Mr. Blanc's Class

Reading Students are beginning to finish or get close to finishing their historical fiction books. Have your student tell you some traits about their main character. Make sure they give examples from the book that support having those traits.  Idiom of the week: the icing on the cake Math We will continue our study of measurement next week. Students will focus on using conversion tables to answer story problems involving measurement, capacity, and length.  Inquiry On Tuesday, we will begin our final inquiry unit of the year. The central idea of our unit will be natural resources have a structure and function within a community. The lines of inquiry are how watersheds work, ways of maintaining balance, and communities effect on environment. Class Visit To help us learn about watersheds, Clean Water Services will be giving us a presentation on Friday, 6/2.  Field Trip On Thursday, 6/8 we will be taking a field trip to the Johnson Creek Wetlands. T...

Reading Students will be continuing their historical fiction book groups. Last week we talked about how when reading historical fiction it is helpful to construct two timelines, one for your character, and another for the events in history. It can be a great visual to see how the historical events impacted the story of the main character. The students worked with their book group members to create two side by side timelines.   Idiom of the week: behind the eight ball Math Next week we will begin module 7. This module focuses on converting measurement units, both standard and metric. It will also involve solving story problems with measurement.  Inquiry The students have been working on writing scripts for their rapid change PSA. On Monday, they will use the school's new green screen to film their videos. We hope to get through all of our videos on Monday, however we have some time set aside on Tuesday that we can use to finish up.  Field Trip   On T...

Math  We will be wrapping up our study of geometry at the end of the week. Students will take the geometry assessment on Friday, 5/12. You can help your student prepare for their test by going over their practice test with them on Thursday evening.  Inquiry Next week students will begin research on a specific way the Earth's surface changes rapidly. Our time next week will be devoted to becoming experts and then the following week students will create PSA's to teach how humans can be prepared for the rapid change. On Friday they picked their top three choices. Students will find out their rapid change on Monday, ask them which one they get. Guest Speaker We are very to lucky to have the opportunity to be visited by Dr. Scott Burns, a local geologist, author, and PSU emeritus. He will be discussing the dynamic geology of the Tualatin Valley and will cover the great Missoula Floods, the forming of the Columbia River Gorge, the geological origins of the Tualatin Valley, ...