Language Arts: This week we will be studying Chapter 18 of GYV: What’s Your Angle?
Latin / Greek Word
|
Root
|
Derivatives
|
angulus
(bend, corner)
|
angl |
angle, triangle, quadrangle, angular |
rectus
(straight)
|
rect
|
erect,
correct, rectify, direction
|
gonia
(angle)
|
gon
|
pentagon,
diagonal, trigonometry
|
Prefix: “dia-“
means across or between
Prefix: “tri-“
means three
|
||
We will be bringing our poetry unit
to an end this week with Ernest Thayer’s classic baseball poem, “Casey at Bat”.
The kids will discuss this poem, as well as analyze the characters and make
descriptive baseball cards for them! On Tuesday, the students will collaboratively
create an interview dialogue that they’d like to have with Casey. These will be
shared with the class. The rest of the week will be spent beginning our next
novel, Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. This heart-warming
story is a wonderful one that I hope you can read alongside your child. Please ensure that your child brings this
book to school by Wednesday of this week.
We will be jumping into our next
chapter of the Shurley Grammar curriculum this week. The concepts we will be
focusing on this week include: interjections, possessive nouns,
independent/dependent clauses, subordinate conjunctions, and complex sentences.
You will see several assignments coming home to practice these higher level
skills. The idiomatic phrase that the students will learn is “forty winks”,
which refers to taking a short nap. Try using it at home! We are moving along
with our Latin and Greek words; it would hurt to start going over these origins
and derivatives at this point in the quarter. :)
History/Geography: We
are moving right along in our study of Westward Expansion Before the Civil War.
This week, the students will learn about why the war with Mexico was fought. They
will learn about the Mexican Cession, The Bear Flag Republic, The Gadsden
Purchase, and President Polk’s role during this time in American history. We
will wrap up the unit by learning about the Mormon Trail and the California
Gold Rush. The students will get their study guide this week for the test on Monday, February 4th. The
Oregon Trail simulation will carry over into our next unit, so you will still
be hearing about the experiences of those perseverant pioneers for a bit
longer! :)
Science: The
students have worked very hard as mastering the interesting information about
plants over the last several weeks! I am very confident in their success on the
final assessment. They will be tested on the plants unit on Tuesday of this week. It is imperative
that the study guide is completed thoroughly and correctly; it should be used
as the main source for studying. (It will be collected on Tuesday for a grade.)
The students also have five folds with plant facts as well as notes and
worksheets with information regarding the anatomy and reproductive processes of plants. Here are some
important terms the kids should be able to explain to you: Sporophyte, Gametophyte, Sperm, Egg, Zygote, Sporangia, Gymnosperm,
Angiosperm, Monocot, Dicots, Vascular, Nonvascular, Sexual, Asexual, Xylem,
Phloem, Bryophyte, and Photosynthesis
Upon
concluding the plants unit, we will begin our study of the fascinating human
body. We will begin by exploring the skeletal system! Your child will be
gaining a great deal of rich knowledge about the anatomy and functions of the
bones in the human body, so please ask questions at home, as your children will
be eager to share!
