4Ry is bustling with excitement these days. This week the class finished their Plant Packaging STEM project. Integrating everything that they learned throughout our plant unit in science, the students were tasked with engineering a package that could meet the needs of the plant so that it survives on a shelf and in transport and to meet the needs of the consumer. The students had an additional challenge of keeping materials costs low to increase their profit margin. The class was more than enthusiastic as the cycled through the engineering process. All of our plant packages were successful!
Yesterday the students were introduced to their first social studies inquiry project of the year. They will work towards answering the question: How do geographic conditions influence the development of human populations? In order to draw conclusions about answers to this big question, students will make various types of large, transparent maps of North America. By layering the population map over climate, elevation, bodies of water, and precipitation maps, students will make observations and develop theories about population density.
Early this week we launched our first book clubs of the year. The students are very excited about our Roald Dahl author study. Each book club is reading and discussing a different Roald Dahl book. The students are tracking for evidence of character development and our theme, “Be the Change,” while they read. The students use their notes to share their inferences, wonderings, and other thoughts about the book.
We are well into our opinion writing unit. The students have learned about numerous strategies that writers need to implement in order to persuade their readers. After break we will connect persuasive writing with our “Be the Change” theme, as children identify things that they would like to change within their communities, be they macro or micro, and tailor their writing to the appropriate audiences.
Finally, in math, the students are learning how to multiply large numbers using the area model and partial products model. Both strategies teach the concept behind the standard algorithm for multiplication. After learning both models, we encourage children to use the strategy that they feel most comfortable with. After vacation we will dedicate a significant amount of time to learning how to divide large numbers using the standard algorithm for long division.
I wish each of your families a holiday season filled with warmth and love!
Happy Holidays!
Jen Ryan
