The Final Leg

These next six weeks are the final leg of our journey for this school year.  The curriculum is changing slightly, allowing for more open topic writing opportunities in Grammar and Writing.  Our only focus is the steps of the writing process, so the kids will have the opportunity to let their imaginations roam free and unhindered. I am excited to read their work! They have such amazing minds.

During Reading we have been working on abbreviations, writing dates, using the dictionary, and learning how to use research books more effectively.  Next week we will start a Library section, where the kids will focus on learning how to find non-fiction and fiction books at the library, the dewy decimal system, using the card catalog, searching by author, keywords, and title and locating books that we find in the catalog.  We have also been reading Junie B Jones books during reading and the kids LOVE her.

In Math this coming week, our focus will be on solving equations and checking answers using opposite operations.  This should be easy for the kids to grasp since we have already discussed this when explaining fact families.  We will also be discussing ordinal numbers, which the kids have already learned thanks to ASL. :)  Our week in Math will be completed by creating a mini book  of things that go in a specific order, like the days of the week, months of the year, recipe ingredients/directions, or the order of a story.  This is especially convenient because our spelling words this week include the days of the week, so we will be able to get some extra practice.

In Social studies we are continuing our study of the History of Transportation by talking about the problems different forms of transportation have caused.  Throughout the week we will be discussing solutions to problems from transportation, like noise pollution, traffic jams, traffic safety, the depletion of our energy sources, and the effects on our planet.  Towards the end of the week the kids will be able to create their own form of transportation using their choice of materials, and lastly, they will write a short description of what their lives would be like if we didn't have cars, buses, trains, or planes.

Science this week will be focused on Rocks.  We will spend our week attempting to weather a rock, to illustrate erosion and showing how with enough force or constant wear, rocks of all different sizes will break or crack.  Weather permitting, we will also go on a rock finding field trip, and make our own sandstone rock that we can put outside and observe the process of erosion over the next few weeks.

I am looking forward to starting the final portion of our school year on Monday after our short break.  It has been nice to have a week off to regroup and plan, but I am definitely ready to dive back in! :)