October 21- 25

The New Quarter

Our second quarter has begun.  It should be a very seamless transition.  The only thing that we need to watch for is that all percentages begin again.  So at the very beginning, their percentages will be very similar to the grades they receive on daily work and any tests taken.  I will remind students (you may want to remind them, as well) that their scores at the beginning of each quarter are very important so that students are not trying to dig themselves out of a hole for the remainder of the quarter.  Other than that, we will keep chugging along as usual!

This week in Math, we will continue taking our 5 minute timed test and graphing the results.  I am so excited to see students improving daily.  That is a great sign.  Daily practice is essential to multiplication success.  Try playing some games from the links on the right side bar to help improve student scores.  We will continue with lessons that involve multiplication, such as problem solving, square numbers, and multiplication tables and patterns.  Thursday we will begin reviewing for our test, which will be on Friday.  Students will take the 5 minutes timed test, but we will not record these scores as a grade.  This will be for our benefit to check student's progress.  Keep practicing those facts!

In Social Studies, students will continue learning about our state and the cultures and activities that are a part of Missouri today.  By Friday, we will be completing a study guide for chapter 2.  Our test will be on Tuesday of the following week.  

This week in Spelling, we will continue to work with the new words that students received last week.  (Hopefully I can update the sidebar on the right with the new words!)  We will use these words to study surprise spelling patterns, /j/ spelling patterns (-dge, -ge, -j, -gi, -gy), and adding prefixes and suffixes.  We will prepare for a test by next Tuesday.  

In Reading, students will continue with their literature circle book study.  We will finish up our whole group study of Bunnicula and drawing conclusions.  Each student should get a really great boost to their second quarter AR points by quizzing over this title.  

In English Language Arts, students will begin the drafting process.  In Art, students created a monster.  They will use this monster to create a 4 paragraph narrative.  Each paragraph has a specific element to address.  We are looking for proper narrative format, as well as paragraph format.  Each paragraph should be indented, include a topic sentence, a body, and a closing.  We are looking for descriptive vocabulary and transition words.  Their Writer's Notebook is a great resource to help with this assignment!  We will need to have final drafts completed by Monday.  

Have a great week!  I hope to see you all on Friday from 2:00- 3:00 for our Fall Party!