Manning's Message

February Fitness Challenge

As you have heard from the PTO we need to raise money to make repairs on our playground.  Starting today and for the next two weeks all Floral classes will be participating in the classroom fitness challenge.  Each day, we will be choosing a fitness activity to complete.  The PTO is asking you to pledge support to our classroom. All funds raised will go directly for the playground repairs.  Yellow pledge sheets went home today.  I will be posting pictures and/or videos of our class fitness routine on Seesaw each day.

Language Arts

Students continue to focus on the non-fiction text structures of compare and contrast, cause and effect, problem solution, sequence, and description.  They have learned how to identify the structures by paying attention to key words and to use specific organizers for each type to take notes when reading.  

Students have also been reading two articles “Annie Smith Peck” and “America’s Best Girl” and have discussed the main characters’ traits and the themes of each selection.  In the coming week, we will be using the two selections to write a detailed text-based response.

Students are writing a narrative essay based on a text entitled “Wacky Shoes” about a pair of shoes that take over their owner’s ability to control where they are going.  I am looking forward to reading how the students take this fun story and make it their own.  We are also practicing composing and typing in their Google Drive on the iPads when writing this piece.  

Math

We continue to work on Chapter Seven, Decimals. The past week, we have learned to identify and read tenths and hundredths.  They have also learned the connection between fractions and decimals.  This week students will learn to compare and round decimals in tenths and hundredths.

Social Studies

We continue to learn about the southern region of our country.  They are learning about the physical features, climate, and natural resources and people of the south.   We also continue our study of immigration.  We are learning about the different peoples who came to the United States.  Last week, we had an in-class field trip.  The Lowell National Historic Museum visited our classrooms to give an interactive presentation on the Immigration Experience.  

Science

Last week, students used their knowledge from previous investigations to build their own chain reaction machine.  They needed to use the science practices of asking questions and predicting outcomes about the changes in energy when object collide, and explain how energy can be transferred from one object to another, and demonstrate how energy can be transferred from one object to another.  Check out their video or pictures on Seesaw to see/hear their explanations of their machine.