Midwest, Election, Allusion, 4/5 Heidi Links, Math Night, Mathathon

Travel with the 4/5’s to the Midwest as we learn about this area of the United States.  We started this year reviewing our map skills then we went on to focus on the different sections of the country.  The first was the Northeast—New England and the Middle Atlantic.  Now we are in the Midwest—East North Central States. We can remember the great lakes easier if we use HOMES as our memory tool.

Our election unit is going strong as we learn about the “Road to the White House”.  We found out where the word democracy comes from and why the founding fathers borrowed bits and pieces from past democracies to create our government.

In Language arts, we used the literary device of allusion (not to be confused with illusion) to identify some famous television or movie lines that are frequently heard in history or in a work of literature. We wrote about what makes them memorable. Bugs Bunny and Clint Eastwood quotes were just a few mentioned.

Heidi’s Link Round Up for Autumn

In 4/5 Math, we are enjoying the PBS Kids site “Cyberchase” and their fun, educational Math Games. Students have been playing LuckyStar, Mission Magnetite, Thirteen Ways of Looking at One Half, and Melvin’s Make a Match. They can find these fun games at home at: http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/math-games/