Writing

Students will be focusing on Narrative Writing during this planner.

Points of Focus include: Embedded transitions Descriptive languages Solid closings

Language Arts

We will be finishing up and

reviewing aspects of

informational texts. Students

will then move on to Literary

Texts, focusing on:

Main

Idea

Text Evidence

Theme

Summarizing

Math – Students will be continuing with multiplication and division this unit. They will be working with both multi-digit whole numbers and multi-digit decimals. Students will also be working on measurement word problems involving decimals multiplication and division. If your child is absent or is struggling with a concept he/she can view videos for each lesson on our websites under the MATH link on the class website. There is also an excellent resource that is linked under Math on the class website for homework help.

Spelling Rules The Doubling

Rule

-tch or –ch

The Rabbit Rule

a-e, a, or ay

Grammar Concepts Fragments & Run-ons

Quotations

Comma usage

Paragraph starters

Subject/Verb agreement