Week 19 Newsletter

Announcements

12/18 – Wednesday – Michael White Assembly

12/19 – Thursday – Class Party

12/20 – Friday – Christmas Pajama Day

Reading

In reading this week students conducted their independent research projects on the countries they chose. I modeled researching Argentina as an example and showed them how to fill out their organizers. We talked about comparing and contrasting traditions we practice here and the traditions celebrated in Argentina. Later we talked about the difference between “secular traditions” and “religious traditions.” Together, we charted secular traditions we practice as a culture and then religious traditions we practice. This part was VERY interesting because students were able to listen to the cultural traditions of classmates that may have been different from their own. Next week we will finish up the research portion of the project and begin putting the information on the circles so that we can put them all together to make the dodecahedron J

We will also read some fun holiday books and discuss the text structures of the books along with some fun arts and crafts. J

ELA

Students learned about Progressive Verb Tenses this week. A progressive verb is a verb that works with another verb to clarify verb tense or tell us WHEN something is happening. This week students learned about this through SB lessons, Powerpoints, and an interactive notebook activity.

Social Studies

This week we talked about the Articles of Confederation. We read about its purpose and what it did for national government. Students also learned about some of its strengths and weaknesses. Next week we will talk about the Constitution and my plan is for students to create a flipbook to use as a reference. J

Week 18

Announcements:

12/9 – 12/13 – Clothing Drive

12/11 – Wednesday – Santa Shop @ 9:15

12/19 – Thursday – Class Party @ 1:00

12/20 – Friday – Sing – A – Long/ Pajama Day

Reading

In reading this week we focused on reading our class read aloud, Scar (and Saturday and Teacakes). Students worked on reading responses in their interactive notebooks as I read. They listened for all reading skills they have learned up until this point: compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect, main idea, and point of view. They also listened for figurative language: similes, metaphors, idioms, adages/proverbs. After we completed a chapter students shared what they heard during the reading and we complied everyones notes on a big poster. I really want them to see how the skills they are learning apply to the texts they read every day and not just in isolated settings.

Next week we are going to do a SUPER FUN research project! Students are going to get into groups and research Christmas traditions around the world. They will create complete graphic organizers with their notes, make comparisons, and find photographs/illustrations. Then they will take all their information and create a dodecagon! This will be an extension activity I think they will really get into and a great way to address our “conducting independent research” standard. J

Writing

In writing this week we looked at GMAS narrative writing prompts. We read sample Milestone passages and the writing prompt that they would be expected to write to. They discussed the difference between writing a narrative from scratch vs. writing to a prompt. They came up with answers like: already having characters, already having a setting, knowing the problem, and building on the plot already given. We also began to look at the rubric they would be graded on. We will continue to look at these types of stories and model responses throughout the remainder of the year.

Next week we will read How Santa Got His Job and discuss opinion writing. Students will come up with a new job for Santa based on the skills he already has. They will write a short paper on why the job they gave him best suits him and how the skills needed for his new job correlates with the skills he needs to be Santa.

Grammar

In grammar this week we reviewed proverbs and adages. Students practiced determining the meaning of proverbs and adages using notecards and a partner. The goal is not for them to differentiate between proverbs and adages but to be able to determine the meaning. Next week we will begin learning about progressive verbs and my intent is for that to take us into the holiday J

Week 15 Newsletter

Announcements

11/22- Friday – Turkey Trot

11/25 – 11/29 – Thanksgiving Break!

Homework

Will give individual HW as needed for now

Reading

In reading this week we continued Point of View (POV). Together we continued to read paired passages from the same event and discuss how we could identify the POV. We also looked deeper into the passages and discussed questions we had from the passage that gave us limited third person perspective. We talked about when the POV is in third person the reader often has questions about why the character is doing, feeling, or saying certain things throughout the story. However, when we read the next passage from a first person POV students were able to see how all their questions were answered throughout the reading. We were able to feel like were in the story as opposed to being an outsider. We also took time to look at pictures and photographs from different perspectives and talked about the other possible points of views. Thursday students took a formative assessment where they simply read short paragraphs and determined the POV, and then today they took their cold read. Next week we will finish up POV with writing constructed responses.

We are also continuing to read Scar as our read aloud and discussing how the POV impacts how information is delivered to the reader. J

ELA

In grammar this week we reviewed similes and metaphors. This is review from second and third grade so we didn’t have to spend a lot of time on this. We reviewed some Smartboards and talked about pictures that showed both types of figurative language. Students came up with their own similes and metaphors for the pictures using “like” or “as” for similes and “is” for metaphors. We also were able to play a Kahoot! Game this week…which was a HIT! J

Students are still finishing up the publishing stage of their narrative pieces. Next week we will begin writing a poem from the POV of the turkey J  

Social Studies

We reviewed in Social Studies this week we reviewed the Revolutionary War and completed a USATestPrep assignment online. Next week we will look at the Declaration of Independence. J

ONE MORE WEEK!!!!! WE CAN DO IT! J J J

Week 14 Newsletter

Announcements

11/11 – Monday – Veterans Day – NO SCHOOL!

11/13 – Wednesday – Progress Reports

Homework

Reading Skills Review

Reading

In reading this week we began our Point of View (POV) unit. First we watched the Flocabulary, which is one of my favorites J, filled in our graphic organizers and glued in our interactive notebooks. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of both 1^st and 3^rd person POV. I was also able to relate it back to our class read aloud, Scar. Later, we read stories on the same topic but in different POVs together as a whole group and discussed how we decided the POV and how it impacts the story. Then students were given another set of stories and got with a partner to read and fill out graphic organizers. Next week we will continue with POV.

We will continue to review text structure and main idea through.

Writing

We are finally finishing up our personal narratives and have started publishing…yahoo! We will begin our next narrative about a Thanksgiving Turkey that will also integrate POV. J

Grammar

Next week we will revisit similes and metaphors. We will discuss the difference between the two and practice identifying these types of figurative language in our reading, as well as, practicing how to include it in our writing.

We will continue to review sentence structure and parts of speech.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week we finished up the battles of the American Revolution! YAHOO!!! We will be moving onto the important documents such as: The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.  

Week 12 Newsletter

Announcements

RED RIBBON WEEK!

         Monday – Wear a RED shirt with uniform bottoms

         Tuesday – Wear your TACKIEST outfit

         Wednesday – Wear ORANGE & BLACK – Happy HALLOWEEN

         Thursday – Student Council Costume Day

         Friday – Wear your favorite SPORTS TEAM SHIRT/COLORS

Homework

·       Achieve3000 – We will take a break from this November/December unless I see individual needs

·       ELA spiral review

Reading

In reading this week we learned about main idea and supporting details. We talked about ways to determine the main idea of passages like: read the title, read the first and last sentence, look at photographs/captions, read subheadings, and ask yourself “what is this MAINLY about?” We read both Reading Wonders stories this week and completed graphic organizers together, with partners, and independently. Then I gave students a craft activity to complete Thursday. I am usually hesitant to give activities like this because it causes a lot of chatter and less engaged work time BUT you could have heard a pin drop! They were ON IT and the finished products reflected the standard, integrated science (solar system), and they looked great! Students took a formative assessment over main idea today and I will pull those students Monday/Tuesday and then they will take the cold read over main idea Wednesday.

Writing

In writing we discussed adding sensory details to our narratives. I gave them work time to come up with sentences to go with their “seeds” and then we looked at anchor charts to go deeper and make those even better. For example, their sensory sentences should be more “show, don’t tell” so there shouldn’t be a lot of pronouns and they should not actually use the sensory word they are describing in the sentence. Figurative language should be included and word choice should be bold!

We also looked at effective usage of dialogue in our narratives. Students came up with only a few sentences that they felt they could include in their stories that would flow. We did not want to “force” anything just for the sake of putting in dialogue. Next week we will begin editing and revising! I am hoping to wrap these up and put a nice little bow on these SOON! J

Grammar

We continued looking at sentences, fragments, and run-ons. We just continued practicing how to correct fragments and run-ons with commas, conjunctions, and even semicolons. Next week we will do some fun grammar Halloween centers Thursday!

Social Studies

We WILL get through the major battles next week! J (fingers crossed!)

Week 11 Newsletter

Announcements

10/22- Tuesday – Grandparents Lunch

10/25 – Friday – Spirit Day – Kids wear JEANS and BDMA shirt

Homework

Achieve3000

Grammar Spiral Review – Our kids NEED this!

Reading

We had a short week this week! This week in reading we learned about our last text structure, cause/effect. We read about forces in motion in our Reading Wonders anthology and completed a trifold activity that included all our reading skills for the week. We will continue to review text structures throughout this year. Next week we will move onto main idea/supporting details.

Grammar

In grammar this week we continued to talk about sentences, fragments, and run-ons. Students completed a sorting activity independently and we went over it in explicit detail together. Then they completed one independently for a grade. We will continue this next week and begin looking at dependent and independently clauses. I will also be sending home a spiral grammar homework sheet. This is ALL review for them and shouldn’t take them more than 5 minutes to complete each night.

Social Studies

This week we finished up the important people and took a quiz today. Next week we will begin talking about the major battles of the war J

Week 9 Newsletter

Reading

In reading this week we completed our second round of literacy centers! Our centers included students comparing and contrasting historical people of the American Revolution, US Weekly crosswords, a synonym matching game, mult-meaning task cards, conferencing with teacher on talking to text, and read-to-self to apply talking to text strategy. It was a busy week we but we got it all in! Next week students will complete 1-10 of the cold read, Monday, as a formative grade. Then Wednesday they will complete 11-20 of the cold read as a summative grade. This is the last week I will be breaking the cold reads into two parts. Starting at the beginning of the second nine weeks students will take complete questions 1-20 in one setting. This is how they took their cold read assessments in third grade and how they will take them in fifth grade as well.

Writing

In writing this week we finished writing the middle section of our narrative rough drafts. I modeled our class narrative and we specifically discussed the use of sensory words/details, use of dialogue, word choice awareness, and use of transitions. Next week we will begin to work on the conclusions of our rough drafts and then continue to look for places to add sensory details and MEANINGFUL dialogue.

Grammar

In grammar this week we discussed complete subjects/complete predicates, fragments, complete sentences. Next week we will learn about run-on sentences and continue to review the basic parts of speech.

Social Studies

In social studies this week we began learning about the important people of the American Revolution. Students received their graphic organizers and we started with Ben Franklin. They will have this in their DOG books daily so you can review this with them if you would like (so there won’t be so much to do before the test J ). Next week we will continue to review the people and the accomplishments they made in the colonists move towards independence.

Newsletter 8

Announcements

10/2 – Wednesday – Class Bookfair Visit – 10:45-11:15

10/2 – Wednesday – Lunch w/ Loved Ones – Eat lunch and go to bookfair with child

10/7 – Monday – Raffle Tickets Due

10/10 – Thursday – End of Nine Weeks (AR goals should be met)

Homework

Two Achieve articles for the week – I have given students a “grace” period so far with the forgetting to bring their sheets back, the sheets not being signed, or them forgetting to do their homework altogehter. However, as the second nine weeks approaches this will not be the case. Students will have a homework grade for the second nine weeks with each student starting at 100%. Everytime they do do not return their completed sheet they will be deducted points from their homework grade. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Reading

In Reading students tested over problem/solution and were introdcued to new our next text structure, compare/contrast. Students added compare/contrast to their graphic organizer in their interactive journals, and we read one of the stories in our Reading Wonders anthology. We dicussed key vocabulary terms and began looking at words with multiple meanings. Next week we will read the next story and studnets will begin completing their center rotations for the week.

Writing

In Writing we looked at different types of leads to hook our readers into our personal narratives. I modeled all types using my own personal narrative topic about taking my kids on the Safari ride at Disney World (which most of them can relate to J ). Then they wrote a hook for each type of lead that went with the topic they chose, and then began writing the introduction to their rough draft. Next week we will continue and complete the drafting process.

Grammar

In grammar this week we continued to review subject/predicates and idioms. We discussed how subjects represent the who or what the sentence is about (noun) and the predicate tells what the suject is doing (verb). We talked about how wee need both of these to have a complete sentence. Next week we will go further into complete sentences and indentifying sentence fragments. Students will also be given grammar activities at the beginning of each week. Some will be “must do” assignments for a grade and are review skills, and some will be “may do” activities that may include skills they have not yet mastered.  

Social Studies

In social studies this week we completed the events leading up to the American Revolution. Students completed a quick quiz today and we will be moving onto important historical people during the American Revolution next week. Activities with these people will be integrated within the reading center rotations as well.

Week 7 Newsletter

Announcements

9/25 – Wednesday – Reading Wonders Cold Read

9/26 – Thursday – Events Leading Up to American Revolution Test

Homework

Achieve – 2 Articles – Please make sure your child is doing these and you are monitoring their progress!

Reading

We had a new reading schedule this week! I introduced the new problem and solution text structure last Thursday and Friday so Monday we focused on learning the grammar skill for the week, which was subject/predicate and idioms. Students completed their interactive journal and practice activities with my guidance Monday. Then Wednesday and Thursday we did our first center rotations! They consisted of Idiom QR Codes, Subject/Predicate Task Cards, Milestone Quick Write Practice, USA Test Prep on the Chromebooks, Identifying problems in random pictures and determining several possible solutions to explain through writing, and then meeting with me to complete a practice Reading Wonders assignment before they take the real things next week. J For our first week it went well! We will have to work somethings out but overall I feel that we covered all the reading standards we needed to this week. I plan on taking two center assignments as a grade and then the rest for completion. Next week students will take their RW cold read formative and summative and I will introduce the new skill, compare and contrast.

Writing

In writing this week we continued learning about the components of a personal narrative. We discussed comparing their writing to a watermelon and a seed. The watermelon is a BIG event that has happened to them…a trip they have taken, a birthday, a memorable moment. However, the seed is what we zoom in on to write about. This is where we use sensory details, dialogue, descriptive words, etc. Writing is a developmental skill and it TAKES TIME but we are working on it J This week we talked about watermelon vs. seeds, narrowing down their own big moments to small moments, and the different types of leads. Next week we will begin putting it together to start on their drafts.

Social Studies

This week we talked about the Boston Massacre. We added it to our organizer, read a passage and answered comprehension questions. Next week we will get through the Boston Tea Party and review all acts leading up to the American Revolution and Quiz on Thursday (tentatively). My hope is to get a study guide home Monday J

Week 6 Newsletter

Thank you for a great week! We got a lot accomplished even though we are still settling into or new routine J Please remember that Red Folders come home Thursdays, which includes graded papers, AR report (signed), and behavior sheet (signed). Students have weekly Achieve Logs that should be done every week, signed by you and returned Friday. PLEASE make sure your child is doing this and you are monitoring their progress. This will take the place of a weekly reading log unless the student is having difficulty meeting their AR goals. Thank you for all of your support, as it is a team effort between parents, teachers, and students to ensure the success of our children!

Reading

In reading this week we finished up the text structure, Sequencing. Students worked in partners to complete task cards that provided them with a scenario and then asked them when specific events occurred.  During this time I met with students to review the Reading Wonders questions 1-10 they completed last week. Wednesday students took their Reading Wonders, questions 11-20, assessment. Overall, they did EXCELLENT! This week students were also introduced to the text structure, Problem and Solution. We read both stories in the anthology books and discussed key words, vocabulary words, and idioms. After reading the stories students completed their interactive journal activities that incorporated comprehension, vocabulary, and figurative language skills. Next week we will continue with problem/solution and will plan to test the 27^th.

Writing

We finished our Best Part of Me essays! Yay! They are so cute! We started our narrative unit this week with brainstorming topics for personal narratives. We will continue next week with focusing on small moments and then building around those moments with hooks, sensory details, and dialogue.

Social Studies

In social studies this week I introduced events leading up to the American Revolution. We discussed the French and Indian War, Sugar Act, and Stamp Act. Students have graphic organizers in the SS section of their DOG books. Next week we will cover the Intolerable Acts, Boston Massacre, and Boston Tea Party. Students will receive a study guide and a tentative test date next week as well.

Week 5 Newsletter

Announcements

9/9 – Monday – Progress reports – Please know that there are minimal grades for Reading/ELA since I have only been back 3 days. I assure you there will be plenty of grades by the time report cards come out and you can always check Infinite Campus to see averages.

9/11 - Wednesday – RW Assessment – Sequencing

9/12 – Thursday – Red Folder day – there will be a behavior log and AR report that need to be signed.

9/13 – Friday – Kona Ice

Homework

·       Achieve Sheet – Due Friday

·       Read 20 minutes every night - you can count Achieve articles for this and any other readings they do

·       If there is work they don’t complete in class (that is not a grade) I will send it home for them to complete. I will email you if this happens.  

I am so happy to be back! It’s been an adjustment for both myself and the kids these last few days but we are getting better every day and they are truly an AWESOME group!

Reading

In reading this week we focused on sequencing in fictional stories, specifically fairy tales. We discussed how the characters, plot, and settings contribute to the sequential order of a story. We read both stories from the anthologies and students worked in partners to complete practice activities that we reviewed as a class. Today, we completed a practice test together and students did questions from the Reading Wonders assessment as a grade (not a test). Wednesday they will take questions 11-20 that will count as a test grade. Next week we will move onto problem and solution in fictional stories.

Writing

This week we have been working on a descriptive writing piece called The Best Part of Me. Mrs. Gaylor read the book to them and they brainstormed the best parts of themselves. Wednesday I modeled how the introduction should include a hook and topic sentence and students made their corrections, met with partners, and then met with me. Thursday I modeled the body paragraph that gave their reasons for why their chosen body part is the best part of themselves. They were also to include details with their reasons. Each student was given a rubric that we discussed and used to grade their introductions and body paragraphs. Monday we will work on the conclusion and begin the final copies. This will be their first writing piece and writing grade (all big writing pieces are counted as test grades). After their final pieces are published we will begin discussing the components of narrative writing pieces.

Grammar

This week we reviewed synonyms and antonyms. Next week we will review idioms as a type of figurative language.

Social Studies

In social studies next week we will begin the American Revolution.  

Please email me with any questions, concerns, or celebrations (I want to hear those too) J Have a wonderful weekend!