11/30/09

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends. It is hard to believe that we only have 3 full weeks left before winter break. Let's work together to make sure that our students stay focused and on task as our break approaches.

Language Arts: Today in Language Arts we took our spelling pre-test, discussed our new RIT vocabulary for the week, reviewed this weeks story vocabulary, listened to our story for the week, and worked on action verbs in grammar. We also found some time to listen to a chapter in our read a loud, and start our writing project for the week. We finished up the morning by going over our Word Master words by using analogies, definitions, categories, and examples.

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet
***Book orders are due on Thursday. This will be the last one before Christmas.( Be sure to look careful at the Tab book order since some titles contain mature content.)
***Book projects are due on January 7. Do you have your flip book?
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Math:
Today in math we completed our minute, reviewed skills on white boards, and jumped into the lesson of reviewing positive and negative integers.

Homework:
***Math Box 6.3 and 6.4

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Social Studies:
Today in content we discussed the regions of the Northwest Coast, the California-Inter mountain, and the Southwest. We discussed the tribes that lived in these areas, their housing and the artifacts that made each group unique. I advised the students that it is a good idea to review this material a little each night since we will be adding to it each day. It makes studying for the test next week a lot easier.

Homework:
***Review Interactive workbook pages 16 and 17


Homeroom Reminders:
***Letters were sent home today about the family that our classroom will be sponsoring this holiday. Please be sure to fill out the survey and send it back to school tomorrow so that I can get you specific information about sizes and interests of our three children. Thank you in advance for helping make a family feel "Special" this holiday season.(Remember it is optional, though).
Happy shopping!


Until tomorrow...

11/24/09

A Foggy Tuesday Morning...

Language Arts: Since today was our double special day, we did not have Language Arts at all. We went straight to music and gym.

Homework:
***Remember that our Unit 2 spelling test is tomorrow. Please study!

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Math:
Today in math we completed our minute, spent time reviewing during computation, graded our homework, and started dividing fractions. I was not surprised that this lesson was very easy for everyone. We ended the math class by completing an exit card over multiplying fractions.

Homework:
***None- We earned our "No Homework" night because we had 10 days of completed homework.

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Social Studies:
Today we started new rotations. Welcome Mrs. Doms' class.! Today we started Chapter 3. This chapter deals with the American Indians and their cultural regions. This is a long chapter, but I think that the students will enjoy learning about the different cultural regions through skits, role playing, and writing.
Today the vocabulary was passed out. Be sure to look over and study these new vocabulary words that are on lime green paper. Studying a little each night will be very helpful as we work together through this chapter.

Homework:
***None

Happy Thanksgiving!

11/23/09

Welcome to a short week!

Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts we accomplished many things. Since we did not have any specials today, we were able to use the morning as a great review. We started the morning by listening to a short chapter in our read a loud. We then took the overall Unit 2 assessment. In handwriting we practiced the letters m and n since these two letters are sometimes confused in our writing. We also worked on the capital z,x, and v. We also put the final touches on our writing piece and they are now hanging proudly in the hall. Finally, we played several Bingo games as a way to practice our Word Master words. Lastly, we met with our third grade reading buddies to spend some time reading together.

Homework:
***There is no Weekly Homework Packet this week since we have a short week.
***Study your Word Master words and Unit 2 spelling words( Our spelling test is on Wednesday. Our Word Master test will be on December 11th-Please study each night.)
***Read
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Math:
Today in math, we completed our minute and spent some time working on computation on white boards. We spent the majority of our practice on algebra, interest, and finding the tip of a check given the bill and the percent.
Journal 2 was passed out today. be sure to read the Family Letter that was sent home today as well. It tells you everything that we will work on in this upcoming unit. This unit, I assume, will be fairly easy for the students.The lesson today dealt with multiplying fractions. We continue to practice this skill over and over during our computation time.

Homework:
***Journal Pages 207-210

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Social Studies:
We had our Chapter 3 test today and finished up sharing our logs from our Interactive Workbook. Tomorrow will start new rotations. My homeroom class will have Mrs. Doms for the remainder of the grading period to work on Science.

Homework:
***None


Until tomorrow...

11/19/09

Today flew by!

Language Arts:(Double Specials)
Today in Language Arts we listened to our read a loud, reviewed our grammar skill of the week, took our selection assessment, and took turns typing our "I Am" poem.

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet
***Study your spelling words for the test
***Read independently and record minutes. (Remember your parent signature.)

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Math:
Today was our day in the computer lab to work on Study Island. We also completed a minute, reviewed our RIT vocabulary, went over our Unit 5 test and Midyear assessment, and graded our homework from last night.

Homework:
***Math Box and Study Link 5.10

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Social Studies:
Today in Social Studies we reviewed orally for the test and worked on our Log in our Interactive Workbook. In the log, we pretended to be an explorer and wrote all all about coming to the New World. We will share these in class tomorrow.

Homework:
***The test on Monday will include information from textbook as well as the Interactive Workbook. To prepare for the test, the students should reread each section, know the vocabulary, and be able to describe the objects that could be found in a sunken ship.
***Complete your log in it was not completed in class.


Reminders:
Tomorrow is the last day for our Food Drive. Please bring in canned goods.


Until tomorrow...

11/18/09

D.A.R.E. Day!

Language Arts:
With today being our D.A.R.E. graduation, our time in Language Arts was cut short. We were still able to meet with our editing partners to edit sentences focusing on direct quotations, spelling, and punctuation with contractions.We also completed a proofreading page in our grammar book, and finished up either writing or typing our "I AM" writing piece.

Homework:
***Study your RIT vocabulary
***Weekly Homework Packet is due Friday
***Reading projects are due in January. If you have not received your flip book from me, please see me when you are ready.
***Study spelling words

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Math:
Today in math we completed our minute and spent quite a bit of time on different skills. This was a great review for everyone. We spent some time working on a few pages in our journal independently.

Homework:
***Journal pages 200-203

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Social Studies:
We spent the afternoon discussing and reviewing chapter 4. The students were then divided into groups to role play different events that took place between the years 1400-1500. They were then asked to summarize their acting out and that of their friends by writing a short sentence summary of their skit by using the vocabulary words given in their interactive workbooks. We had great discussions today. We will continue on tomorrow, review on Friday, and our chapter test is scheduled for Monday.

Until tomorrow...

11/17/09

It is time to bring out those sweaters and long pants! Recess was cold!

Today in Language Arts we switched for Vocabulary Vine, listened to a short chapter in our read a loud, practiced our spelling words by completing a sheet together, and worked on capitalizing, punctuating, and underlining titles in grammar.

Homework:
***Study your spelling words
***Weekly Homework Packet- due Friday
***Study RIT Vocabulary
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Math:
Math was a bit shorter today due to a brief play put on by several of our students to inform us about their "Granger Paths Project." We did have time to take our Unit 5 test, however. I will get those graded and returned to the students by the end of the week. We will start Unit 6 tomorrow. This is my favorite Unit and I think the students are eager to jump into it as well. With all the extra work that we have been doing with algebra, they are all eager to get started with this unit.

Homework:
***None

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Social Studies:
Today in content we read and discussed the Reading Further section. This stirred up a lot of questions about war and religion. Although it was brief, I was impressed with how respectful everyone was with their comments. Tomorrow we will role play. Our Chapter 4 test is scheduled for Monday. We will start new rotations on Tuesday of next week.

Until tomorrow...

11/16/09

Language Arts:
We were able to accomplish quite a few things today since we did not have any specials.

Spelling- We took our pretest and sorted words that have the VCCV spelling pattern. Please take some extra time to practice your words this week by writing them out several times.

Reading- We read our story for the week, discussed text information and made inferences. We also discussed our story vocabulary and our new RIT vocabulary.
***It is very important that every student take the extra time to review the 5 or 6 new RIT words for the week. We are trying to add on to our list of vocabulary words each week so the students need to know definitions and examples each week in order for us to add additional words.

Grammar- Today in grammar we practiced plural nouns and possessive plural nouns. With continued practice, this skill will keep getting better and better.

Read Aloud- We started our new read a loud today. The novel is called Among the Hidden. This is a great novel in a series of books. My hope is that by reading it, it will encourage the students to read the following books in the series.

Writing- Today in writing, we started an "I Am" poem. Even though this sounds basic, it was difficult because we added a twist. The students had to write their poem using personification. This had them really thinking!

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet- Remember to take extra time in answering your comprehension questions.
***Read 20 minutes and record your minutes
***Flip Books are now ready! Whenever you finish your book for the next book project, you can pick up your assembled Flip Book.

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Math:
Today in math we went through our Unit 5 practice quiz in groups. The students were given huge chart paper and asked to work on different problems at their table and they had to include a written explanation of their answer. I received great feedback from the kids who thought that reviewing in this way was fun and very helpful.

Homework:
***Finish the practice quiz. We will go over it before the test tomorrow.

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Social studies:
We continued on today with our discussion of the explorers. Tomorrow we will role play! I look forward to this!

Homework:
***None
***Chapter 3 tests are in mailboxes today.

Reminders:
***Please bring in non perishable food items for our food drive.
***D.A.R.E. graduation is on Wednesday at 8:15.
Thank you to everyone who made a donation to our D.A.R.E. Read-a-thon. We will present Officer Redman with a check at graduation.

Until tomorrow...

11/13/09

What a Friday!
Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts we switched for Vocabulary Vine, took our usual Friday assessments, and spent some time discussing and going over our Word Master words that were passed out today. Word Masters is an academic analogy competition that is given three times per year. The students in my class are expected to participate in this competition. It is an excellent way to learn many different vocabulary words that hopefully will spill over into their verbal skills and writing. For this first competition, the students were assigned only one word to look up . An example was given on their assignment sheet. Time was given in class today to ask questions and get started. It is expected that this word will be typed and complete by Monday. (It is homework and written in planners!) We will compile all words as a packet for others, so be sure to include every definition of the word. We will play a variety of games over the next several weeks before the actual test.

Homework:
***Word Master Word- typed and complete

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Math:
Today in math, we completed our minute, worked on a variety of computation skills including finding the simply interest on a loan, and finished up Unit 5 Checking Progress and a Midyear Assessment.

Homework:
***None
***We will work with partners and small groups on Monday working on a practice test for Unit 5. This will be exactly like the test on Tuesday. It will cover measuring angles, finding the missing angles, finding the degree measure of a sector, and drawing a congruent triangle in a coordinate grid when given one side and then plotting the points.

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Content:
We had a blast in Social Studies today! While listening to "Underwater sounds", we took turns diving down into a ship to recover artifacts that may have been recovered from a sunken European ship. We then acted as researchers and took notes to draw our finding and to decide how and why these artifacts may have helped the Europeans.

Have a great weekend!

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11/11/09

It is Veteran's Day!

Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts we read independently during Vocabulary Vine, practiced our story and RIT vocabulary, and worked on using singular and plural possessive nouns. During computer time, we took our AR tests since AR has been out of commission for about a week and then finished up with Study Island. During our writing time, we spent some time sharing our writing from last week and fine tuning it. We will type our finished product on Friday.

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet- due Friday
***Read and record minutes
***Study story and RIT vocabulary

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Math:
Math flew by today! We completed our minute, graded our homework and worked on a variety of skills during computation time. For example, we worked on finding the simple interest on a loan, multiplying exponents, multiplying binomials with the F.O.I.L. method, and solving for a variable. Quite a bit of time was spent today on algebra concepts.

Homework:
***Worksheet-Page 12 and 14

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Content:
We had our last D.A.R.E. today. Officer Redman assigned our D.A.R.E. essays today. Everyone must turn in their essay by Monday. Our graduation will be next Wednesday. More information about graduation will be sent home soon.

Until Friday....(I will be out of the building tomorrow.)

11/11/09

Language Arts:
Today was a busy one in room 24. We switched for Vocabulary Vine where we added to our independent reading minutes, finished our read aloud, practiced our spelling skills for the week, and worked on plural possessive nouns. The students started a grammar sheet in class that we will go over tomorrow in class. It is homework if it was not completed in class.
(Double Specials)

Homework:
***Book orders are due tomorrow
***Grammar-Page 51
***Weekly Homework Packet-due Friday

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Math:
Today in math we completed our minute, worked on computation and skill review on the board, and worked on pages in our journal that covered angle measures and fractions(review).

Homework:
***Journal pages 197 and 198
***Worksheet(both sides)

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Social Studies:
We started Chapter 4 today -How and Why Europeans Came to the New World. This should be an interesting chapter. The students were told today that they will divide down into a sunken ship to uncover artifacts that may have been left behind... They are going to have some fun!

Until tomorrow...

11/9/09

Another Filled Day!

Language Arts:
Today was a productive day in Language Arts. Since we did not have any specials today, we were able to accomplish quite a few things. We took our spelling pretest, discussed our new RIT vocabulary, reviewed our story vocabulary, and listened to our basal story on tape. The story for the week is called The Night of San Juan. It is an interesting story that should elicit a good conversation while reading it together.

We are just about ready to wrap up our current read aloud. With only one more chapter to go, everyone is anxious to see what happens to Sam, the main character.

We also met with our reading buddies today. It is always fun to see the interaction and listen to the conversations that take place between our class and our third grade friends.

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet- This is due on Friday as usual. I took out the summary this week and added some nonfiction reading and practice with context clues.
***Book orders are due on Wednesday.
***Read and record your reading minutes.
***Practice your RIT vocabulary every night this week.

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Math:
Math flew by today! We were able to complete our minute and then we jumped right into copying triangles, quadrangles, and reviewed our quiz from last week. The students are getting the hang off copying these shapes and using their compass.

We are getting closer to the end of our Unit. We will be having our test some time early next week.

Homework:
***Study Link 5.8
***Study your RIT vocabulary
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Social Studies:
We took our Chapter 3 test today. We will jump into Chapter 4 tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

11/6/09

Language Arts:
Today in Vocabulary Vine the students took a break and had time to independent read. In class we took our usual assessments, went to the library, and completed our weekly writing in our writer's notebook.

Homework:
***None
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Math:
Math class was very busy today and boy did it fly by!
We completed our minute and jumped right into the lesson of the day. We spent time copying line segments, triangles, finding the degree sector of a percent of a circle and the degree of a fraction of a circle. We ended the class by starting to go over the measuring angles quiz that I passed back. We will continue going over it on Monday.

Homework:
***None

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Social Studies:
We spent the majority of our class time today playing a review game to get ready for our test on Monday over Chapter 3. The remainder of class was spent applying what we know by writing a letter in our Interactive Workbooks on page 20.

Homework:
***Study for the test. Use the Study guide, book, and charts from your interactive workbook
***Finish the letter if you did not complete it during class time

Until Monday...

11/5/09

Today in Language Arts we reviewed inflectional endings in preparation for our spelling test, listened to our read a loud, practiced our grammar skills of making singular nouns plural, and learned new word parts to add to our Vocabulary Vine. We accomplished all of this before heading to double specials.

Homework:
*** Our Weekly Homework Packet is due tomorrow. Don't forget to log your reading minutes and get a parent signature.
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Math:
We spent part of our math class in the computer lab working on
Study Island. The remainder of the class was spent completing our minute, working on computation, and learning how to construct a duplicate triangle by using only a straight edge and a compass. For some students, trying to construct a triangle was a bit frustrating. I promised them that with practice, it will get easier.

Homework:
***None

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Social Studies:
Today in Social Studies we discussed the Seneca Tribe, completed our chart and discussed the similarities and differences between the groups. We had great conversations today and I feel that the students are really prepared for their test. Tomorrow we will do a writing activity and play a review game. Our chapter 3 test will be on Monday.


Until tomorrow...

11/05/09

Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts we added two new words to our Vocabulary Vine, listened to our read aloud, and started our next writing piece. We also had a bullying session with Mrs. Slater that involved watching an interesting DVD.
During computer lab time, we worked on Study Island.
Remember- It is a great idea to work on Study Island at home. This helps to reinforce both Language Arts and Math skills that will help with preparing us for the ISTEP in the spring.

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet is due on Friday
***Study spelling
***Read independently and record minutes with a parent signature
***Book orders are due on Nov. 11

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Math:
Today in Math, we completed our minute, graded our homework, worked on algebraic equations as computation review and took a quiz over measuring angles. We also started our next lesson which deals with using a straight edge and a protractor to copy angles and triangles. After a brief introduction, the students were anxious to get started. We will dive into this later in the week.

Homework:
***None

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Social Studies:
We had D.A.R.E. today.

Reminder: A study guide was sent home yesterday to help prepare for our Chapter 3 test which will be on Monday, Nov. 9. Remember to study a little each night.


Until tomorrow...

11/03/09

Tired Tuesday!

Language Arts:
This morning in language Arts we tried to fit a lot of things in before heading to double specials. In Vocabulary Vine we added two new word parts to our every growing list of new vocabulary. In class we practiced the inflected endings of ing and ed with our spelling words. We also reviewed and practiced singular and plural nouns, listened to our read a loud, and squeezed in 15 minutes of independent reading time.

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet and Weekly Assessments- Friday
***Read independently and record minutes
***Our next reading project is due in early January- Blank flip books will be provided shortly

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Math:
Today in math we completed our minute, reviewed some algebra concepts on white boards, graded our homework, and continued our discussion of angle measures, reflections, transformations, rotations, and flips. We will have a quiz tomorrow over Unit 5 concepts/skills that have been covered so far.

Homework:
***Math Boxes 5.6,5.7,5.8,5.9

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Social Studies:
Today in Social Studies we discussed 4 different Young American Indians. They were from the Taos, the Iowas and the Mahkahs. We also filled out a chart in our interactive workbook. This is a great resource for our test next Monday. Study guides were passed out today. It is a good idea to start to study early.

Homework:
***Our test is on Monday, Nov. 9

Until tomorrow...

11/02/09

Everyone looks rested after our three day weekend!

Language Arts:
Today in language Arts we covered a lot. We took our spelling pretest, discussed our new RIT words for the week. They are as follows: verse, works cited, third person point of view, understatement, and symbol. We also discussed our new vocabulary for our story of the week, listened to our read a loud and reviewed irregular plural and singular nouns. We also found a few minutes to jot down ideas about what was on our minds. We will share these things later on in the week.

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet-due Friday
***Read independently and record minutes
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Math:
Today in math we completed our minute, reviewed skills on white boards, and then jumped into our lesson for the day. The lesson today dealt with translations, reflections, and rotations of figures.

Homework:
***Journal pages 181-183
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Social Studies:
Today in Social Studies we played a review game. The students were divided into two teams. Each student wrote 3 compare/contrast questions about the American Indian groups and the regions they inhabited. This was a fun way to review their chart of facts and an excellent way to review for the test next week.

Homework:
***Chapter 3 test- Monday

Reminders:
***A note was sent home today about a D.A.R.E. Read-a-thon that we will be having. Please read the information that was sent home in blue folders.


Until tomorrow...