I'm not one to make a resolution at the start of the new year, but I have been wanting to keep parents more in the loop, so I am going to strive to post weekly or biweekly updates (as brief as they may turn out to be) about what is going on. (Disclaimer: It may be that I relinquish this job to students, so please forgive any grammatical and/or spelling errors that might occur.)
With that being said, we are starting the new year off by discussing the 13 colonies. Each student will be gathering notes on a graphic organizer and using those notes to create a brochure about one of the colonial regions in class for a grade. We will not have a huge assessment on the colonies, just a map quiz in which the students will be given a blank map and have to label each colony correctly. This will probably take place just after the MLK holiday.
For math we will be learning about different types of patterns; both numeric and non numeric. This will include both growing and repeating patterns as well as input/output charts. After patterns we will be working on division, so knowing multiplication facts is a must. If your child isn't comfortable with them, please practice them daily, even if it is while you are in the car driving to the grocery store. A great website that can be used to practice is http://coolsciencelab.com/math_magician.