Cluster 1 Newsletter

Hi!

We’re in the home stretch of our Inside Out & Back Again unit of study. Students have been working to develop their critical analysis and skills through a series of written assignments. Our summative assessment centers on the ability to write coherent CER (claim, evidence, reasoning) responses. While I encourage parents to assist their learners, please resist the urge to write for them!

Here is a simplified explanation of what CER writing is:

A CER paragraph begins with the writer posing a claim statement. Next, the writer must provide evidence to support that claim. The writer may need to do research to gather this evidence or data. The evidence can be incorporated into the essay through direct quotes or paraphrasing. Finally, the writer must provide reasoning. What is reasoning in writing? It is the way in which a writer explains how and why the evidence supports the claim.” (taken from study.com)

CER writing is also being practiced in science and social studies classes, so your students should be able to improve their academic writing through repeated practice this year! As always, reach out if I can help answer any questions or provide support. I will be accepting missing work until Monday, November 20th.

Yours,
Zack

We just wrapped up our unit on ratios where the students enjoyed the Desmos lesson titled Pizza Maker. Students created their own pizzas and used their own creations to explore ratio concepts. We had a very fun class discussing our favorite toppings and our not so favorite toppings. Students explored how to generate equivalent ratios in the context of balancing fruit on scales. Our next unit will focus on unit rates and percentages. Students will be applying what they learned about ratios to convert between units, find unit price, constant speed and explore reasoning about percentages. To get a preview of Unit 3, please check out the Unit 3 Family Resource.

As a reminder to students and parents, Google Classroom is utilized in math class to provide links to the students' Desmos lessons. All work is completed online in Desmos or on paper depending upon the activity. All grading and grading information can be found in PowerSchool. Thank you for reviewing Ms. Palermo’s Math Smore.

How does a wolf pack affect the flow of a river? Why do goby fish live alongside shrimp? This month in science we have been looking into the complexity of ecosystems and how all species are interconnected. We have looked at food webs, food chains, symbiotic relationships and ecosystem disruptions. Before we end this unit we will be taking a virtual field trip though different biomes and dissecting owl pellets! (Be on the lookout for an opt-out permission slip with more information coming home soon!)

Moving forward we will be diving back into the metric system, talking about mass and density!

Unit 6.1 Human Origins

Essential Question

What were the most important turning points in early human history?

Enduring Understandings

Students will begin to understand that:

1. Modern human beings (Homo sapiens) developed from hominids, shaped by the forces of evolution and shifts in the climate. In turn, they shaped their environment through foraging and hunting, the use of fire, migration, plant and animal domestication, metallurgy, and the building of permanent settlements.
   
   

2. Humans experienced many transformations on the way to becoming Homo sapiens, not least physical changes to nearly every part of the body and an increase in the size and cognitive complexity of the brain. The latter led to a capacity for symbolic language and expression through music and art, and greater possibilities for learning and cooperation, distinguishing features of modern human minds.
   
   

3. Spread across many thousands of millennia, the turning points of the Paleolithic Era created modern human beings, while the innovations of the Neolithic Era, condensed into the past 12,000 years, created the conditions for complex societies to emerge.

Learning Targets:

I can explain cause and effect relationships for the domestication of dogs and maize during the Neolithic Era.

I can Identify where agricultural revolutions took place and explain how they influenced different human communities.

I can identify the effects of Neolithic innovations on the environment.

I can explain how humans in the paleolithic era generally lived and survived

I can explain how the development of agriculture led to the formation of complex societies

Core Grade-Specific History/Social Science Practices for the Unit

Key Practice Standards