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We started off our week looking back at 2019 and setting goals for 2020! We discussed resolutions and decided instead to focus on ONE WORD that we could each focus on as we enter a new year (and decade)! Students were very thoughtful in this and chose words like confidence, empathy, humble, determination, etc. Ask your child what ONE WORD they chose!

In reading, fourth grade is learning about sensory details in text and how these details add to not only an understanding of the text but also help create a mental picture and a connection to the text. Understanding how powerful these details are also directly impacts students’ writing! Next week we will focus on author’s purpose.
Image result for sensory details anchor chart"Fifth grade is working on TEXT STRUCTURE. There are five main nonfiction text structures and we are working on identifying the structures when reading texts by using clue words and looking at the overall purpose of the text. We will continue this next week as well!

In Virginia Studies, we are looking at the American Revolution! We have discussed the causes and are now looking at important leaders and people who had an impact. Our field trip to St. John’s Church comes at the perfect time! While students DO NOT need to know about the specific acts/taxes that England imposed to upset the colonists, we discussed them to give students a better understanding of why this war was fought.
In social studies, fifth grade is wrapping up our study of the SOUTHEAST! We have written songs to practice the states and capitals, and we are currently working on summative projects to tie in our focus on the five themes of geography. These projects are due on TUESDAY. We will have our southeast states and capitals quiz next FRIDAY. Some students have these down, while others definitely need to be studying. Click here for some practice! They will need to be able to label the state on a map and name the capital city.

In WRITING, both fourth and fifth are working on informational/descriptive writing. We are learning about the research process, citing sources, and finding reliable sources! Fourth grade is writing about a state! They chose one of the 13 original colonies to research and will begin writing drafts next week. Fifth grade has chosen an animal to do their research on to connect to their adaptations unit in science! 🙂

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