Curriculum Update September 4-7

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing Labor Day weekend. It was nice that we were able to get some rain, but some sunshine as well.

This week, we will take MAP testing on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9:00-10:30 am each day. It will be reading, math and language arts. This is nothing your child will be able to prepare for, but rather an assessment that will provide us with informative data letting us know where your child is at in each of these academic areas.  The test will be given again in the Spring to see how much growth your child has made throughout the school year.

Please remember to RSVP for Common Core night on September 19 from 6-7 pm if you plan on attending.

Reading
We will continue our Community Spirit theme this week in Rigby. We will continue practicing making connections before, during, and after reading with ourselves, other texts, and things throughout the world. Our vocabulary word focus will be arrive, establish, appeal, household and lifestyle.

Math
We will continue our Numeration unit in enVision. This week we will be working on comparing numbers, ordering numbers, problem solving: make an organized list, and reviewing for our test on Monday. Please remember the students are able to take log on to view the lesson again or their math book online at www.pearsonsuccessnet.com.

SS

We will begin our SS unit on communities. The focus questions will be What make a community a community? Why do I need a community? Why does a community need me? What makes a successful community?

Science
We are going to continue our solar energy unit. Last week, the student learned about sun dials and tracking their shadows to tell time. They traced their shadows every hour and created sun dials. This week, we learn about thermometers, focusing on thermometers in the sun and shade and earth materials in the sun and shade.

Here are some pictures of the sun dials and the kids tracking their shadows.

Spelling
The Rigby spelling theme will focus on initial consonants.
List 1: balloon, marble, dairy, dolphin, fixture, morning, belong, finger, visitor, double
List 2: brief, breakfast, vacation, doubt, friendship, minimum, maintain, violin, venomous, fantasy
Extension List: The prefix is post (after) postdate, postgraduate, posthumous, postindustrial, postmark, postmeridian, postmortem, postpone, postproduction, postscript

Writing
The writing focus will be on beginnings. I will work with the kids on creative beginnings that will capture the reader's attention.

We will also being writing our pen pals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This will go along with our communities unit where the students will learn about other communities throughout the world.

Have a fantastic week!