End-of-Week Update, 1/16

Our study of heredity really blossomed this week!  We learned about an important scientist, Gregor Mendel, who studied tall and short pea plants and discovered "dominant" and "recessive" genes.  "Dominant" genes are strong and, if they're present, they determine the trait of an offspring.  "Recessive" genes are weaker, so they only determine the trait if no dominant genes are around.  Dominant and recessive traits came to life when we created fictional worm families called "gen-o-worms!"  Sounds funny, right?  We chose Skittles to represent genes and used our knowledge of dominant and recessive genes to figure out what color head, body, and tail our worms would have.  We also learned about animal adaptations and how animals have changed over time to survive!  We researched the behavioral and physical adaptations of different animals such as the lion, the great horned owl, the poison dart frog, and the caribou (to name just a few!)  Our heredity test is Friday (1/23).  Everything we need to know is on the study guide!

In math, we learned a lot about fractions!  We learned how to compare fractions with < and >, how to put fractions in order from least to greatest, and how to place fractions on a number line.  There are so many strategies we've been learning about and practicing to help with comparing fractions!  We've been using fraction strips, number lines, benchmark fractions ("easy" fractions like 1/2 that we're really comfy with), and the E.F.R. (equivalent fraction rule).  Our fraction test is Wednesday (1/21).  Everything we need to know is on the study guide!

In writing, we've made a lot of progress with our personal opinion essays!  We narrowed the ideas we generated with our "heart maps" to one important topic.  Then, we tried to think about what we really wanted to say about our topics to write focused thesis statements.  Thesis statements need to be an opinion (not a fact), need to be about something that is close to the author's heart, and need to be strong and specific.  We spent a long time working on really making sure our thesis statements followed these rules.  Then, we worked on thinking about the 3 biggest, most important, and most convincing reasons why our thesis statements were true.  We wanted to make sure our reasons were specific, distinct (different from each other), parallel (worded similarly), and supportive of our thesis statements.  We're still working on our reasons and will fill in more evidence for our essays next week!

In reading, we've been working a lot on identifying character traits.  Authors aren't really coming out and telling us that characters are "kind," "unpleasant," or "brave."  Instead, we're finding that authors leave little "clues" such as characters' actions, dialogue, thoughts, or behaviors and we can use those clues to help us determine exactly what type of person the character is.  Check out some of the fun picture books we read as we practiced identifying character traits!  Next week, we'll be using the character trait bookmark for our at-home reading (there's a link for downloading the bookmark on the right side of the blog!)

Next week we'll be starting a new read aloud book, a new social studies topic, and a new fractions unit!  Stay tuned!