Math
We are finishing Chapter 4 this week with our final lesson of subtracting with zeroes. We had a review day on Tuesday and we will be having our assessment on Wednesday. Students are bringing their JAMs home to study Tuesday night. The assessment will cover adding and subtracting 3 and 4 digit numbers. Students have been reminded to check all of their work and to check and make sure they have answered every question before turning in any assessment.
Social Studies
Last week we started our Pirate Map project. The students have created their own islands, a map title, a map key and symbols for their map key. They will be working this week on making their final copy of their map. Students will also mark the spot on their map where a treasure is buried and then write out directions to get to the buried treasure.
Science
We are going to be moving into Science next and learning about animals. The students will be doing research on an animal of their choice and making a Google slideshow that includes these animal facts. In school we will be using the website Pebblego to help us complete our research. At home students will be making an animal habitat shadowbox, information about this project will be coming home later in the week.
ELA
We will be finishing the chapter book Stories Julian Tells and having a comprehension assessment when it is complete. On Friday we had our first vocabulary assessment. We discussed study strategies that would be helpful as well as reviewing what synonyms and antonyms are. I have set up a Google classroom where I will post Quizlet links to help students practice their vocabulary words through a variety of games and activities. The students were shown how to find the Google classroom, it is important that students are logged into their account when going to Google classroom. We are also reviewing similes and moving on to metaphors. We also will be working on creating compound sentences.
We had a popcorn celebration on Friday after we finished our Popcorn Writing. Students were treated to a popcorn snack.
Upcoming dates:
Current Events due: October 13
No School: October 14
End of the grading period: October 20
No School: October 21
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Monday, September 19, 2016
September 19, 2016
Our Math assessment went really well last week, all students received either an A or B. We are moving on to addition and subtraction of 3 and 4 digit numbers. We will have the assessment for this chapter next week. During Math Daily 3 the students are participating in small group centers as well as larger group instruction. These groupings allow the students to practice current and previously learned skills as well as have more small group instruction time when new skills are introduced.
This week we will continue our novel study of The Stories Julian Tells looking for similes through the text. We will also be moving on to metaphors. In grammar we are looking at types of sentences (questions, statements, commands, exclamations) as well as simple and compound sentences. Compound words will also be introduced this week. Please continue to study spelling words at home, the students are doing daily Word Work practice with their spelling words at school but reviewing them at home is helpful. If I see that students are consistently falling at 75% or lower on their spelling tests I will be assigning some additional Word Work practice. Our first vocabulary test will be this week and will be over the first 10 vocabulary words. All students brought home the first list last week and the new list of five words will go home today. They will also bring home their Vocabulary Journals this week to study.
In Social Studies we will continue working on mapping skills through a Pirate Island mapping activity. Students will get the opportunity to create their own island map using the mapping skills we have been learning in class.
In Writer's Workshop we have been working on ways to come up with ideas for writing true stories (narratives). The students have practiced this in their Writing Workshop Journals and have been working on building their writing stamina. This week we will introduce using transition words to enhance our writing.
This week we will continue our novel study of The Stories Julian Tells looking for similes through the text. We will also be moving on to metaphors. In grammar we are looking at types of sentences (questions, statements, commands, exclamations) as well as simple and compound sentences. Compound words will also be introduced this week. Please continue to study spelling words at home, the students are doing daily Word Work practice with their spelling words at school but reviewing them at home is helpful. If I see that students are consistently falling at 75% or lower on their spelling tests I will be assigning some additional Word Work practice. Our first vocabulary test will be this week and will be over the first 10 vocabulary words. All students brought home the first list last week and the new list of five words will go home today. They will also bring home their Vocabulary Journals this week to study.
In Social Studies we will continue working on mapping skills through a Pirate Island mapping activity. Students will get the opportunity to create their own island map using the mapping skills we have been learning in class.
In Writer's Workshop we have been working on ways to come up with ideas for writing true stories (narratives). The students have practiced this in their Writing Workshop Journals and have been working on building their writing stamina. This week we will introduce using transition words to enhance our writing.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
September 12, 2016
Well I think we made it through one of the hottest weeks!
After classroom activities and work I did not have the class do the math assessment for Chapter 1 on Friday. We did some review activities today and clarified some questions so I believe we are ready for the Chapter test tomorrow, September 13. All of the students brought home their JAM over the weekend to review and they are bringing it home again tonight to review. Following the assessment we will be starting Chapter 2 which is about addition and subtraction.
This week we are working on similes in the classroom. In honor of 9/11 we watched a very child friendly video that highlights heroes rather than the tragedy of 9/11. We read a story called Fireboat, which is about a decommissioned fireboat that is put back into action to help put out fires that regular fire trucks could not reach at the Twin Towers. We then brainstormed a list of words that describe what a hero is to us and then used those words to write similes. We have also been working on synonyms and did a group Cinnamon Synonym Activity. This week we will continue reading the chapter book The Stories Julian Tells and finding the similes in each story. We will also practice using context clues to help determine the meaning of new words. This week we will begin vocabulary and a list of vocabulary words will come home today. Each week the students will learn 5 new vocabulary words that are based on words that they are likely to see during their reading. In the classroom we have a vocabulary journal and in our journal we are writing sentences, definitions, synonyms and antonyms for each word. The vocabulary journal also contains a picture dictionary section and a WOW word section. The WOW word is a word study in root words, prefixes, and suffixes. The word study will allow the students to use the different word parts to determine the meaning of the word which will help in their comprehension and vocabulary development while reading. The students will be tested every two weeks on vocabulary which will include 2 vocabulary lists for a total of 10 words. Please have your child read over the list each night so that the definitions are very familiar to them when it comes time to have the test.
In Social Studies we are continuing to learn about maps and map skills. After reviewing all of the parts of the map and the different types of maps we will make our own map and an island of our own creation.
Reminders:
Please continue to have your child read and do math minutes. The first math/reading logs are due on October 1st and they will get a new one for the month of October on that date also.
New spelling words and vocabulary words were sent home with students on Monday.
Wednesday, September 14th is picture day at Chippewa.
If your child brings in something orange and places it on my desk without telling other students they will earn 2 extra tickets.
After classroom activities and work I did not have the class do the math assessment for Chapter 1 on Friday. We did some review activities today and clarified some questions so I believe we are ready for the Chapter test tomorrow, September 13. All of the students brought home their JAM over the weekend to review and they are bringing it home again tonight to review. Following the assessment we will be starting Chapter 2 which is about addition and subtraction.
This week we are working on similes in the classroom. In honor of 9/11 we watched a very child friendly video that highlights heroes rather than the tragedy of 9/11. We read a story called Fireboat, which is about a decommissioned fireboat that is put back into action to help put out fires that regular fire trucks could not reach at the Twin Towers. We then brainstormed a list of words that describe what a hero is to us and then used those words to write similes. We have also been working on synonyms and did a group Cinnamon Synonym Activity. This week we will continue reading the chapter book The Stories Julian Tells and finding the similes in each story. We will also practice using context clues to help determine the meaning of new words. This week we will begin vocabulary and a list of vocabulary words will come home today. Each week the students will learn 5 new vocabulary words that are based on words that they are likely to see during their reading. In the classroom we have a vocabulary journal and in our journal we are writing sentences, definitions, synonyms and antonyms for each word. The vocabulary journal also contains a picture dictionary section and a WOW word section. The WOW word is a word study in root words, prefixes, and suffixes. The word study will allow the students to use the different word parts to determine the meaning of the word which will help in their comprehension and vocabulary development while reading. The students will be tested every two weeks on vocabulary which will include 2 vocabulary lists for a total of 10 words. Please have your child read over the list each night so that the definitions are very familiar to them when it comes time to have the test.
In Social Studies we are continuing to learn about maps and map skills. After reviewing all of the parts of the map and the different types of maps we will make our own map and an island of our own creation.
Reminders:
Please continue to have your child read and do math minutes. The first math/reading logs are due on October 1st and they will get a new one for the month of October on that date also.
New spelling words and vocabulary words were sent home with students on Monday.
Wednesday, September 14th is picture day at Chippewa.
If your child brings in something orange and places it on my desk without telling other students they will earn 2 extra tickets.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
This week we will be diving into our first chapter book as a class, Stories Julian Tells. This book contains many silly stories that the character, Julian, tells and it is perfect for the introduction of similes which we will be studying this week. We will also use this book to highlight and practice several of the CAFE strategies that were introduced last week. The students have built good stamina during Read to Self and we will be adding Work on Writing as a choice during our rounds of Daily 5. Other skills that we will be working on include similes and sentence fragments (subject/predicate). On Friday each student received a Math and Reading log for the month that included an attached letter explaining the expectations. The students were also told that this should go in their homework folder so that I can spot check their logs to make sure they are continuing to work on their reading and math minutes. If students read more than the required number of minutes for the month they will be rewarded with additional tickets in the classroom. Please encourage them to do some reading and math each night and to not try to to squeeze in the needed minutes the last few days of the month. The reading and math logs are part of their reading and math grades. They will receive a new log on the first of the month when they turn in the logs for the previous month.
We are continuing to work on Unit 1 Place Value in Math. This week we introduced rounding numbers to the tens and next week we will work more on rounding numbers to the hundreds. I currently believe we will have this unit assessment on Friday, September 6. If for some reason I feel the children are not ready for the assessment by Friday I will change the date.
New spelling words are coming home today along with a list of ideas for practicing spelling words at home. Students practice their words each day at school in their Word Work Journal but they should also review them each night at home. Word work Journals are checked on Fridays and the students are given credit for their work and spelling tests are on Fridays.
While we continue to learn the classroom routines please take a moment to remind your child that "if it's not their turn to talk it is their turn to listen." This is important all day in every class they are in throughout their school day.
Reminders:
Each night the only papers that should be removed from the student's DOT are those that are in the mail pocket. The papers that are in the other pocket sections are ones that we are currently using in the classroom and should not be removed, if they are removed your student will not have what they need the next day at school.
We are continuing to work on Unit 1 Place Value in Math. This week we introduced rounding numbers to the tens and next week we will work more on rounding numbers to the hundreds. I currently believe we will have this unit assessment on Friday, September 6. If for some reason I feel the children are not ready for the assessment by Friday I will change the date.
New spelling words are coming home today along with a list of ideas for practicing spelling words at home. Students practice their words each day at school in their Word Work Journal but they should also review them each night at home. Word work Journals are checked on Fridays and the students are given credit for their work and spelling tests are on Fridays.
While we continue to learn the classroom routines please take a moment to remind your child that "if it's not their turn to talk it is their turn to listen." This is important all day in every class they are in throughout their school day.
Reminders:
Each night the only papers that should be removed from the student's DOT are those that are in the mail pocket. The papers that are in the other pocket sections are ones that we are currently using in the classroom and should not be removed, if they are removed your student will not have what they need the next day at school.
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