Welcome Back!

Mrs. Mastny's Class of Little Einsteins

Welcome to a new school year!  I hope everyone is finally settling in.  Thank you for a wonderful first week of school!

A Look at This Week:

 ELA

Reading- We will continue to learn our classroom routines and expectations, as well as differentiating between the main idea (gist) and a summary.  We will practice summarizing both fiction and non-fiction texts using a graphic organizer, that asks the 6 main questions:  Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?  

Language Arts- We will continue to build our writing stamina in our Writer's Notebook.  

Science-  We will begin our first unit, "Patterns of Earth and Sky".  Students will investigate and answer our unit question:  Why do we see different stars at different times?

Social Studies- We will begin our first unit of study with the Early Americans, and how Columbus "discovered" America.

Math-  We will be reviewing rounding rules, and place value up to the millions.  

Important Days:
Monday- No School, Labor Day
Wednesday- Curriculum Night 6:30-8:00PM

Have a wonderful week!!!

A Peek at this Week

                                      Social Studies Chapter 9 Breakout

ELA

Reading/Language Arts- Students will continue to identify and analyze idioms, adages, and proverbs.  They will also be reading "Katie's Trunk," which shows the Loyalists' point of view at the beginning of the American Revolution.

Word Work- Students will continue to work on List 8 words:  dic, metri/meter, poly, sub, tele, and un.

Science-  We will continue Chapter 3, "Why do Salad-dressing Ingredients separate again after being mixed?"

Social Studies- We will begin Chapter 10, "Forming a New Government."  Students will be reading Lesson 1, "A Weak Government."  We will be reading about the Articles of Confederation, the Federalists Papers, Shay's Rebellion, and the challenges our brand new country faced now that it was its own independent country.

Math-  Students will be practicing the standard algorithm of multiplication.  

Important Days

Thursday- 1:00 Too Good For Drugs Graduation 

Friday- Early Dismissal

Have a great week!

A Peek at this Week

A Look at this Week:

 ELA

Reading/Language Arts- Students are identifying and analyzing idioms, adages, and proverbs.  They are also comparing "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to the story, And Then What Happened Paul Revere?  Students will also be reciting stanzas from Longfellow's poem on Thursday and Friday.  
Word Work- Students will continue to work on List 8 words:  dic, metri/meter, poly, sub, tele, and un.

Science-  We will continue Chapter 3, "Why do Salad-dressing Ingredients separate again after being mixed?"

Social Studies- We will finish Chapter 9, "The Revolutionary War," and take a test on Friday.

Math-  Students will be learning how to multiply using an array.  Then they will see how the array matches up to the standard algorithm.  

Important Days

Monday- Reading MAPs Testing

Wednesday- Choir Field Trip
Thursday- Math MAPs Test 
Friday- Family Fitness Event

Have a great week!

A Peek at this Week

A Look at this Week:

 ELA

Reading/Language Arts- Students will begin writing their magazine articles about their natural disaster. 
Word Work- Students continue to work with List 7 word parts:  hypo, hyper, im/in, milli, fore, and rupt.  We will continue to work on context clues and word etymology in Reading WIN.

Science-  We will begin Unit 2, Chapter 2, "Why do some salad dressings have sediments, and others do not?"  We will start Lesson 2.1 "Investigating Flavor Ingredients."  We will be discussing how some substances dissolve and others do not, and why that occurs.

Social Studies- We will begin Chapter 9, "The Revolutionary War."

Math-  Students will be taking the Illinois Assessment of Readiness Math tests.

Important Days

Monday- Oak Trace Nursing Home Field Trip

Wednesday- IAR Math Test 1
Thursday- IAR Math Test 2
Friday- IAR Math Test 3

Have a great week!

A Peek at Next Week

A Look at next Week:

 ELA

Reading/Language Arts- Students will record their newscast about their natural disaster with Screencastify, and we will watch them as a class. 
Word Work- Students continue to work with List 7 word parts:  hypo, hyper, im/in, milli, fore, and rupt.  We will continue to work on context clues and word etymology in Reading WIN.

Science-  We will finish Unit 2, Chapter 1.  Students will will use their knowledge of molecules and models to write a scientific explanation about why the food coloring in the chromatography test separated into different dyes.  

Social Studies- We are discussing Chapter 8, "The Road to War," and will take a test on Friday.

Math-  Students are finished with Unit 3 and will take a Unit 3 test over place value and decimals on Thursday.

Important Days

Monday- Roller Skating Party 3:30-6:30

Wednesday- Names of volunteering chaperones, and the Oak Trace Nursing Home field trip permission slip is due.
Friday- Kids Heart Challenge During PE Classes

Have a great weekend!

Peek at this Week

A Look at this Week:

 ELA

Reading/Language Arts- We will begin reading the Eight Days of Haiti, and will be focusing on the different perspective and point of view of the main character.

Word Work- Students continue to work with List 6 word parts:  arch, cent, graph, loc, ped/pod, re.

Science-  We will read about the properties of molecules in a book called, "Break it Down" in Lesson 1.7.  Then we will continue on to Lesson 1.8, "Evaluating Chromatography Models."  

Social Studies- We will finish discussing and taking notes on Lesson 8.2 "The Colonists Rebel."  We will be learning about the Boston Massacre, Committee of Correspondence, the Boston Tea Party, and the Intolerable Acts.  

Math-  Students will to learn strategies for adding and subtracting decimals in Problem Strings.  We will also be comparing decimals, and rounding decimals.

Important Days
Wednesday- CogAT Testing
Thursday- CogAT Testing
Friday- CogAT Testing

Have a great weekend!

A Peek at Next Week

Chromatography Investigation in Science

Valentine's Day Breakout

A Look at next Week:

We will be starting our Too Good For Drugs ten week program.  On Thursday afternoons we will have a police officer from the sheriff's department come in and talk to the kids about peer pressure and making good choices.  The kids really enjoy this time, and it is a great program!

 ELA

Reading/Language Arts- We will finish up our first round of research.  Students will publish their first piece of informational text on natural disasters.  We will also continue to review and compare different text structures.

Word Work- Students have begun to work with List 6 word parts:  arch, cent, graph, loc, ped/pod, re.

Science-  We will begin Lesson 1.5 "Exploring Another Model of Chromatography."  We will continue to learn about the different properties of molecules.

Social Studies- We will begin Chapter 8 "The Road to Revolution."  We will be reading about the Stamp Act, and Townshend Act.  

Math-  Students will be beginning Unit 3, Lesson 1, "Whole Number and Decimal Place Value."  We have gone over the "Give and Take" strategy for adding and subtracting decimals in Problem Strings this past week, and next week we will be looking at how a decimal point moves when you multiply or divide by ten.

Important Days
Monday- No School
Thursday- Spring Picture Day

Have a great weekend!