Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect

 

This week's comprehension skill is "Cause and Effect".

While reading it's good practice to ask yourself "why did this happen?" or "what is going to happen?"

Identifying the cause and effect can help you better understand the text or story!

Often sentences will have signal words that can help you identify the cause and effect.

Some words include:

so 

as a result

because

therefore

consequently

since

Can you write a sentence and ask a friend to identify the cause and the effect. Remember our strategy! Break the sentence apart. 

When Raana sneakily stole her tasty popcorn Mrs. Broussard began to cry . 

Ask yourself "What makes most sense?"

Raana stole her popcorn BECAUSE Mrs. Broussard began to cry. 

or

Mrs. Broussard began to cry BECAUSE Raana stole her popcorn.

Whichever part of the sentence follows the "because" can be identified as the cause! 

Whichever part precedes, or comes before the "because" is the effect!

Can you write a cause and effect comment? Identify which part of the sentence is the cause and which is the effect. 

Challenge yourself by writing a sentence that does not use because as a signal word! 

Dissecting Division

Dissecting Division

Over the last two weeks we have been dissecting, or studying, what division really means. Below you will find many productions our students made to help us better comprehend division. 

 It is important that we understand division is the sharing of objects equally into groups. 

We practiced this skill in many ways. Here a student is dividing 10 delicious chocolate cookies among 2 famished, or very hungry students.

How many cookies would each student get? 

In this problem the number of cookies is our dividend. It is what is being divided. Two students is the divisor, or how many groups it is being divided into. Our answer or quotient is 5. The quotient is how many are in each group. 

Here another student is writing a division sentence to match a different word problem. Can you write a word problem to match the picture and number sentence shown in the picture? 

Can you name the dividend, divisor and quotient in this picture?


Pat Hutchins wrote a book called The Doorbell Rang. You can listen to the book by clicking on the video below. How many different division sentences are in this story? 

Please write a comment asking a friend to solve your division problem. Remember division asks how many are in each group, not how many are there in all!  

Your comment must include adjectives, strong vocabulary and expanded sentences.

Si Può Parlare Italiano?

 This week's story, The Mysterious Giant of Barletta takes place in Barletta, Italy.

                      The town of Barletta currently has a 

population of about 90,000. 

The statue, Colossus of Barletta, measures around 16 feet and 7 inches. 

Can you find any other facts about the statue?  

One thing we adored about the story written by Tomie dePaola is it includes many Italian phrases. Not only were we able to learn about the giant statue, but we also improved our Italian!

Some include: 

Buona notte which means good night,

Grazi meaning thank you,

and Bella meaning beautiful. 

What other words would you like to learn in Italian?  

Follow these directions to learn how to translate words from English to Italian using Google Translate. 

1. Before you can begin translating, please open a new tab. Go to "File"and click on "New Tab". 

2. Then, in the new tab please open up my website so that you can have easy access to Google Translate and resources like Word Book Online. 

3. Look for "Helpful Links" on the left side of the page. Click on Google Translate. 

4. Next, in the box on the left, write a word in English that you would like to learn to say in Italian. 

5. Before you begin typing, make sure you click on the tab that says "detect language" so Google knows your entry language is English. 

6. You might have noticed that as you were typing in the left box, some words started showing up in the box on the right. 

However, you must select the language. 

7.  Just above the right box to the left of the blue "translate" bottom, click on the down arrow to reveal all the languages you can translate into.

8. For this blog, please click on "Italian" and presto! Your English word should have turned into Italian! 

9. Next, use your mouse to highlight the Italian word. Then copy and paste it into your comment. 

10. For an additional challenge, try typing in a phrase such as "How are you doing?" or "What are we eating for dinner?" 

Your comment must include at least one Italian word and must be at least 3 sentences long. Don't forget superb comments engage other bloggers by asking questions!
Here are some things you can tell us about:
- Barletta
- Colusso the statue
- Italy 
- Tomie dePaola

Our New Year's Resolution

 Our New Year's Resolution

A resolution is a decision people make to do or not do something. Many people take time on New Year's to make resolutions for the upcoming year. They ponder, or think, about things they would like to learn, activities they would like to do, or new habits they would like to create. 

 Eating 3 servings of fruits a day or exercising twice a week may be a good resolution for someone who is committed to having a healthier year. 

What is your New Year's resolution?

Many people intend to keep their resolutions, but after a few months begin to forget. Be sure to make  a resolution you can accomplish!

How can you ensure you keep your resolution for the year? 

Please answer BOTH questions in complete sentences. Challenge yourself by using compound sentences.  

What is a compound sentence?

1. A sentence that combines two shorter sentences (so has TWO subjects) 

2. It joins the two sentences with a conjunction (and, or, but, so, since) 

3. The comma goes BEFORE the conjunction.

Winter Solistice

Winter Solistice

The winter solstice occured on December 21, 2014,  at 3:03 (PST). 

What is the winter solstice? 

 Around December 21 or 22, 

the sun's rays fall directly over the farthest point south of the equator. 

 This marks the first day of winter. 

Winter days have fewer hours of daylight because of the path the earth takes as it revolves around the sun. The earth completely revolves around the sun during 365 days. The earth's axis always tips about 23 1/2 degrees from a line perpendicular to its path. 

In the Southern Hemisphere, winter begins in June.

Different regions have longer winters than others. For example, in the polar regions, winter takes up half the year. In the Temperate Zones winter takes up about one quarter of the year. 

In regions where there is cold weather, it causes many changes in the environment. Water may freeze and become ice, snow, sleet or icicles. 

Most plants and animals become dormant and rest. Some animals hibernate. The only plants that grow and remain green are evergreens. People protect themselves from the cold climate with winter clothing when they go outdoors. They enjoy a variety of indoor activities or outdoor wintersports such as skiing, skating, or sledding. 

Here are some fun winter links!

  

Want to make an online snowflake? Click here!

BrainPop has some great winter and snow movies! 

Click here! 

What do you enjoy most about winter? 

What activities did you participate in this winter 

break?

Multiplication Application

Why is it so important to learn our multiplication facts? 
I bet you don't realize how frequently you use multiplication to solve day to day problems.

For example, Raana was preparing for her birthday and needed to buy goodies for her party. She invited 26 friends to join in her celebration. When she went to Target she found the most precious notepads she was certain her friends would treasure. They came in packs of 6. How many packs does Raana need to purchase to have enough for all of her friends? 

Multiplication is a skill you will be grateful to have perfected! 

Can you create some word problems that require multiplication for a friend to solve? 
Your word problem must include at least 3 sentences. Practice you writing and vocabulary skills by writing strong sentences! 

 

Blogging is a great way to practice and improve our 

writing skills. One way to refine your writing and

 blogging comments is to use compound sentences.

 

What is a compound sentence?

1. A sentence that combines two shorter sentences (so has TWO subjects) 

2. It joins the two sentences with a conjunction (and, or, but, so) 

3. The comma goes BEFORE the conjunction.

 Here are some sample compound sentences, and they

 are all about Thanksgiving!

(Hey, that's a compound sentence!) 

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in

 November, and many families gather for a traditional

 feast. 

In 1620, the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, 

Massachusetts, but they had really planned a trip to 

Virginia. 

 The Massachusetts winter was extremely cold and

  harsh, so everyone had to work together to survive. 

The Wampanoag Indians helped the struggling

 Pilgrims, so they were able to harvest crops for their 

first feast. 

Modern Americans dine on turkey and stuffing at home, 

or they make a reservation at a local restaurant.

 

Here is a link to the BrainPop video about Thanksgiving. 

As Thanksgiving break approaches, tell us

 about your

 plans. What are some thing that you 

learned about Thanksgiving? 

Be sure to include at least two 

COMPOUND SENTENCES.