Blog Post Week of 10/9-10/13

Driscoll- Humanities

This week centers got into its full swing- students rotated through 5 centers: independent work, read to self/Lit Circle, work on writing, social studies, and work on project. Students worked on a variety of things including their 5-paragraph opinion essay, researching further for their element project, reading nonfiction passages and completing Venn Diagrams comparing/contrasting ideas, and reading/completing prep work for their literature circle discussion. Students also learned how to write a conclusion paragraph, how to include transition words and phrases to connect related ideas/paragraphs, and how to include a counter argument to strengthen their claim.

Tem- STEM

This week we explored polygons and the attributes that differentiate them. We looked specifically at triangles and quadrilateral. We have continued to review measures of central tendency and prime and composite numbers. Vocabulary is heavy this quarter, review is helpful! In Science we have finished Matter, with a test coming this week, ask your student the date (the blocks are doing different dates). We also began our Sound unit, looking more closely at what defines sound.

Casalengo- Humanities

Hello! My name is Mrs. Casalengo and I am happy to be picking up where Mrs. Burkart left off. This week we spent a little time with introductions, getting to know one another and establishing routines. We began brainstorming for our new personal narrative about a memorable moment and started exploring the social studies book on Ancient Egypt and the Middle East.

Walker-STEM 

Students continued to learn about the rock cycle and the 3 types of rocks in Science. We also learned about weathering, erosion, and deposition. We focused on comparing and ordering decimals and fractions.

Gallion- STEM

This week our Rainforest has started coming together! Teams have worked through challenges to install large trees and create the backdrop to our forest. Students have continued to become experts through research with this week’s focus being around their living thing’s habitat and role in the food chain. In science, students have been learning more about classification of living things by looking through the three domains and the five kingdoms all living things can be classified in. In math students have continued to deepen their understanding of place value and decimals. We focused on estimation to check if their answers made sense while adding or subtracting decimals.

Sanguino- Humanities

In Humanities this week, students began their history unit by studying social scientists who investigate the past. In reading, they continued to apply their understanding of text structure while reading a variety of articles. At the end of the week they cycled back to review main idea and supporting details as they read an interesting article about Friday the 13th and triskaidekaphobia. In writing, students continued to research their living organism and completed their introduction paragraphs for their research reports. The students were REALLY exciting to begin CREATING the backdrop of the Rainforest! I have attached a few photos of the initial stages of that process! 🙂

Rainforest 1 Rainforest 2 Rainforest 3 Rainforest 4