Science
On Monday, December 12, the students will be introduced to the parts of a compound microscope. Also, we will review the parts of an insect, as well as the life cycle of an insect (see Science on the resource page). This material will be tested (closed book) on Wednesday of this week, and this will be the first science test for the new term. Students, of course, will also be getting study materials on Monday so that they can prepare for the test.
After the break we will continue our study of classification by learning more about vertebrates, then move on to ecosystems.
Social Studies & Language Arts
Social Studies has been integrated with Language Arts (writing) over the last month while the students work on learning the art of writing notes without copying sentences out of resource material (we are using both textbooks and encyclopedias). The concept of writing down just the facts in short phrases, or rewording longer items in their own words, is challenging for most elementary students. Many feel insecure about writing when they know they can’t match the polished prose of textbooks. I try to assure them that I want to hear the voice of a fifth grader when I read their papers, and that no one expects them to write as well as the textbook authors.
We are also working on the draft and editing process while the students create an expository writing piece about an early explorer.
Math
Tuesdays and Thursdays continue to be math unit days where the students work on computational skills in subtraction, addition, multiplication and division (including, eventually, fractions and decimals). On the remaining days, students have been working with geometry. This includes identifying triangles by their angles and sides, as well as figuring the area and perimeter of quadrilaterals. We will continue geometry after the break as we study volume and surface area of three-dimensional figures.
Once our explorer reports are done in Language Arts the students will construct geometrical puzzles and write directions to those puzzles to see if their classmates can build their creations from a set of written directions.
Next month the entire school will start working on math facts (subtraction, addition, and multiplication), but more about that in January.