Students have returned from spring vacation and continued our Animal Habitats theme with Two Days in May, a story that had students making judgments, as they debated the best course of action to take in several animal/human interaction scenarios. Next week we will wrap up our fourth reading theme with two shorter selections, Alejandro’s Gift, and The Living Desert. The first story is about a lonely older man who built a water hole for the animals that he had noticed around his home. As a result he had a lot of new companions. The second story will be a nonfiction piece, which describes the saguaro cactus. Ask your student how the cactus is like an apartment building and a restaurant. Students will use the many skills they learned in this unit: distinguishing between fact/opinion, making judgments, comparing/contrasting, and drawing conclusions while taking theme tests this week. There will also be a spelling review list next week.
Students have been dividing with multiples of ten, and then dividing larger numbers with remainders. Next week we will continue with dividing large numbers, practice estimating quotients, write number sentences to solve problems, and explore the meaning of “averages”. In case you have taken a break since our multiplication units, please begin reviewing the times tables at home again, as they will be needed for our division chapter.
Do you know the steps to take in conducting an experiment? Students are busy learning the scientific method as they perform experiments for science expo, which will be held here at Hynes, on Wednesday, April 21st. Be sure to stop by to see what your scientists have been up to!