Reading: Students will continue to read Time for Kids magazine to enhance their non-fiction reading and current events knowledge. Our reading of fiction will focusi on Story Elements in Fiction (such as Setting, Character, and Plot) and the various forms of Poetry. Students will work in historical fiction novel groups to discuss the various story elements of specific books.

Writing: Sentence structure, grammar, components of paragraphs and essays, creative and response writing will be stressed in the first quarter of Language Arts. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the story elements of their novels and interrelationship between them through their writing. We will also focus on writing descriptively by using small details. Use of the Skills for Super Writers workbook by Modern Curriculum Press will supplement our instruction in grammar, usage, mechanics and spelling.

Spelling: Units 8-16 in the Houghton Mifflin spelling series will be covered. Weekly units continue to be comprised of basic word lists, review word lists, challenge word lists and frequently misspelled words. Students will work with independent word lists, as well as completing exercises to reinforce spelling patterns, phonics and vocabulary enrichment. Some students will use the Word Study Program spelling units as well. Weekly units will be comprised of phonic pattern lessons, vocabulary words and review words from previous units and commonly misspelled words. Those using the Word Study Program will have a weekly spelling test on Thursday; all other students will have their tests on Fridays. Homework is given weekly for all students.

Science:
Students will begin their study of “Micro to Macro”. They will be introduced to the microscopic world and the characteristics and classification of living things. They will use different magnification activities and experiments to learn about the appearance and structure of minute living and nonliving things. They will use water drops, hand lenses and microscopes as magnification tools to explore microscopic living things, common nonliving things and plant and animal cells. They will use their interactive notebook to organize information, make predictions and reflect on what they have learned. The Fresh Science DVD and United Streaming video clips will supplement the hands-on activities.