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Parent News Letters:

Math : We are starting Module 4 of Engage New York Math. Module 4 is area: In this 20-day module students explore area as an attribute of two-dimensional figures and relate it to their prior understandings of multiplication. Students conceptualize area as the amount of two-dimensional surface that is contained within a plane figure. They come to understand that the space can be tiled with unit squares without gaps or overlaps. They make predictions and explore which rectangles cover the most area when the side lengths differ. Students progress from using square tile manipulatives to drawing their own area models and manipulate rectangular arrays to concretely demonstrate the arithmetic properties. The module culminates with students designing a simple floor plan that conforms to given area specifications. Reading/Writing : Students develop understanding of elements of fiction and strategies to improve the quality of their personal narratives. Fiction includes common literary elements, such as characters, settings, problem/resolution, and themes, and many literary forms include these elements, including historical fiction, fantasy, and fable. During Reading Workshop, students study literary elements and develop deeper understanding of comprehension strategies, such as summarizing, making inferences, predicting and confirming, asking questions, and determining important ideas, as they read increasingly more difficult books. During Writing Workshop, students improve their writing quality as they develop personal narratives. They learn to write focused, sequential stories with dialogue, details, and paragraphs. Students use what they know to craft stories from their significant personal experiences that evoke emotional responses from their readers.  Science : //Engage-Explore:// Assess students’ current understanding of electricity. //Explore:// Students explore and describe how simple electrical system parts can be arranged so electricity flows in a loop. //Explore-Explain:// Students explore how circuits can be arranged so electricity flow through all its elements. //Explain:// Students explain their understanding of what makes circuits work to run electrical devices. //Elaborate:// Students elaborate on their understanding of circuits, demonstrating and explaining how switches open and close simple circuits and how different kinds of objects open and close electrical circuits. //Evaluate:// Assess students’ claims and evidence as they explain their understanding of electricity and how electrical circuits work.
 * Electricity is important to students as they “charge” their electronic devices, watch television, turn on lights and so on. Students have intuitive notions about electricity, and this module builds on these ideas to move towards an understanding of electrical energy. The  [|5E Instructional Model]  provides a research-based constructivist framework to sequence learning experiences. The model below describes student learning throughout the unit.