Mr. Blanc's Class

Math Friday the students took their fraction assessment. Next week we will begin working on decimals. In this unit students will be converting between decimals and fractions, adding and subtracting decimals, and comparing decimals. Reading Students continue to have the expectation to read three hours outside of school each week. Weekly reading logs are due each Tuesday.  Idiom of the week: state of the art   Inquiry The next part of our inquiry unit with the central idea of people use scientific knowledge to respond to a changing Earth, will have students making a video. They will work in a group to share warning signs of their natural disaster, examples from history, and ways to be prepared. The videos will be filmed with a green screen so students can add fun backgrounds!   Upcoming Dates Tuesday, May 1st - State Testing - ELA CAT - Reading Log Due/Vocab Test Wednesday, May 2nd - State Testing - ELA CAT Thursday, May 3rd - Art Lit Friday, May 4th - State Testing -

Math Next week we will wrap up our unit on fractions. Students will take an assessment on Friday, 4/27. They will be sent home with a practice test on Thursday evening. You can help your child prepare for their test by going over the practice test with them on Thursday night. Idiom of the week: Get cold feet Inquiry We will continue our inquiry with the central idea of people use scientific knowledge to respond to a changing Earth. Students will get to select a natural disaster that changes the Earth and become an expert on that natural disaster. They will write a paper to demonstrate their knowledge. Continent Club The next continent club check day will be Wednesday, 4/23. Africa is the continent of the month. The study materials can be found at the link below.  http://wtvptc.org/continent-club/ Upcoming Dates Tuesday, April 24rd - Reading Log Due/Vocabulary Test Wednesday, April 25th - Continent Club  Friday, April 27th - Fractions Assessment

Math Next week in math students will begin adding and subtracting mixed numbers. Up to this point they have added and subtracted fractions with other fractions, fractions with a whole number, and fractions with a mixed number.  Inquiry  We are right in the middle of our inquiry unit under the theme of How the World Works. The central idea of the inquiry is people use scientific knowledge to respond to a changing Earth. Last week we started learning about some of the ways the Earth changes. Students studied the layers of the Earth and modeled movement of tectonic plates with graham crackers. We began looking at some effects of the movement of tectonic plates. Many of the students were surprised to learn that there are multiple earthquakes everyday on our planet. Below is a resource we looked at in class that students asked me to share. It provides real time updates on seismic activity.  https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ Writing Students have now made their final de

Math  Next week students will begin multiplying fractions and using number lines to create visual representations of the multiplication. They will also work on converting from fractions that are greater than 1 like 12/5 to mixed numbers like 2 and 2/5. Reading  Students continue to have the expectation of reading three hours outside of school each week. The next reading logs are due on Tuesday, 4/10. In class we have been reading short stories and using them to analyze story components like characters, setting, figurative language, theme, and making inferences. We will continue this work next week.  Idiom of the week: a change of heart Writing Students are in the middle of learning about the topic of eating insects. Next week we will continue our research on the topic. Then students will decide where they fall on the issue and write a persuasive paper convincing others to come around to their way of thinking. Ask your student where they stand on the issue at this time.