Curriculum update and conferences

Our determining importance unit is going very well in reading.  The students demonstrate an excellent understanding of how to use text features and text structure to understanding non-fiction, and are now  classifying what's important versus what's interesting. 

We have begun a study of fractions.  The Kahn Academy has numerous videos online which demonstrate how to  do many of the concepts we are studying in math. The videos are excellent because they teach step by step, with the added benefit of being able to stop and rewind to review something that is confusing.  Here is a link to all of their videos on fractions.  I highly recommend that you encourage your child to view any topics which are unclear as we tackle this challenging unit.

In science we are studying states of matter.  Ask your child about the characteristics of solids, liquids, and gases.  

Our study of ancient civilizations has wrapped up, and we are moving on the early European explorers.  We will be researching explorers and creating magazines.  This will showcase our new knowledge of history, as well as give us an authentic reason to write non-fiction articles.

I am looking forward to meeting with everyone next week at conferences.  I want to let you know that I will be adopting a new method of conferencing.  Our meeting will begin with taking 4-5 minutes for you to tell me what you would like me to know about your child.  I will take notes during this portion of our meeting so that I can refer back to them as needed.  I will then take time to tell you about how things are going in the classroom, and answer any questions you  may have.  I realize that the time we have together is extremely limited, and am hopeful that this new method will help to optimize our time together.