Happy sunny Friday!

Wow! We had SO much fun today! With my wig and my dark eyebrows, I became Ms. DuCharme. The students all had such interesting names, outfits, and backstories, and we all did our best to call each other by our new names all day. Despite the craziness, we actually got a lot of work done today! This class has learned how to have a blast and then get serious again quickly!

Here's a brief update on our academics this week:

Math: The fraction unit is HUGE and we are spending a lot of time on it. In this bend, we are focusing on adding and subtracting fractions. This is easy as long as they have common denominators, but it's a little harder when you have to consider equivalent fractions in order to get to an equation that has the same "units." We are practicing and practicing, and the equivalent fraction piece is coming together!

Reading: This week we have been working hard to deepen our book club conversations. It's easy to get together with your group and retell what has happened or make predictions about what will happen later, but it is much harder to share ideas and analyze the characters, the author's moves, and the themes. We watched 5th graders doing this beautifully on a video, and I think it was good for the students to see, specifically, what they did to have a successful and important conversation. We have another week of Social Issues reading, and I am hoping to hear a lot of fabulous conversations to finish it up!

Writing: After all of our build-up to writing today, we ended up not having time for any of it! We spent some time talking about current events instead, and then we shared, played a game, and had a little lighthearted fun. Who doesn't need some of that on a Friday? We will get right back to our persuasive writing on Monday!

Science: Today we learned the difference between renewable and nonrenewable natural resources (coal, solar, and wind specifically) and what those terms mean. We learned about how wind is made (by the sun heating the land and water) and how coal is filled with the sun's energy. Next week, we will learn more about other energy sources (hydro, natural gas, etc.) and the students will learn the pros and cons of each.

Thanks for sending in all of the chromebooks -- I think we are all set!

New words this week are: minute (as in tiny), initiate, and drawl. Try using all of those in the same sentence! I initiated a discussion with a lady who had a minute southern drawl....

I hope you all have a wonderful, warm weekend.