Classroom Notes May 20-24

I wanted to welcome our new student, Abby, and her family, to Lewis Elementary. This week we continue researching a Native American tribe from what we now call the United States of America. Students are finding specific information about the tribe: land and region, dwellings (homes), food, myths, and something the Europeans learned from them. Our research is comprehensive and specific- not just "they ate deer." What species? What diod they use plants for besides eating? Medicine? Building materials? Clothing? What kind? We used Google Earth to view some of the landforms and will take our information and put into a presentation. The presentations are due Friday the 24th. We finished our book reports last week, so now we can focus more on our literature study of "Woodsrunner," and a book on what life was like during the American Revolution. We will also create a timeline based on these parts of history. In math, we finish playing our board games. One of the best aspects of this project was refining our games based on student feedback. Everyone gave an evaluation based on "I liked..." and a "You might try..." In math this week, we continue working with decimals, percentage, and data from walk and bike surveys. Please take a look at the beautiful pie charts (hard copy and digital) your children created in "The Dip." If you come across percentages at the store or watching a ball game, please discuss that percentage is parts of 100. Writing: This week, I will be presenting a document that outlines a poetry project. It has not gotten of the ground as quickly as I wanted, but we will have time this week to begin it. Students will create several types of poems and bind them together in a digital portfolio. Homework this week: "Wonder" essay due Friday. We are almost finished. We will have some reading comprehension homework based on either Native Americans or Revolutionary War, or a mixture of the two. A question I wan to pose: Why did Native Americans fight in the Revolutionary War? Why did slaves fight in the Revolutionary War? Ask your child these questions. What two sides were at war? We will also have math practice for homework. Reading and math are due every morning. Essay due Friday. End of the year party is June 14th!