April+2,+2012

April 2, 2012

Dear Parents:

Thank you so much for helping your child with the water use chart. They have all come to realize our world is trying to conserve water by installing water efficient showers, toilets, and water filters for helping to clean water for home use. Students have already experimented with the Water Cycle using fresh water, and then again with salt water in the ocean. They were surprised to find the condensation in the clouds was still fresh water! During this next week, we will be experimenting with dirty or polluted water. It will be a fun week full of Hypotheses and Observations. When we return after this break, we will begin to research water problems and their effect on our environment. In two weeks after vacation, students will be presenting their Summative Assessment with a poster board display of a particular water problem and how it has effected the environment. You may want to pick up a large poster board sheet for their display soon.

Math: Unit 7 has been about fractions. We are having a test on Unit 7 on Tuesday. Two students will not be in school on Wednesday and Thursday, so plan to see math homework on Monday night!

Language Arts: This last week we've begun to create a type of Newspaper Article by summarizing a longer article by using the //Interrogative// words (who, what, when, where, why, and how). Students worked in pairs to present what they read. They will again use this technique for a mudslide article this week. They also read and sequenced two "raindrop" stories about the paths the raindrops took on their journey through the water cycle.

Have a very nice spring break this week! Ms. Nancy Marcet