February 20, 2014

I can't believe how fast February is flying by! It's almost time for TerraNova testing, which will begin on March 3. I'll post more about that later. It's also time for progress reports, which will be going home tomorrow.

We've just finished reading our historical fiction novels, and I've had some great discussions with the students about the themes in the books, how the characters have changed, and what the characters have learned. We'll begin reading some non-fiction articles next week and discuss the different text structures found in non-fiction.

In math, we're learning long division. It's really important that students know their division facts, so if you haven't gotten out the division flash cards lately, now's the time! It'd also be helpful to go over with the students the steps in long division: divide, multiply, subtract, bring down. We drew division bots in the math notebooks yesterday to remember the steps, and we'll also learn the mnemonic: Does McDonald's Sell Burgers?

Science has probably been a lot of students' favorite subject lately since we've been talking about chemical and physical changes, and they made pancakes yesterday to observe the chemical changes taking place! We'll talk about mixtures and solutions, and the differences between acids and bases this week and next, and our test on this will be on Friday, February 28.

February 28 is also going to be our celebration of Black History Month. The class has been learning a song by Sam Cooke, which we will be singing at a presentation at 8:30 that morning. You're welcome to come watch! All of the other classes have also learned songs by famous African-American singers that they will be sharing.

Below, you'll see lots of photos from February, including pajama day, our Valentine's Day buddy activity, a play about Moses, and making pancakes.