We had a great week last week and I am looking forward to having more! We are taking a break from memory work and will pick up after parent/teacher conferences. They earned tables, so on Monday we shifted our desk around so that we have 5 pods around the room. We have also started map testing this week. Today was our first test. We will take the reading and math map test on Wednesday and Thursday.
Although there is snow on the ground, we still go out for recess. We are permitted outside if the weather is 20 degrees or above. If you have not already, please start sending snow pants and boots, as the field is covered in snow and some of the playground equipment is as well. Please be sure that they have hats, scarfs and gloves as well. Reading: We started our literature circles this week. They were able to meet their group mates and do some activities with them. This week is a practice week so they can become accustomed to the literature circles jobs. Next week they will receive their actual book, and their job. The way literature circles will work is they will receive an assignment and have 2 days to complete it. So literature circle homework will be due Wednesday and Friday. While in class, we will continue to work different things involving their lit circle books, but we will also do some grammar and writing activities. If you have any questions about lit circles please feel free to email me and let me know. Math: We are done with topic 6 and have moved into topic 7. Topic 7 is the shortest chapter in our volume one math book. The topic is on picture graphs and bar graphs. We will spend about two weeks on this topic, so expect the math test to be AFTER parent/teacher conferences. Continue to have them practice their math facts, giving extra focus to the numbers that cause them the most "stress." If they are masters of 1-10, then move on to 11 and 12. Social Studies: The students brought home their Black History Month project information yesterday. This project is to be done completely at home. It is a 2-part project, report and poster. I uploaded the documents to the homework page in case they misplace them. The rubric and research guide are due with the project. If you have any questions about the project, please feel free to let me know. We are finishing up chapter 12 this week and some of next week. We are learning about the 3 branches of government. We are learning who is apart of each branch, what they do, and why they are important to our government. After we finish with the chapter we will do a hands-on activity where they will have a mock debate about ice cream flavors. This activity will provide them with a glimpse of how debates work and how to properly handle conversations where their views may or may not match. They will also do a hands-on activity where they have to come up with a camping slogan & poster, how to vote, and persuasion. Both activities should be a fun thing, and continue to foster relationship and teach them at the same time. The social studies test for chapter 12, will be AFTER parent/teacher conferences on Monday February 10, so they will have to study over the weekend. Important dates:
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Memory Work due January 28 --> and be kind to one another, tenderheardted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Map testing for the school started this week, however we will test next week. The dates are at the bottom of the newsletter. On those nights, I will try to lighten the homework load so that they can be well rested and ready for the test. On Thursday and Friday they will begin thinking about their Black History Month Projects. The goal is that when they leave Friday, they know who they are researching and have all of the materials they need to be prepared for their project. They will have an entire month to do the project, which is due February 24. They will work on these projects outside of class time. If you have any questions or concerns before/after Thursday/Friday, please let me know. Reading: This week we are taking some time to review unit 3. Winter break happened right in the middle of unit 3, and we just wrapped up the unit last week. So, this week we are spending some time going over the things that we worked on. We will work with contractions, synonyms, sequencing, main idea & details, verb tenses, idioms, prefixes, suffixes, cause and effect, folk tales, and expository text. On Thursday, we will begin to take the unit test, with them doing some here at school, and some at home. For spelling this week, I pulled 4 words from each week and put together a spelling menu. They have a packet that contains their words, a sheet for them to write 10 sentences and another sheet for them to choose from. The directions are on the sheet, and I also explained them to the students. They have to do a number of activities that are worth points, and at the end of the week, the activities must add up to 25. For example, if they choose to do the activity for 20 points, which is write a story, and an activity for 5, such as writing the words 3 times each, then that is their 25 points for the week. The spelling homework is not due until Friday. Math: Over the weekend I graded their math test, and we will ultimately have to retake the test. Today we looked at the test and we went over the problems. The students should have brought a copy home, if not it will be posted on the home page. We will spend tomorrow and Thursday if needed, going over the test, and doing some practice problems. The retake will be either Thursday or Friday. Continue to have them look over the test they brought home in their homework folder, look over homework assignments, and pages in their math books. Challenge them to explain step by step what they have to do to solve for the area, as that was a big struggle during the test. Science: We are finally done with reviewing lesson 1-3 and will move into the soil activity on Thursday. The students are looking forward to playing with the soil, and comparing them. We will officially start lesson 4 of chapter 6 on Monday. Continue to review with them at home. They have a review packet that they may bring home, and they may bring home their science book. Since this chapter is long, and we've spent time reviewing, they will receive a study guide, but also a jeopardy game link just like in social studies so that they are ready for the test. Important Dates:
Memory work due January 21 --> Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
We are getting back into the swing of things and locking back into school mode. They are having better days and I see each of them stepping up into their leader shoes. We are working toward tables/pods, so the students are working hard to keep letters on the board. The ability to keep the letters also allows them to add tickets to the recess bin, which gives them a little push to keep the letters and gain extra words. They have, for the most part been able to keep letters and get extra words, so the bin has a great amount of tickets and they are half way there to an extra recess. Map testing will begin next week and will go till the 31. However, our days have not been selected. As soon as I know them I will be sure to provide you with the dates and how we will prep for it. Reading: We switched back to centers and the students are enjoying them. I heavy loaded the classwork last week, and this week is no different. However, they will have homework this week. My plan with the overloading in class, is to continue to model how to answer questions and complete the charts. After we finish lit circles, the goal is to shift from the heavy loading. We are schedule to start lit circles on the 21st. The students will be provided with an information sheet that they will bring home, but it will also be posted on the website as well for future references. If you have any questions or concerns before or after we start lit circles, please let me know. This week we brought back sequencing and time order words. They didn't remember sequencing and how we had done it. So, we took some time going over our anchor chart and the many time order words we had learned. We also started working with summarizing, which they struggle with. They work under the impression that you need to tell EVERYTHING, instead of the important facts. So, I made it easy for them by creating a chart that will allow them to get the important things down to create a "perfect" summary. In grammar we are working with combining sentences again, this time with verbs. This seems to be very easy for them and they are already using the strategy in writing. Math: We are coming to the close of topic 6. We took an extra day to review area of irregular shapes, but also to review distributive property with area. Area with distributive property still confused some today, so continue to work with them on those things. We will start reviewing for the test that is looking to be Friday. However, if we need more time, then they will have the weekend to study. Continue to practice their multiplication facts, and also remind them that when working with distributive property, it is important to not flip the numbers. Science: After looking over the pop quiz answers, it was evident that we needed to go back and review. By the chapter covering so much, they began to blind things together, and leave things out. So, I made a packet and we've been working through that. I anticipate that next week we will move into lesson 4, which is on soil. Important dates: Monday, Jan 20- No School, MLK Day Thursday, Jan 23-GPO's Dad's night out Friday, Jan 24-Hot Lunch & Spirit day WELCOME BACK! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We had an awesome day today and I loved hearing about all of the fun things they did over break. I was glad to see them come in ready to rock and roll and they handled every expectation appropriately and had fun doing so. Math: We are moving along in topic 6, which is on area. We started it before break and spent some time reviewing it today. The students have been finding it very easy to do, which is good. Continue to practice their multiplication facts at home, as that will help with area as we began to move deeper into the topic. Reading: We are switching back to centers as we enter into the second half of the school year. They really missed them, so I brought them back around. We tried them with a new twist today and they really had fun. I plan to heavy load the classwork this week so they can work on answering the questions correctly and completely. Next week, we will switch back to our normal program. Starting January 21, we will move into our literature circle projects. Today during the beginning of our reading block, I read James & the Giant Peach to them. They are very interested in the book and it has them on the edges of their seats. I do plan to watch the movie after, so keep an eye out for those details. This week we are still covering main idea and details. This is almost like a review week for us with this topic, as the last time they seen it was before Christmas break. However, they did very good during our refresher. Challenge them at home to identify the main idea in the different stories they are reading :) We are finishing up with verbs this week. We are working on future-tense verbs, which the students caught on to fairly quick today. We will also do some work with root words, and prefixes. Their spelling words this week all have prefixes (mis, dis, and pre). The first 5-6 words tricked a couple friends, so really spend some time going over those words. Science: Today we took a little pop quiz so that we could review the things we had covered before break. I do not plan to grade this, but rather to use it to guide me on rather or not we need to pause and go back or if we can move forward. The hope is that we move forward, however we are flexible. Chapter 6 is almost done, we have 3 more lesson to get through. Like the social studies test they will have a jeopardy game when it comes time for reviewing because this chapter covered a lot of material (water cycle, rocks & minerals, weather & climate, soil, earth's features, weathering and erosion). Social Studies: We are moving on to chapter 12 in our social studies unit. This chapter is focusing on our government leaders. In this chapter they will learn about community leaders, such as the mayor, and government leaders such as the president. They will also get a chance to create a campaign slogan, have "presidential debates", and cast votes. The idea is for them to experience first hand what it is like to cast votes, but also have an opinion and argue for it. I think this will be a very unique experience, as they are all very opinionated. Important dates: Friday, Jan 10-Hot Lunch & Spirit day Friday, Jan 17-First Look Friday Monday, Jan 20- No School, MLK Day Thursday, Jan 23-GPO's Dad's night out Friday, Jan 24-Hot Lunch & Spirit day |
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