Happy Very Long Weekend!

So...just to make sure you don't hurry your child into the car early next week...the students have off school on Monday, January 17th to honor Martin Luther King, Jr....they are also off school Tuesday and Wednesday, January 18th and 19th for teacher work days. So...I will see your lovelies on Thursday, January 19th!!



We have had a great week...so much to talk about...

Language Arts
We have many poets...
Did you know it?!?!?
I am so impressed with the work your kids are producing...we are working on color poems and I cannot wait to share them with you!! Also in our study of poetry we have been using a T chart to try to make sense of poems...one side for the quotes, one side for "my thoughts"...what the kids think they mean...this is a very hard skill...so much inferring involved...but the kids are pretty amazing at figuring out the messages in some very complex poetry. The poems the kids recited on Thursday were wonderful! They did a nice job using strong volume, excellent eye contact, and speaking with a clear and well paced voice!

My favorite conversation about poetry this week was based on the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes. I have printed it below...ask your child about the poem...


Mother to Son
by Langston Hughes


Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor--
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been climbing on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now--
For I'se still going' honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Math
In math this week we have continued our geometry unit. We discussed and worked with many different shapes...but our focus was on lines and angles. We discussed line segments, lines, rays, angles, how to name them and how to measure them....and when I took out those protractors, you would have thought I handed the kids a million dollars!! They were so excited to learn to use them and were so motivated to measure accurately!! Next week we will finish up this fun unit!

Social Studies
We finished up the Econ and Me video series and now we will be talking about global trade...and we will begin our Entrepreneur unit...they are going to LOVE it!!

BIOGRAPHIES
Each student picked out an inventor or innovator this past week and were assigned a book or some articles to read. Next Thursday we will begin our biography unit where the kids will be taking notes, organizing their information, and writing an expository essay about the life of their chosen person. This will eventually lead up to the "Hall of Inventors and Innovators"...a wax museum that your child will participate in and that you will be invited to attend. Next week I will inform you of the tentative date for this production so you can mark it on the calendar ahead of time!

As you can see, as always we have A LOT going on...this is all while we are also studying Latin and Greek roots, learning new cursive capital letters, visiting the computer lab for keyboarding and the "selling of lemonade", and continuing Writer's Workshop!! I am continually amazed at how much we can fit into one week!!

I hope you have a wonderful long weekend and I look forward to seeing your kids next Thursday.