Colonial Williamsburg

http://www.history.org/media/index.cfm

Learning about Colonial America

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_penn_1.html

Settlement Simulation

http://colonialamerica.thinkport.org/welcome-to-colonial-america.html

Week of January 23rd

This week your child will take the NWEA for both reading and math.  Students will have an opportunity to reflect on their learning while also noticing how data shows their growth over time. 

We are continuing with our inquiry into How the World Works as we learn more about Colonial America and the challenges settlers faced in the New World. 

Last week in math, students were learning to add and subtract decimals using base-10 blocks, partial sums, and traditional algorithms.  Partial sums can be tricky, especially for kids on their homework, because it is a "new" way to add that is different than how many grown-ups learned in school.  Below is a short video showing how to add decimals using both partial sums and the traditional algorithm.  I hope it is helpful.

An Inquiry into Colonial America

Colonial America

Stories of Immigration

Why do people move to new places?

Use the Scholastic link below.  With your group read the story of one of the children.  Then, watch the video.  As you read and listen your job is to find out:

-Why did they leave their home? 
-Where did they choose to go and why? 
-What was their experience like?

Scholastic-Stories of Immigration

We will use this information to determine the push/pull factors that are a part of the movement of people on our planet.

Happy New Year!

As we come back together in our classroom for the new year I am excited to share a new unit IB unit--How We Organize Ourselves.  The work our students did in the Who We Are -Revolution unit was phenomenal.  It was inspiring to see them so deeply engaged in the work of inquiry around the idea of revolutions and how that impacts people and society.

Our new unit is related to the 5th grade social studies standards around settlement, colonization, and formation of government.  Our unit plan is:

How We Organize Ourselves-An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision making; economic activities and their impact on human-kind and the environment.

Central Idea: Human-made systems impact society and the economy
Lines of Inquiry:
- patterns of settlement and growth
- economic and societal decision making
- formation of government

Key Concepts:
Form
Connection

Our plan for this week is: