Hello Families,

Here is a quick rundown of our week:

Math: We have finished up the multiplication bend of our unit, and have moved into division. Division is a much trickier operation for students to grasp, and we will need lots of practice. Stay tuned for a list of strategies that we will be using.  They will not learn the traditional algorithm for long division that we all use as adults -- that comes in middle school once we know for sure that they understand division conceptually. Mostly, we use what we know about multiplication in order to help us divide!

Reading: Most clubs have finished their historical fiction book clubs, but students are continuing to read historical fiction on their own. We have worked hard on determining themes and lessons from these books, and I see the students really stretching their thinking!

Writing: We are still plugging away at our literary essays. We are learning how to write even more complicated theses and to really analyze our books! This unit is a favorite of mine since it tackles both reading more intentionally AND writing!

Science: This week we learned about tectonic plates and we discovered that earthquakes mostly happen at the edges of these plates. Next week we will begin to learn about the theory of Pangea and about how glaciers and volcanoes form and what they do to the earth.

That's a wrap! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!