Mr. VanDerWerken
SECOND QUARTER
Social Studies | SKILLS AND CONCEPTS:
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Science | Land and Water (Conduct investigations to build an understanding of landforms): Identify forces causing landform changes over time:
Consider the movement of rock and soil erosion in:
Illustrate landforms with models, maps, and aerial photos; Analyze how humans influence erosion & deposition in local communities, and school grounds:
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Health | The SUPER KIDS Program Begins (Jan.-Feb.16), with Officer Jonathan Arnold: Recognizing Stereotyping and Discrimination; Listing Rules for Productive Arguing; Identifying Alternatives to Fighting; Adapting to Changing Relationships; Healthy Alternatives to Drug Use; Rational Counter-Arguments to Pressure to Use Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco.Practicing First Aid for Common Conditions; Environmental Health Risks; Environmental Behaviors; The Value of Smoke Detectors; The Health Roles of Calcium, Phosphorous, Fluoride, and Vit. D; Selecting Foods that contribute to dental health; Diet Information. | |
Math | Students have daily math classwork/homework. I give time for students to start (and sometimes students will complete) their work in class. This helps clarify any problems the student has with the assignment. I would encourage parents to make sure their child brings home their book/work, even if they finish their work in class. You can check your child's work to be sure they understand the math concept that we did that day. Every quarter will have a quarter review, followed by the end of quarter test. | |
SKILLS:
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Reading | READING THEMES: "My World And Yours," and the first half of "A Job Well Done." Students will also utilize the Accelerated Reader Program. Students need to read at least 20 minutes per night. They can read their accelerated reader, or any story book that interests him/her. Although, I don't require a daily parent signature for the home reading, I am asking parents to routinely monitor their child's nightly reading. I'm planning on reading one story from our textbook per week (Mon.-Wed.). Then on Thursday or Friday, take a comprehension test on the story. Every quarter will have a quarter review, followed by the end of quarter test. | |
GENRE:
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*In addition to our whole group instruction, we will also have guided reading in small groups.*
SKILLS: Fact And Opinion; Author's Viewpoint; Drawing Conclusions And Predicting; Plot; Text Structure; Summarizing. | ||
English / Grammar | SKILLS: Plural Nouns; Possessive Nouns; Verbs And Verb Tenses; Subject-Verb Agreement; Contractions. | |
Writing | For the first semester, I am concentrating on having students write a structurally sound clarification writing example. I plan to model the writing prompt with the class Mon.-Wed., and then let the students do the writing prompt independently on Thur./Friday. Ideally, I would like the students to type and edit their writing assignments on Thur./Friday, on the class computers in html format. Their finished stories will then be placed on their writing page in the "Aspiring Writers" section of my web site. | |
SKILLS: Clarification; Journal Writing; Report Writing; Book Reports. | ||
Wordly Wise | LESSONS: Eight-Fourteen. Parts A and B will be done on Mon., parts C and D on Tue., part E on Wed., and the test will be given on Thursday. By Friday, students should have all their words and definitions on their index cards. Writing the words and definitions on index cards, helps students with retention, which in turn, helps them on their wordly wise tests. | |
Spelling | LESSONS: Eight-Fourteen. There will be a trial test on Monday, and a final test on Friday. Students who achieve a 100% on the trial test, need not take the final test. The spelling words are taken from our stories in our reading textbook. |