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.