Weekly Update: April 11 - April 14

Shout Outs for the week:

• Shout out to Micah R's mom, Morgan's mom and Riley R's dad for helping with Field Day. 

What are we learning:

• Reading Unit - Our current unit: Biographies and other literary text. We continue to practice reading comprehension strategies (nonfiction text features, main/central idea, context clues, problem/solution, inferencing, summarizing, fact vs opinion, cause/effect, author's purpose, character traits, theme, sequencing events, point of view). 
• Writing Unit -  Our current unit: Nonfiction and Persuasive Writing. We are wrapping up our informational pieces including our PBL project and our persuasive animal letter that goes with our 3D ecosystem, and so much more! 
• Science Unit - We just finished on Environments, Ecosystems and Food Chains unit with our assessment test this week. Scores are in Home Access. We will begin our next unit on Structures and Functions of Plants and Animals on Monday. The test for this unit will be on May 4th. 
• Math Unit  - We took our Place Value up to 100,000 test today.  Scores will be in Home Access. Our next unit is Measurement (elapsed time, capacity, weight, length). The test for this unit will be on May 5th. 

Friendly Reminders:

• No school - Friday, April 15
• Science Unit test - May 6
  
• Math Unit test - May 9
• Spring Book Fair and Art Gallery Night - May 5th  4:00 - 6:00pm 
• 5th Grade Talent Show - April 22nd  6:00pm 
• STAAR Testing: This year your child will be taking the Reading and Math STAAR tests (May 11th and 12th).  Please, be mindful of your child "practicing" the online STAAR tests at home. This puts additional stress and anxiety on your child. Let's remember, your child is 8 or 9 years old. This is the first year of STAAR tests. Your child already feels the stress and pressure to do well. The best things you can do at home to help prepare your child are:  
  • Math Practice: use Prodigy, Khan Academy (sign up for free), Splash Math (Splash Learn), look over math notebook problems and vocabulary, and Mrs. Lilleboe's Math links on this website. 
  • Reading Practice: continue to have your child read every night and discuss the book your child is reading with him/her and use the Mrs. Lilleboe's Reading Links. 
  • Go over assignments that come home in Thursday folders. If your child misses a question, work together to get the answer correct. :)
  • Complete the STAAR homework (reading and math) each week.