June Social Studies Chapter 4: Colonial New Jersey *Half Days- 6/19 and 6/20 *Last Day of School- 6/20 Chapter 8- Fraction Operations; Applications Students will draw on the skills they have learned throughout the year to deepen and extend their thinking. They will use their knowledge of fractions in the context of number stories, line plots, perimeter, area, multiplication, capacity conversions, and measurement. They will also work with real-life applications of angles, extend their knowledge of line symmetry, work with decimals, and challenge themselves to unlock messages, codes, and cryptarithms. We are currently returning to study the genre of fiction, through the lens of social issues. Throughout the unit, students will review and focus on many skills, like identifying character traits to compare and contrast characters, visualizing by creating pictures in their minds, summarizing, and determining theme. Other topics that will be discussed include figurative language, point of view/perspective, cause and effect, conflict, elements of plot, and fluency. They will also practice providing evidence and explanations for any answer they give. Students will read and work with on-level texts in social issues book clubs. They will continue to develop their discussion skills as they analyze the book with their classmates. Science Unit 3: Environments (continued below) Warning, LIVE SPECIMEN used during this module! This module takes us on a wild adventure of handling, observing, and analyzing the structure and behaviors of living organisms.  We welcome fish, isopods, meal worms, brine shrimp and plants into our classroom. Assimilating these live organisms together, we gain awareness of the balancing act required in an ecosystem. The four investigations encourage students to track growth, determine the necessities for survival, apply the use of structures and behaviors to survival, and examine how population impacts survival.  Students design and manipulate environments to discover preferred environments, range of tolerance, and optimal conditions for growth and survival. We connect concepts we discover into the classroom and apply them to environmental issues outside of our classroom. Students will follow the steps of the writing process to write opinion/persuasive essays on topics that they feel passionately about. They will decide on a topic, come up with valid reasons to support that topic, and develop a thesis statement. They will then use Chromebooks to engage in research of credible sources (websites, videos, etc.) to support their claims/opinions. They will write a five paragraph essay with three strong reasons (Intro, 3 Body Paragraphs, Conclusion). They will do their best to explain themselves and convince the reader to side with their claim. Once their writing is published, they will share with their classmates. Social Studies Chapter 4: Colonial New Jersey In this chapter, students will focus on the arrival of European explorers to New Jersey and how this affected the Native Americans, especially the Lenape, who already inhabited the land. In addition, we will discuss the colonies that were created and the area called New Netherland, along with the Dutch’s fur trade, the English, and how New Jersey ended up as a united colony. We will also continue to discuss geography and map skills, focusing on longitude and latitude, and timelines.