News from Pollock’s Den

Here’s the latest from Room 243:

CONFERENCES: I will post the tentative schedule on the website later this week. Please check it and see if my scheduled time for your conference coincides with your schedule.

BOOK FAIR: The Newcastle Book Fair is this week – Wednesday through Friday. Plan on coming by and taking advantage of the great deals, and help Newcastle Elementary raise some money, too!

MARINE SCIENCE AFLOAT: This field trip will occur on Tuesday, October 14. The cost is also $50 and scholarships are available.

BIOGRAPHY BOOK PROJECT: Your child was given the first book project assignment last week. Most students have a book picked out and have (hopefully) begun reading about their subject. Please encourage your child to keep up with the following schedule – pacing is important when doing a project and there is plenty of time for your son/daughter to finish each piece:

Book read by: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
Graphic Organizer/Timeline: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
Rough Draft Report: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24
Final Draft Report, Timeline, Puppet: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31
Oral Presentations: begin on OCTOBER 31
 

Ask Your Child About…

«      Math ~ Ask your child about the grab-it gauge and estimating his/her reaction time. See if he/she can give examples of chance events, and how we used the Probability Meter to identify them.

«     Reading ~ Have your child explain what we’ve read so far in Island of the Blue Dolphins. See if he/she can give you a definition for such vocabulary words as resourcefulness and endurance.

«      States/Capitals ~ Have your child point out where certain states are located on a map. Your son/daughter should have the list of states/capitals we’re studying in his/her binder, along with a map of the USA.

«     Native Americans ~ As the week progresses, ask your child what he/she is learning about Native Americans and the regions in which they settled.

«     Oceanography ~ Later in the week, ask your child about our first “mission” from the Tom Snyder “Great Ocean Rescue.” Ask your child if he/she is an OCEANOGRAPHER, GEOLOGIST, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST, or MARINE BIOLOGIST. See if he/she can identify the importance of his/her job.
 

MATH – This week, we conclude Unit 2 on ESTIMATION AND COMPUTATION. We will be investigating estimation of products, multiplication of whole numbers and decimals, reviewing different multiplication strategies, and comparing millions, billions, and trillions. We will take the Unit 2 assessment on Friday.

SOCIAL STUDIES – We will begin the first of two chapters on Native Americans. This week, we begin focusing on Native Americans and their land, learning about the various regions throughout the United States where Native American settled. We conclude our study of states and capitals this week with our final 10 states: Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, Idaho, California, Oregon, and Washington..

READING – We continue reading our first novel, Island of the Blue Dolphins, completing several activities as we read and making connections with our Native American study as well as oceanography.

SCIENCE – We continue studying OCEANOGRAPHY. We will be spending the next 4-5 weeks in the computer lab, working on “The Great Ocean Rescue.” This interactive program allows students to use their expertise in one of four assigned jobs (“Oceanographer,” “Marine Biologist,” “Environmental Scientist,” and “Geologist”) to complete missions as a team. In addition to “The Great Ocean Rescue, we’ll be completing other activities using our Oceanography science kit.