Sept. 14- 18 Curriculum Updates

Reading - We began our second topic this week:  Following Characters Into Meaning.  In this unit readers will be focusing on strengthening their abilities to make interpretations of texts.  This is a unit which teaches students to read with inference and interpretation, developing text-based theories about characters, supporting those theories with evidence from the text, and viewing characters and their motivations through a different lens.  Students began reading a book club book this week and started learning about their main character by thinking about internal and external traits as well as motivations, desires, and obstacles in their life.

Writing - Fourth graders worked this week on publishing their piece from Unit 1.  Next week, we'll begin Unit 2.

Math - Students worked this week to generate a number or shape pattern that follows a rule.  Often these patterns were found in tables.  Students learned to find the rule and fill in missing numbers.  We ended the week by learning to draw a picture or use reasoning to problem solve.  Next week students will take their Topic 2 Test and we'll begin Topic 3.

Science - Students continued to research a Missouri animal this week and began creating a digital presentation (PowerPoint or Google Slides) to share the information with the class.  Students will be presenting these projects next week.

Social Studies - We finished up our first unit of geography this week, by discussing urban, rural, and suburban communities.  We also learned about Missouri's Art and Culture. Students will be assess on this unit before we begin on our next unit.