Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful, fun summer! We are going to get started this week diving into our curriculum. In addition to bi weekly conduct reports, you can expect a bi weekly classroom newsletter that gives you information about what we will be learning.
This week we will be diving into the scientific method and working on an experiment using paper helicopters to test a hypothesis. Students will learn how scientists observe the world, ask questions, and investigate those questions through experiments. It is a long lesson, so we will have quite a bit to read. At the end of this week, students should know the scientific method and be able to complete their own experiments.
We will probably begin social studies next week. This year the focus is specific to Indiana only. The beginning lessons break down where Indiana is in the world, and we also learn about the different regions and landscape of Indiana.
In reading we are working on a couple of comprehension skills: summarizing stories and putting stories in sequential order. Summarizing can be fun! Engage your child at home by having them summarize something they enjoy reading or watching. This can be movies, magazines, newspapers, Internet articles, etc. Simply ask them what happened first, next, and finally. We will be using pearsonrealize.com to engage in online activities and the story Because of Winn-Dixie in our reading books. Students will be given weekly packets that are submitted on Friday. This is mostly classwork, but students can take them home to receive additional help. We will have weekly reading tests on Fridays that cover our reading skills and vocabulary from the week. Our weekly vocabulary words can be found in the packets.
Each week we will have a pre spelling test on Monday and a final test on Friday. Students who miss 2 or less on Monday will not have to take the test on Friday!
For now math is going to be a review from last year. I am sure you are aware with Saxon math comes daily homework. Many times, students are able to complete most of this in class.