10/25/10

It is Red Ribbon Week and Northpoint stars say "No" to drugs!

Language Arts:

Today was a busy Monday in Room 24. Right after double specials we took our spelling pretest, reviewed our new RIT vocabulary, discussed our seven story vocabulary words, listened to a chapter in our read a loud, and jumped into plural possessives during our grammar lesson. What a busy morning!

Homework:
***Weekly homework and assessments will be given on Thursday this week due to our day off on Friday.
***Be sure to ask your child about this second nine weeks reading project. They should have a detailed packet that came home on Friday of last week. This grading period we will be working on a biography project.

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Math:
Today in math we completed a minute and worked on multiplying and dividing decimals as practice on white boards. The students were then placed in their work groups to work on a practice test for our Unit 9 test which will be tomorrow.

Homework:
***Finish the practice test. We will go over the last page tomorrow before the test. You should also work on multiplying and dividing decimals. You will see some of these kinds of problems on the test as well.

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Social Studies:(Suddarth)
We took the last of our tour today. We learned about the Washington D.C. area, its buildings and several of the monuments that exist there. We also talked about the importance of laws and rules and the three branches of government that we have in the United States that make and enforce our laws that we have today.

Homework:
***None- This is the last day that we will have Social Studies this week due to two assemblies that will be held in the afternoon. It looks like our Chapter 4 test will be two weeks from tomorrow. A study guide will be coming home soon.

Until tomorrow...

10/21/10

Language Arts:
Our time today was spent working on our grammar skill of the week, switching for Vocabulary Vine,listening to our read a loud, and working on a writing prompt.

Homework:
***Weekly homework packet
***Parents, did you receive your email today regarding our Odyssey program? It is an excellent computer program that allows students to practice on skills geared to their specific needs. Check it out!

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Math:
Today was our day in the computer lab to spend time working on Odyssey. After that, we spent time working on multiplying and dividing decimals.

Homework:
***None

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Social Studies:(Suddarth)
Today we spent time aboard a train visiting various places in the Northeast region. We visited Boston, Plymouth and the most favorite of all, Hershey Pennsylvania. While in Pennsylvania, we learned about the concept of mass production. The students interacted with each other in a production line where they worked together to wrap candy. They learned quickly that cooperation was the key to a successful assembly line. We will continue on our journey on Monday. All Aboard!

Until tomorrow...

10/20/10

Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts we finished up the last of our commercial presentations, switched for Vocabulary Vine, completed a word sort with our spelling words, reviewed both story vocabulary and RIT vocabulary as well as work on possessives. Be sure to practice possessives at home this week. They are a difficult concept to grasp!

Homework:
***Study RIT words- This is an ongoing thing. We can't "forget" the words we knew just last week.
***Weekly homework packet-due Friday

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Math:
Today we reviewed on white boards and worked on the lesson of the day which was multiplying decimals.

Homework:
***Math Boxes 9.7 and 9.8

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Social Studies:(Doms)
Today we boarded the train on a tour of the Northeast region. We started our journey in Maine, traveled to Mt. Washington and then on to Plymouth. So far, this has been an exciting ride! We have several other places to visit and sites to learn about. All Aboard!

Homework:
***Chapter 3 tests were passed back today.

Until tomorrow...

10/19/10

Language Arts:
It was another busy day trying to get through all of our reading project presentations. We have only one more left to present and a short commercial D.V.D. to watch. I am impressed with them so far!

In grammar we worked on possessives with both singular and plural nouns. This is always confusing so we will practice a bit more tomorrow.

Homework:
***Grammar book-p. 52

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Math:
Today we completed our minute, graded our homework, worked on computation on white boards, and jumped into our lesson of the day. Today we worked on comparing population data. This was great practice for reviewing percents. The lesson tomorrow will focus on multiplying with decimals.

Math was cut short today due to a bus safety drill.

Homework:
***No homework-We are, however, having a test over Unit 9 next week sometime.

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Social Studies:
We did not have a regular Social Studies class due to the bus safety drill. Instead, we reread chapter 4 and discussed it as a class.

Reminders:
***Tomorrow is picture retakes.

Until tomorrow...

10/18/10

Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts we started off in double specials. Next, we completed our spelling pretest, reviewed our new RIT vocabulary words, discussed our story vocabulary and listened to our story on tape. We ended our morning by listening to about seven reading project commercials. We will fit them in tomorrow and on Wednesday as well. (I can't wait to read their books... Yummy!)

Homework:
***Weekly homework packet- due Friday
***Read! Read!- We are gearing up for our next reading project soon.

Reminders:
***Picture retakes are on Wednesday.

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Math:
Today in math we completed our minute, practiced a variety of computation skills on white boards, and then discussed are at home surveys that we completed last week. As a class, we found the percentage of "Yes" answers out of a specific number of responses. This was great practice and I heard a lot of helpful information being shared as the students worked in their work groups.

Homework:
***Get quiz signed
***Math Box 9.6
***Study Link 9.5 and 9.6

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Social Studies:(Suddarth)
Today we boarded our train and departed on a journey through the Northeast region. We started our journey in Maine and made a few stops along the way. We stopped long enough to take notes in our Interactive Student Notebook and to collaborate with our peers about choosing a ruling body. We will continue with this lesson on Thursday.

Until tomorrow...

10/14/10

Language Arts:
Today was a productive day. We prepared for our grammar test tomorrow by working on white boards and completing a page in our workbooks that deals with both regular and irregular singular and plural nouns. We also discussed parts of a book and the following terms: glossary, table of contents, title page, index, front coverand back cover. We also met with our reading buddies and switched for Vocabulary Vine.

Homework:
***Weekly homework sheet is due tomorrow
***Reading projects are due on Monday. Be sure to start practicing your two-minute commercial.
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Math:
Today was our first day to work on our new computer program called Odyssey. This program was amazing! The students were able to work in different individualized folders based on their own RIT score and their areas of need. The computer lab was silent and I heard many positive comments. Once we get everything finalized, the students will be able to access it from home. We also found some time to complete a minute and complete two standard assessments.

Homework:
***Finish page 342(Journal) and Math Box 9.5

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Social Studies:(Suddarth)
Today we started chapter 4. We are taking a train ride through the Northeast region of the United States. We spent our time today working on geography questions by using a map of the Northeast.

Be looking for our chapter 3 tests to be coming home in folders tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

10/13/10

Busy! Busy! Busy

Language Arts:

Homeowrk:
***Handwriting- Pages 24, 25, 26
***Study vocabulary and RIT words

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Math:

Homework:
***Math Box 9.3 and 9.4
***Study Link 9.4

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Social Studies:

Homework:
***None

10/12/10

Language Arts:
After Library, we spent time completing our RIT vocabulary test.( I have these graded and they look great!) We then worked on spelling by completing a worksheet that sorted our spelling words into different consonant clusters. During our writing block, we discussed quatrains. Believe it or not, the students had a blast working on these and coming up with several on their own by using one of the four rhyme schemes. After that, we were off to Vocabulary Vine.

Homework:
***Finish your quatrains if you did not finish them in class.
***Reading Projects are due on Oct. 18.

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Math:
During math class we completed our minute, graded our homework, worked a few computation practice problems, and started our next lesson. The new lesson had us converting from fractions to decimals and then to percents by using a calculator. We did a lot of practice on white boards with this.

Homework:
***None

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Social Studies:(Suddarth)
***We took our Chapter 3 test today. When students were finished, they started to preview the next chapter.

Homework:
***None

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Reminder:
***Mrs. Dom's homeroom has their Social Studies class tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

10/11/10

What a busy day!

Language Arts:
Even though we had double specials today, we still were busy in class. We spent quite a bit of time on grammar . We reviewed the spelling rules from last week that dealt with singular and plural nouns and learned about a few new rules today. We practiced a lot on white boards which seemed to help if the students could visually see it.

In reading, we discussed our story vocabulary . The words this week are temples, overjoyed, preserve, heritage, and dynasties. We did not have time to read the story yet, although it is very short.

We reviewed quite extensively for our RIT test. Because of the review, I postponed the test until tomorrow. I figured an extra day of studying never hurts. We also added five new words this week. (Please refer to their red binders for the new words.)

Homework:
***RIT test tomorrow
***Reading projects are due one week from today!
***Weekly homework packet-due Friday

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Math:
Today we worked on computation and took two short standard assessments. We then jumped into our next lesson which dealt with changing "easy' fractions to decimals and percents.

Homework:
***Math Boxes and Study Links 9.1 and 9.2( A lot of time was given in class to complete this assignment.)

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Social Studies:(Doms)
***Today we worked in group and developed lyrics to a song about one of the five groups that came to the America's. The song had to be to the tune of "This Land is my Land" and explain why they came and what they contributed to the United States. This was a fun activity!
We also played a review game to prepare for our test which is on Wednesday.

Homework:
***Study your study guide for the test- Wednesday

Reminders:
***My homeroom has their test tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

10/10/10

Friday was a busy day!

Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts, we took all of our usual assessments, listened to our read a loud, switched for Vocabualry Vine, played a game to review for our RIT vocabulary test on Monday, and spent some time typing our Diamante poems.

Reminders:
***Reading projects are due on Oct. 18. If they are finished early, they may be brought into school.
***Study for the RIT test
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Math:
After computation practice, we jumped right into our next unit. This unit deals with fractions, decimals, and percents. We have already started to work on this during our computation time, so I feel that this unit is going to be fairly "easy".

Homework:
***Get Unit 8 tests signed

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Social Studies:(Suddarth)
Today we worked with our table groups to come up with song lyrics to describe one of the groups that came to the United States, how they settled, and what they contributed to the United States as we know it today. The tunes were set to the tune of "This Land is My Land". They were VERY good! I even heard a few tunes being "taught" in the coatroom at the end of the day. What a great way to learn! We also played a game of "Slap it" to review for our Chapter 3 test which will be on Tuesday for my homeroom class.

Until tomorrow...

10/7/10

Is it really October? It sure is nice outside!

Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts we met with our reading buddies, listened to a chapter in our read a loud and reviewed our RIT words. We also focused on using our spelling words in sentences, finding synonyms for them, and sorting them by their consonant clusters. We also worked on singular and plural noun forms. Lastly, we learned about what a primary source was and read a short oral history along with answering some questions about it.

Homework:
***We will have a RIT vocabulary quiz on Monday. Be sure to study.
***Weekly homework packet is due tomorrow
***Reading projects are due on Oct. 18. You should be finished reading your approved book and working on your project. Are you working on you project?

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Math:
We spent half of our class time in the computer lab working on Study Island. Next Thursday we should be all set up in the lab to work on our new Odyssey program that we are all excited about. After our lab time, we worked on a variety of review skills on white boards while others were finishing up their Unit 8 test. We will start Unit 9 tomorrow. Unit 9 deals with fractions, decimals, and percents.

Homework:
***None

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Social Studies:
***My homeroom had Art Smart for the first time and were they ever excited! Today we learned about the life of Vincent Van Gogh and created a watercolor with a silhouette. Thank you to Mrs. Grocock, Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Al-Ani, Mrs. Iapalucci, and Mrs. Coughlin for a great lesson!

Remember:
***My homeroom class has their Chapter 3 test on Tuesday. We will review tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

10/6/10

What a beautiful day!

Language Arts:
Today was a productive one. After specials, we got busy working on our grammar skill of the week which is singular and plural nouns with their specific spelling rules. We also worked on putting commas in sentences with a series of nouns. We finished up our grammar time by working on a page in our workbook that deals with mechanics. We started p. 42 which is homework if it was not completed during our class time.

During our handwriting time, we worked on joining letters together using both the under curve and the down ward curve. I am still impressed with how beautiful their cursive is already! We worked on pages 20-23. These are also homework if they were not completed in class.

During our writing portion of our morning, the students were asked to complete their diamante poetry that we started on Friday. While some students started typing these, others were just finishing them up. I can't wait to display these soon.

We ended our morning with listening to a chapter in our read aloud and reviewing the RIT words. The students will be told tomorrow that they will have a quiz over them on Monday.

Homework:
***Weekly- due Friday
***Handwriting- Pages 20-23(If not finished in class)
***Grammar-Page 42- (If this was not finished in class)
***Do you know your story vocabulary and new RIT words for this week?

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Math:
*** We took our Unit 8 math test today.

Homework:
***None

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Social Studies:(Dom's)
Today in Social Studies we put our class collage together to show how all the different people made the United States what it is today. We also read the Reading Further section in our books and the students were given a Chapter 3 study guide to start filling in the answers. Their test will be next Wednesday, Oct. 13.

Social Studies:
***Our Chapter 3 test is in one week. Start studying a little each night.

Until tomorrow...

10/5/2010

Language Arts:
Today in Language Arts we took our Reading MAP test. This was necessary in order to utilize our new Odyssey program. This program seems amazing! It will allow students to work at their own level. We are all excited about it!

We also took some time to review the RIT vocabulary for the week, work on our grammar skill, and to switch for Vocabulary Vine.

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet
***Conference forms are due back as soon as possible. Thanks!
***Reading projects are due on Oct. 18

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Math:
We finished up our math MAP test today and practiced area and perimeter for our Unit 8 test which will be tomorrow.

Homework:
***Go over the study guide for our test tomorrow

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Social Studies:(Suddarth)
***Today we finished our last group of people that settled in the United States. We put together all of our collage pieces into one United States collage and discussed how all of us form a diverse nation! We also read the Summary and the Reading Further section and started filling out our study guide for our Chapter 3 test.

Homework:
***Study the study guide that was passed out today. Our test is one week from today.

Until tomorrow...

10/4/2010

Remember those jackets! Recess was a bit chilly today!

Language Arts:
We started off our morning with double specials. After that, we went right to work. We took our spelling pretest and discussed the meanings of our new story vocabulary. Our words this week are:
overheard, opportunities, border, unions, strikes, citizen and boycotts. Be sure to talk about these words as you read the story together this week. Our story is titled My Diary From Here to There. This week we will be focusing on the comprehension skills of drawing conclusions, making inferences, and generating questions.

Our RIT words for this week are as follows:
Consonance-The repetition of consonant sounds. Although it is similar to alliteration, consonance is not limited to the first letters.
Irony- An expression in which the author says one thing but means just the opposite.
Anecdote- A short story used to make a point
Parallelism- Repeating similar words or phrases to give writing rhythm
Allusion- A reference to a familiar person, place, thing or event

During our grammar portion of the morning, we focused on our new skill. This week we will be working on singular and plural nouns. Be on the look out for the ones that have special plural forms and special spelling patterns...

Homework:
***Weekly Homework Packet is due Friday
***Book projects are due in two weeks! Every student should have their approved book read and be working on their project. Be sure to follow the guidelines that were sent home at the beginning of the grading period regarding the cereal box.
***Parent/Teacher conference forms were sent home today. Be sure to look for them in blue folders. Please return the bottom portion of the form back to school as soon as possible.

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Math:
Today we worked on a practice test for our Unit 8 test. We will have our Unit 8 test on Wednesday. This test mainly covers area and perimeter but a review of other skills will also be included.

Homework:
***Complete the practice test for tomorrow
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Social Studies:(Doms)
Today we discussed several of the five groups that we have been studying that made the United States what it is today. We read together, put up our collage pieces, and filled out our Interactive Student Notebook. We will continue with this chapter throughout the week. Our Chapter 3 test will be early next week. Start studying now!

Homework:
***Start reading the chapter again in preparation for our test next week.

Until tomorrow...