Wow-- it is amazing to see how these kids are learning and maturing! We had some GREAT conversations last week. They happened in Social Studies, when we investigated primary and secondary documents to find out what happened when the Spanish landed in the New World, and when we evaluated the actions of the explorers. They happened in guided reading, as students wrestled with the biographies they were reading to determine which events were most pivotal in the life of the explorer they were studying. And they happened in writing, as students interviewed each other for the Classmate Biography project and asked deep questions like, "What event has changed your life the most?" "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" and "What do you fear?" I am so proud of my students and blessed to be a part of these conversations! And, of course, I'm looking forward to more solid learning this week ...

Reading: We will wrap up our biography studies in guided reading. Students are showing what they learned by creating a poster for an imaginary movie about the subject of their biography.

Word Study: As a class, we are investigating 3 pairs of tricky homophones in addition to our regular small-group word study.

Language: We will learn how to form singular and possessive nouns, then review all we've learned about nouns in preparation for next week's test.

Writing: We are wrapping up our interviews, then planning and drafting our Classmate Biographies. This will be the major focus for the week.

Social Studies: We will learn about Spain's conquest of the Aztec and Inca and the establishment of New Spain, then review for our test on (fingers crossed!) Thursday.

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The weather is cooling off-- sort of--, everyone is beginning to feel more festive, and our thoughts are turning to the time we'll spend with our friends and families later this month. I'm happy to say, though, that the H5 Family is still working hard and learning a lot! We're doing our best to make the most of this precious time that we have before Winter Break. Here are our many goals for the week!

Reading: We are continuing to monitor our understanding as we read, focusing particularly on the author's purpose for writing a particular text.

Word Study: We are spelling and using the suffixes -NESS, -LESS, -LY, and -FUL.

Language: We are continuing our study of nouns, particularly possessive nouns.

Writing: We will be interviewing a partner to create a mini-biography about him or her. This is a great way for us to develop our speaking and listening skills, as well!

Social Studies: We've learned about the people and events that kick-started the Age of Exploration, and now we will see what happened when the first Europeans began to settle in the New World.