December Updates

Units Overview

SEL Topics:

This month, our class will focus on building connections through morning check-ins and engaging in activities centered around acts of Kind speech and Diversity. Students will take part in activities such as sorting kind and unkind statements, writing kindness notes, activities to understand and appreciate differences. 

In our talking circles, we will explore: 

• Kind/ unkind Speech
• Diversity

Amplify Desmos Math: 

Unit 4: Relating Multiplications to Divisions

In this unit, students will explore the relationship between multiplication and division to multiply and divide whole numbers within `100`

Sub-Unit 1: What Is Division? (Lessons 1–4)

Sub-Unit 2: Relating Multiplication and DIvision (Lessons 5–8)

Below is the link to the caregiver resource that includes explanations of key math concepts and problems to try with your student Link 

Amplify CKLA:

Unit 4: Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome

What will my student learn?

Unit Summary

Students dive into ancient Rome, exploring its culture and historical events. They read the legend of Romulus and Remus, centered around Rome’s founding, as well as several myths about Roman gods and goddesses. Students study the historical rise and fall of the Roman Empire, and they learn about key historical figures, such as Hannibal, Julius Caesar, and Augustus. Students review the spelling patterns of /r/-controlled vowels, irregularly-spelled words, and spellings of the sound /ee/. They also go over verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and the verbs to be and to have—learning to change the spelling of verbs to match various subjects. Finally, students study the common suffixes –er, –or, –ist, –ian, –y, and –al to understand how suffixes change the meaning of root words and how they can change a word’s part of speech.

Lessons 5-15

Vocabulary:

defied, crouched, veni vidi vici, elaborate, ingenious, pillars, artifacts, barbarians, talent

Below is the link to the caregiver resource that includes Reading worksheets if you want to work with your student at home Link 

Foundational Skills:

What will my student learn? 

Students will continue to review reading and spelling words with specific spelling patterns. 

This will include words with separated digraphs, such as /ae/ > ‘a_e’ (cape), and words with vowel teams, such as /ae/ > ‘ai’ (aim), ‘ay’ (away), and ‘eigh’ (eight). 

Students will review tricky spellings (book/moon), the hard and soft ‘c’ and ‘g’ (cake/cent, cage/ glass), and words that end in /v/ and /j/ (love, huge). They will review two of the major syllable types, VCe (grape•vine) and vowel team (lay•out), and affixes including re–, pre–, mis–, –ness, –ly, and –ous (redo, pretest, misled, happiness, quickly, dangerous). 

What will my student read? 

In Unit 2, students will read fifteen fiction and nonfiction passages that include words with the target skills they just learned. Students will practice reading with proper speed, accuracy, and prosody. Here are two examples: ● “Chalk Art” is an instructional text about drawing. Students will read the passage and identify words that have an ‘augh’ and an ‘ough’, and words that use the suffix -ly, 

• “Coins” is a nonfiction story about metals. Students will read the passage and identify words with ‘ou’, ‘ow’ and ‘ough’ and words that end in -ous. 

Social Studies:

Unit 2: People, Places and Environments

In this unit, students will continue to explore how the place they live influences their identities. By honoring the uniqueness each child brings to the learning journey they will recognize that we all come from somewhere, and that location bonds people with their family, friends, and community. The inquiry unit of study provides opportunities for children to learn how to use various geographic tools to locate and learn about places. They will examine the ways people use and change the land and gain a growing understanding of how the land creates unique opportunities and challenges. They will identify places of personal and geographic importance within the city of Chicago to demonstrate their understanding of the unique relationship between Chicago and the people who live here.

Essential Question: How is the place we live important to who we are?

Lesson 4: Our Environment

Lesson 5: How People Move

Science:

Unit 2: Properties of Materials

In this unit, students will become “glue engineers.” They will explore different ingredients, test how they work, and try out different glue recipes. Each time, they make the glue a little better. At the end, students can explain which glue they made works best and why. students will answer the question - How do you make a material for a specific purpose?

Chapter 1: Students will tackle the question, How can you make sticky glue? They read a compelling book about what everyday things are made of and why as a way to understand the importance of properties of materials. Students go on to investigate two mystery glues. Are they the same glue or two different glues? In their first written argument, students make claims to answer that question and support their claims with evidence. The class goes on to observe and test possible glue ingredients, graph test data with the Graphing Tool, and search for information about these ingredients in the unit’s reference book. Using all of the gathered evidence, students work individually to plan, make, and test their own glue recipes.