Weekly Update 4/28-5/2

Good Afternoon!

Last week, we kick-started our next PBL project. Our driving question is: How can we work to protect the animals that inhabit the Austin area?


We had a visitor from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services tell us a little bit about certain species that are endangered, or are close to being endangered, that live here in our community. Our class decided to focus their attention on the Jollyville Plateau Salamander. It was a close race between the Golden Cheeked Warbler and the Salamander, but the pro-salamander team won with their great persuasive arguments!

As a grade level, we established a list of things we need to know as we embark on our project. We will use this list to guide our learning over the next few weeks. When our project is done, Charlotte Kucera, our wonderful representative from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, along with other experts, will come back to England to check out what we came up with!

This project will take up most of our language arts and science time over the next few weeks. It's going to be a lot of fun!


Here is what our week will look like:

Language Arts
How do writers successfully persuade others to act in a certain way? What techniques do they use? Those are our main questions this week as we dig deep into real-world persuasive text. Students do have reading homework this week. You can find an extra copy of the assignment in our extra copies tab.

Math
We have spent some time identifying angles all around us. This week, we will learn to estimate and measure angles using protractors. We will talk about the unit of measurement used for measuring angles, why we need to be able to measure angles, and identify partnering angles. We do have regular math homework this week.

Science
We are going to dive right into our list of 'need-to-knows' this week. What does the Jollyville Plateau Salamander need to survive? How does he survive in his unique environment? How do most animals survive in such different environments?

Texas History
Mexico has officially relinquished control over Texas. That means everything is going to be smooth sailing - right?

Check out the previous post for information on upcoming party!

Fourth Grade 411
-4/30 Progress Reports
-5/7 Early Release
-5/9 Ms. Wright is absent
- 5/13-15 Book Fair

-5/13 Spring Choir Concert-permission slips will go home on Thursday
- 5/15 SpotLight Night

-5/16 PBL Presentations
- 5/20 Orchestra Field Trip - more information to come!

-5/20 TAG Showcase Evening
- 5/21 Ms. Wright out for a leadership meeting. I will be on campus!
- 5/23 Mr. Grubb's Birthday
- 5/23 Field Day
- 5/23 Mrs. Harper's last day if all goes as planned
- 5/26 Memorial Day / No School
- 5/30 Last Day of School