Happy 2022, everyone! It has been a really wonderful week here in the classroom, despite sickness and the usual interruptions. We are so happy to welcome our new student, Gabe. It feels like he has been here all year! He fits in beautifully, and the class has been wonderful in making sure he feels like he belongs.
January is usually my favorite month of teaching. With the holidays behind us and spring fever not yet upon us, these 6 weeks are productive and calm, with lots of learning happening. This year looks to be no exception (assuming COVID doesn't disrupt us too much) and I am looking forward to some good weeks ahead.
Here's the rundown for this week:
In reading, we started our Social Issues book clubs. The students made a sad list of social issues that face us in today's world, and they are reading books in groups and identifying/discussing these issues with their peers. This sort of literary analysis combined with real-life issues is so good for them to tackle, and they are certainly mature enough for the conversations!
In writing, we have just started an opinion writing unit. The students are still picking their topics, but they will all write a 5 paragraph essay with a thesis that they have to support. They will be masters of paragraphing by the time this unit is over! The social issues they are reading about will help them come up with some strong opinions to write about!
We have started our civics unit in social studies. So far, we have learned what is meant by democracy, and we have learned what rights and responsibilities we have as citizens of a democracy. We also learned about the Bill of Rights and the first 10 amendments. If you hear your child saying, "I plead the 5th," it is because they learned about our 5th amendment and the freedom to not incriminate yourself in court! We will go on to learn about our 3 branches of government, what is meant by Democrat and Republican, and how a bill becomes a law. They will be very informed citizens when this unit is over!
Finally, in math, we are doing a short unit on measurement. This week, we focused on linear measurement and perimeter. Next week we will get into symmetry and finding the area of unusual shapes. The students all received their "checkbooks" and we are starting our math simulation. Each student has a "job" and will get a paycheck weekly for 4 weeks. They will also get a tax bill and a rent bill. They will need to write 2 checks each week to pay their bills. Of course, they will have to add and subtract their checks and payments in their check registers. This is a great way to practice the algorithm, and also a wonderful life skill to learn! Naturally, they love doing this... and the celebration at the end will be a sale where they can spend their "money" to buy a variety of stuff (that I might be asking you to donate -- garage sale items that you don't want anymore! One man's trash is another man's treasure, right?) Stay tuned!
That is all for this week. I hope you all have a restful and HEALTHY weekend!
