October 14- 18

Last Week of the Quarter!

 Quarter one is coming to a close.  Thursday is our last day of this quarter, making it the last day for AR points (10), and first quarter grades.  Friday, the 18th, will be a half day.  

In Math this week we will dive into multiplication!  For some kids, this will be a simple review.  For others, this may pose more challenging.  We are trying to reach many different learning types with several strategies for memorization of these facts.  Each day, students will begin math with a 1 minute timed test.  They will graph their progress in a bar graph each day.  Hopefully, this will be a great visual to see their growth as they learn their facts.  We will use Schoolhouse Rock videos again, as well as a skip counting page.  Students will also learn about the properties of multiplication.  

In Social Studies we are preparing for a test.  Monday and Tuesday we will try a few study techniques.  The study guide will go home on Monday with the correct answers, so try to take a look at these both Monday and Tuesday night to ensure comprehension of the test material.  Our test will be on Wednesday over chapter one, our state's climate and resources.  On Thursday, students will begin chapter two, looking at our state filled with many cultures.  

Spelling this week begins with test preparation.  On Monday, we will review /s/ sound spelling patterns (s, ss, sc, ce, ci, cy) and send home a "Dear Parents".  Our test will be on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we will review any missed words from the test.  Thursday, we will have a words preview of new words.  Our new words for this unit are: fire, ready, green, yes, built.  Our bonus words are: vegetables, refrigerator, object, gym, dodge, gypsy, ginger.  Unit test words are: means, first, built, Americans, several, their, green, together, form, animal, ground, ready, its, because, certain, fire, front, always, yes, there.  For some reason, the site is not allowing me to place them on the sidebar as I would like.  Sorry for the confusion.  

We will continue with our Literature Circle groups in reading, as usual.  Each group should finish their book this week, and begin a new one.  Students will continue practice with drawing conclusions using the book Bunnicula, and their Reader's Notebooks answering 3 important questions.  "What do I know for sure?" (explicit information, or information directly from the text), "Stop and think about this information.  What else were we able to figure out from this information?" (conclusions using textual evidence, background knowledge, and connections to their life), and "How did I figure this out?"  (text evidence, background knowledge, personal connections).  The students are doing an awesome job with this.

In English Language Arts, students will be looking at paragraph structure.  They will use the knowledge of paragraph structure (topic sentence, details, and a closing) to write a small narrative next week.  Students will learn a new strategy  of writing observations.  Students will go to multiple locations throughout the school to use their five senses to write.  This should help with detail in their writing.  

Since I cannot edit my sidebar, here are some important dates:
10/15: Spelling Test; McTeacher's Night, 4-8 

10/16: Social Studies Test

10/18: Half Day