Hi Families,

What a gift of nice weather we have had the past few days! I have tried to get us outdoors as much as possible. Between all the supplies we need and all the insect life that scares some people, it has been a bit of a challenge, but we have persevered!

Here's the rundown on the week:

Math -- We are fully involved in our final  multiplication and division unit. In this unit, students learn a variety of strategies for double digit multiplication and division with larger numbers. Here is a chart that shows the strategies we have learned. so far. As you can see, we don't teach the standard algorithm that we all learned when we were in school. Instead, we teach the students to think about how to use their multiples of 10 to solve these equations. It seems like it's much harder, but it really gets at their understanding of place value. They are getting it!

Writing -- we have been working hard on our literary essays. This means we have discussed what that even means, seen a sample of one, and worked on coming up with a thesis to write about. Some students are writing about picture books (which I highly recommend because it's much easier to find quotes!) while others are writing about chapter books.  Their theses are mostly about character traits ("Sally is brave because she___________and because she _________________.") Some are writing about the theme of the book or how a character changes from the beginning to the end.  Although we spent a lot of time writing persuasive and opinion essays, this sort of literary analysis is different! We are working hard!

Reading -- we are still reading on our own and in small groups, remembering to jot our ideas about the characters, the setting, or anything else we think about. These kids love to read, and I am always thrilled to see them get lost in their books.

Social Studies -- we spent some time this week learning about maps in general, and the Vermont map specifically. We have learned what states (and country) surround us, what major rivers and mountain ranges exist in Vermont, and which counties surround Chittenden County. We have looked at a lot of different kinds of map (precipitation maps, population maps, topographical maps, etc.) and we are getting really familiar with our state.

New words this week were limber, cordial and abundant. Enjoy getting those into your daily conversations!

Thanks to those of you who have signed up for conferences. I look forward to talking to you about your child! These are not mandatory conferences, so just sign up if you feel the need.  If you need help with signing up, let me know.

We will have one more busy week next week before a well-deserved vacation! In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy a lovely weekend.