This week, we will start our history unit.  In this unit, we will discuss historical time periods, and how perspectives and traditions have shaped the United States.  We will also learn about National Symbols and their significance to our country. 

This is our last week with Economics.  We have enjoyed learning about how everything has value. This week, we will explore different businesses, bartering, supply and demand and how to use a budget to save money.  We will wrap everything up this Friday.

Last week in Social Studies we had fun playing with vocabulary as well as our Consumer & Producer and Needs & Wants games. Our Junior Investigators did a great job recognizing these economic principles and providing examples from their own lives. 

Next week, we will review different careers and the impact of those jobs on our community. This is a great time to talk with your Junior Investigator about your hard work in our community and the amazing impact you make every day! We will also find ourselves in an extension from our Math classes and begin to play with money.

Key Learning Unit Objectives: 

• Identify Needs and Wants: Distinguish between things we need for survival and things we want for enjoyment. Recognize that individuals make choices based on their needs and wants. 
• Understand Scarcity: Explore the idea that resources are limited, leading to the concept of scarcity.  Discuss the importance of making choices when faced with scarcity.  
• Recognize Resources: Identify different types of resources, including natural, human, and capital resources. Understand how these resources contribute to meeting the needs and wants of our community. 
• Explore Decision Making: Engage in decision-making activities to understand the process of making choices. Discuss the concept of trade-offs and the consequences of decisions. 
• Appreciate Goods and Services: Differentiate between goods (items we can touch or hold) and services (actions provided by others). Explore the interdependence between producers and consumers in a community. 

We will have a creative week of dreaming about when we grow up :)

The primary focus of this unit is to introduce students to fundamental economic principles such as scarcity, choices, and resources. Students will explore the concept of making decisions based on needs and wants, recognizing the availability of resources, and understanding the consequences of choices.

Key Learning Objectives:

Identify Needs and Wants: Distinguish between things we need for survival and things we want for enjoyment. Recognize that individuals make choices based on their needs and wants.

Understand Scarcity: Explore the idea that resources are limited, leading to the concept of scarcity. Discuss the importance of making choices when faced with scarcity.

Recognize Resources: Identify different types of resources, including natural, human, and capital resources. Understand how these resources contribute to meeting needs and want.

Explore Decision Making: Engage in decision-making activities to understand the process of making choices. Discuss the concept of trade-offs and the consequences of decisions.

Appreciate Goods and Services: Differentiate between goods (items we can touch or hold) and services (actions provided by others). Explore the interdependence between producers and consumers in a community.

We will be finishing up our maps and globes part of our unit and start looking at characteristics of communities and how they live in different places around the world.  We will look at how changes in different environments have an effect on food, clothing, and shelter.   

We had fun investigations last week as we began to look into maps and the idea of navigation. Students strongly connected with using a compass rose, a legend, and orientating themselves while using a map. This led our class to look at the broader globe and compare where we are located to that of other continents.

Next week we will build off of this comparison and look at our own addresses, neighborhoods, towns, states, countries, continents, all the way to our planet in the Milky Way. Ah, the wonders of investigations.

Have fun hearing about maps.

This week, we will be starting our Maps and Globes unit.  In the first part of our unit, we will focus on what a community is, the importance of taking care of that community and understanding how we depend on our environment to survive. The second part of our unit will focus on maps and globes, understanding cardinal directions on a compass rose, the purpose of a map key and how to create a map of familiar places.  

We will continue our “Leader in Me” unit.  In this unit, students will learn leadership and life skills to create a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader.  

This week, we will finish up our review of Steven Covey's 7 Habits of leadership. Students will focus on Seeking First to Understand, Synergize, and Sharpen the Saw (which is better known as taking care of ourselves).

The Seven Habits  

• Habit 1:  Be Proactive (You’re in Charge)  
• Habit 2:  Begin With The End In Mind (Have a Plan)  
• Habit 3:  Put First Things First (Work First, Then Play)  
• Habit 4:  Think Win-Win (Everyone Can Win)  
• Habit 5:  Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood (Listen Before You Talk)  
• Habit 6:  Synergize (Together Is Better)  
• Habit 7:  Sharpen the Saw (Balance Feels Best

We are continuing our leadership learning fun!

Social Studies: We will continue our “Leader in Me” unit.  In this unit, students will learn leadership and life skills to create a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader.  

Last week, we learned about the first 2 habits talking about how to be proactive and making a plan. This week, we will look at Habit 3, putting first things first and Habit 4, think win, win. 

The students are loving the Leader in Me song which I have linked here. 

The Seven Habits 

Habit 1:  Be Proactive (You’re in Charge) 

Habit 2:  Begin With The End In Mind (Have a Plan) 

Habit 3:  Put First Things First (Work First, Then Play) 

Habit 4:  Think Win-Win (Everyone Can Win) 

Habit 5:  Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood (Listen Before You Talk) 

Habit 6:  Synergize (Together Is Better) 

Habit 7:  Sharpen the Saw (Balance Feels Best) 

Social Studies: We will be starting our “Leader in Me” unit.  In this unit, students will learn leadership and life skills to create a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader.   

The Seven Habits 

Habit 1:  Be Proactive (You’re in Charge) 

Habit 2:  Begin With The End In Mind (Have a Plan) 

Habit 3:  Put First Things First (Work First, Then Play) 

Habit 4:  Think Win-Win (Everyone Can Win) 

Habit 5:  Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood (Listen Before You Talk) 

Habit 6:  Synergize (Together Is Better) 

Habit 7:  Sharpen the Saw (Balance Feels Best)