Week 24 Newsletter

Announcements

2/4 – Tuesday – 4^th grade lunch and learn

2/5 – Wednesday – Constitutional Compromises Quiz

2/5 – Wednesday – Spring Picture Day

2/7 – Friday- Progress Reports

Homework

Two Achieve articles – I encourage parents to work with your child at least on one of the articles. This helps you understand how your child interprets the questions and allows you to talk them through the correct ways to come to an answer (rather than them just choosing one at random).

Reading

In reading this week we finished up Theme. Students performed their skits they prepared and their peer audience determined the theme they were attempting to portray. It took longer for each group to present than I anticipated so next week we will begin looking at the elements of poetry.

Writing

In writing this week we wrote the introduction to our informational research papers. We talked about different types of leads to grab our reader’s attention such as: asking a questions, interesting fact, or using a famous quote. After students decided on their lead we talked about possible strong topic sentences and how to introduce the subtopics that would be discussed throughout the paper. Next week students will continue to write their body paragraphs and hopefully start on conclusions.

Social Studies

In social studies this week we discussed the Constitutional Compromises. We talked about the Virginia and New Jersey Plans and how they were joined together to form The Great Compromise. Then we discussed how slaves being factored into the state’s population caused a disagreement between the Northern and Southern states. This lead to the Three- Fifths Compromise. Lastly, we covered the compromise that pertained to slave trade. I will send home a short study guide Monday along with work we have done in class on these topics. We will have a quick quiz Wednesday on these topics.

Week 23 Newsletter

Announcements

Monday – 1/27 – Field Trip to Coca Cola Space Center

Friday – 1/31 – Red Folders, Traveler Reports, & Achieve Logs are DUE

Friday (6:00)/Saturday (4:00) – Little Mermaid Play @ Rainey McCullers

·       Any student that brings their ticket stub from the play is allowed to dress OUT OF UNIFORM Monday, 1/27!

Homework

·       Two Achieve articles – Due Friday

·       Research on historical figure – as needed

Reading

In reading this week we finished up our unit on Theme! One of our standard is for students to be able to differentiate between drama, prose, and poetry, so this week we looked continued looking for themes in dramas. Some students have been working in groups to write their own stories in drama format. They are using their knowledge of theme and including their chosen theme multiple times throughout their scripts. Once they finished the writing portion, they practiced performing their drama, and will perform for their classmates. It will be their classmate’s job to determine the theme of the drama.  Other groups of students have been given scripts of fables and fictional stories. They have been practicing reading their scripts, following the directions the scripts gives, and performing for their classmates. Their peers will also have the job of deciding what theme is being delivered through their performance.

Next week we will move onto looking at the major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of each.

Writing

In writing we will continue our informational writing on the historical figures. This week we finished gathering websites sources and subtopics. We also looked at ways to grab the reader’s attention in the introduction of the paper. They will write their own introduction and start on the body paragraphs. We will talk about various transitions they may include to make sure their papers sounds fluent rather than robotic. J Please be on the lookout for research homework. There may be nights when they need to gather more research or finish writing part of their draft.

ELA

In grammar this week we continued looking at progressive verbs. We continued practicing when to use who/whom. One trick we talked about is he/she = who and him/her = whom.

·                   Ex: The girl _____ is in third grade, got first place in the art show.

·                  Ask yourself “Who got first place in the art show?” SHE got first place in the art show.             She=WHO

I also introduced the relative pronoun “whose.” This is the only relative pronoun that shows possession/ownership.

·                 Ex: Students, _______, parents are here, get a homework pass.

·                Parents belong to the students so the relative pronoun is whose.

Next week we will talk about the correct uses of “which” and “that.”

Week 22 Newsletter

Announcements

Monday – MLK Day – No School!

Tuesday – St. Elmo

Tuesday – Tutoring Starts!

Monday 1/27 – Coca Cola Space Science Center

Homework

·        ***We will begin Achieve Logs again – Two articles for the week, 75% or better (ideally 88% or better to show growth), and must be signed by parents.

·        ***If students are not making adequate progress with their informational research during their given class time, I will expect them to gather research at home and bring it to class the next day.  
*   ***Practice RW tests online as needed 

Reading

In reading this week we have been focusing on theme. We started off by discussing common themes found in stories and watching some of the 1930s Disney cartoons to identify themes. We read fictional dramas from our Reading Wonders books such as, “The Ant and Grasshopper” and “Ranita and the Frog.” Through these stories we were able to discuss dramas and scripts, which we will continue to look at next week as we well. Students learned about writing a constructed response to the theme of passage. They learned that the questions they should ask are “What did the author want me to learn?” “What are the connecting details” and “How does this apply to my life?” We practiced writing constructed responses together for “The Ugly Duckling” “The Ant and the Grasshopper” and “The Three Little Pigs.” Students also completed task card activities and a Kahoot! game. Next week we will continue reviewing theme through dramas and practice constructed responses.

Check out the Reading tab to look at examples of constructed responses we wrote in class and the picture of common themes we have been using. :) Also remember there are Reading Wonders practice tests up that students should utilize for practice. 

Writing

In writing this week we began our Informational Writing unit. I explained to students that they would choose one of the famous historical figures from our Social Studies standards to research and write their informational paper about. I am modeling as we go. As of now they have done a little research on the figure they have chosen and we discussed gathering research from multiple websites and resources. Next week we will begin organizing our notes and looking at writing the introduction paragraph.

Grammar

This week we began talking about relative pronouns; who, whom, whose, which, and that. We started with who and whom this week. Relative pronouns are typically confusing in that there are multiple rules that apply when deciding whether to use who/whom. So this week we talked and practiced whole group and I did tell them that I am no expert on this topic as I still get confused myself! J We will continue learning about relative pronouns next week and practicing A LOT.

Social Studies

We will be learning about Congress, 3/5 Compromise, and The Great Compromise J

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.