What's going on in class?

Reading:
We are going to focus on expository texts. We are taking a shift from fiction to nonfiction. Students need to be able to recognize the organizational features associated with expository text in order to comprehend at a deeper level, as well as to write expository text effectively. Main idea is a key focus in this unit, where students must actively sort through details in order to come up with the “big idea.” Students also need to be able to identify and explain cause-and-effect relationships and use text features to locate information.


Writing:
Research will be conducted on a topic of student choice. It may stem from what is being taught in science or social studies at the current time. During the research process students will be researching topics for which they already possess background knowledge. Students may start with a hobby they already have (skateboarding, caring for an animal) or something they do on a regular basis (caring for a sibling, cooking for others).

Math:
We are starting multiplication! Students begin using thinking strategies to develop efficient methods for learning multiplication basic facts with the Use Tens strategy, which works for the x5 facts. The Use Tens strategy highlights that 5 is half of 10, so the product of a fives facts will be half of the product of a related tens fact. This strategy can be extended to help students easily figure out products beyond the range of the basic facts.

In this unit students begin the lessons to use Doubling to learn the x2, x4, and x8 facts. The doubles, or the x2 facts, are really the addition doubles, which were among the easiest for students to learn when learning addition facts, so if students know their addition doubles, they already “know” their x2 multiplication facts. In this unit that connection is made and students practice Doubling and using that strategy to learn the x2, x4, and x8 facts.

Science:
The students will explore different forms of energy, including mechanical, light, sound and heat/thermal.  The students will demonstrate and observe that work is done when forces, such as pushing, pulling, magnetism and gravity, cause change.