WCOs
- Create meaning strategically.
- Evaluate how authors create meaning.
- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
- Create knowledge through the process of inquiry.
Students will be:
- Learning how to read a biography book, take notes to determine important information, synthesize what they've learned about the famous person from the book and other sources, and write a report to justify why this person is worthy of study.
- Writing multi-paragraph essays. These will include: a personal narrative about winter break, responses to opinion pieces that they've read to critique the author's opinion and support their own reasoning, and blog posts about current events.
- Analyzing the five different text structures present in nonfiction text: description, sequence, problem/solution, cause/effect, and compare/contrast. By reading a lot of nonfiction texts, students will analyze the author's organizational structure to evaluate the important information.
- Integrating all four of these WCOs in their first book clubs of the year. Each reading group has chosen a novel to read. They'll read a portion of the book each week, analyze the text, and meet to discuss it each week.
- Beginning their first DLT project. They'll choose something that they want to learn more about, and through inquiry, create a project to showcase their new learning.
WCOs
- Evaluate how environment and culture influence sustainability.
- Evaluate the relationship between cause and effect.
- Evaluate the relationship between decisions and the impact on available resources in the community.
Students will be:
- Deconstructing the WCOs so that they actually understand what they mean! As you drive around town, have dinner conversations, talk to your child about school, you may want to talk about:
- What is sustainability? Why is it important to consider when making decisions?
- If the town of Parker doesn't think about the environment, what effect would that have on our city's sustainability?
- If the town of Parker thinks about the environment over culture, what effect would that have on our city's sustainability?
- How has Colorado thought about resources when making decisions?
- How do you make decisions? How does cause/effect manifest itself in your daily life?
- What decisions has the community made that you agree/disagree with and why?
- Learning about the geography and regions of Colorado. We'll focus on: how the geography of Colorado has affected where people settle and the jobs they have; how decisions can have positive/negative effects on our state's resources and sustainability.
- Analyzing the history of Colorado. We'll focus on: the cause/effect relationships in historical events; how environment and culture have influenced sustainability over time; and how decisions are made for our state based upon the available resources in our state at the time.
WCOs
- Create a process to solve a problem.
- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
This month, our focus will be on fractions. Students will work heavily with simplifying, equivalent fractions, and adding/subtracting fractions. Through number talks, we'll continue with sharing our thinking as we solve problems mentally for efficiency and accuracy.
Homework This Week:
- Spelling: gram
- Reading: Students will choose a biography book to read this month at home. The notes are posted in Google Classroom. We will have gone over the assignment's expectations in class on Monday.
- Math: I'd suggest Ten Marks Jam Session, Front Row Fractions, or these Equivalent Fractions games
