Thursday, Thursday...

So much to do, so little time!

LA: We had a great review of plural nouns today as well as working with word meanings and the history of words.  We also had a great visit with our reading buddies and squeezed in time for handwriting and practice with fact and opinion.

HW: Weekly homework is due tomorrow.  Dont' forget that reading projects are due Monday.

Math: We jumped into unit 4 today, which had us working with decimals.  We spent a lot of time talking about tenths, hundredths and thousandths.

HW: Math box and study link 4.1 are due tomorrow.  Math tests were passed back today.


Social Studies: (Woods) We had a great time listening to our songs that were created to review the five major groups of people who came to America.  We have some great singers!  We also started working in chapter 4, which has us taking a "train ride" through the Northeastern part of our country.

HW: None

Terrific Tuesday!

The weather is holding out!  I don't even mind recess duty on days like today!  :)

LA: On any given day, 2 hours and 15 minutes seems like a good chunk of time...it's just never enough for our mornings together.  We jumped right into grammar when the students returned from music, working more with plural and singular nouns.  We did many examples together on the overhead and white boards as well.  We also worked with our spelling words, sorting them and using context clues to fit them into a paragraph.  Many of us continued our work on the Quatrain poems that were started on Friday of last week.  We introduced two new start cards during Vocabulary Vine and had some DEAR time as well.  Busy as normal!

HW: Weekly homework is due on Friday.  Cereal Box Reading Projects are due on Monday!!!

Rubric for Cereal Box Project

1. Was your book approved by the due date-5 pts.

2. Did you hand in your project on time? - 10 pts.

3. Is your cereal box neat, colorful, and attractive? -15 pts.

4. Is the front of the box complete and thoughtfully done? -15pts.

5. Is the back of the box complete and thoughtfully done? -15 pts.

6. Is the right side complete and accurate? -10 pts.

7. Is the left side complete and accurate? -10 pts.

8. Is the top complete and accurate? -5 pts.

9. Are there spelling, punctuation, and grammar correct? -10 pts.

10. Was your commercial informative and interesting? -10 pts.

Math: We had a practice test/Review Day today in preparation for tomorrow's unit 3 test.

HW: Math box 3.11 and study for the test!

Social Studies: (Woods) The chapter 3 test was given today.

HW: None

Another Busy Day!

I hope everyone enjoyed the summer-like weekend, we had lots of fun at the Zoo and Apple Picking!!!

Language Arts:
We started out our time together by taking the RIT word quiz!  We also took our spelling pretest and organized our homework.  In Grammar, we reviewed nouns and talked about uncommon plural spellings. Our story this week is Focus on China.  We introduced our story vocabulary: temples, dynasties, heritage, preserve, and overjoyed.  We discussed our comprehension strategy, fact and opinion.  We discussed strong adjectives and other clue phrases that help us identify opinions.

Our Rit Words for the week are:

Declarative sentence - A statement.  (The fluffy dog barked at the fence.)
Imperative sentence - A command (Please let the dog inside.)
Interrogative sentence - A question (Who does the dog belong to?)
Exclamatory sentence - An exclamation (The dog scared me!!)
Appendix - Found in books, contains extra information like maps, tables, lists etc.










 HW: Weekly homework is due on Friday.  Reading Projects (Cereal Boxes) are due on Monday!)

Math~

Today we discussed open sentences.  An open sentence contains a variable ( a letter in math).  When you solve for the variable you find the solution.  For example 24/A =6 is an open sentence. A=4 is the solution.  The solution always makes the number sentence true. 

HW: Finish pages 74-75, Math box 3.11 and Study Link 3.11 are due tomorrow


Social Studies: (Grannan)
We continued our work on the song lyrics reviewing the five groups of people who made contributions to the early Americas.  We also played a review game of chapter 3 concepts in preparation for Wednesdays test.


HW: Test over chapter 3 will be given on Wednesday.

Where Are These Weeks Going???

Time is FLYING by...I can't believe we are at the end of another week!

LA: We had our usual assessments this morning, in addition to working on more poetry.  Our poems this week were Quatrains...which have four lines and some sort of rhyming scheme.  It was fun to read the poems and explore their AABB, ABBA, ABAB, and ABCB rhyming patterns.

HW: RIT quiz will be given on Monday.

Math: We rotated through three centers today.  We enjoyed practicing multiplication facts by playing Multiplication Baseball, working on a variety of topics on Study Island and lastly, working with the Top It game.

HW: None


Social Studies: (Woods) We continued our work on our songs today and also played a great review game for Tuesday's test.

HW: Chapter 3 test will be given on Tuesday for Woods' Class.

I hope everyone enjoys this beautiful weekend.  Go Irish!

Welcoming Wednesday!

We had a lot of "Welcoming" to do today!  We first welcomed Mrs. Helman into our classroom.  She is currently taking classes at IUSB, in the education department.  She will be with us for the next several Wednesdays, both observing and teaching some lessons!  We were super impressed when she could recite everyone's names after the first hour of Language Arts!

We also welcomed in Mrs. King, Mrs. Marsh and Mrs. Stevens today for Art Smart.  We had an awesome time learning about Pablo Picasso and all of the crazy art he created in his lifetime.  Be on the look out for our projects soon!

LA: Another busy morning.  We continued to review plural nouns and their spelling during our grammar minute, as well as talking about the proper placement of commas in a sentence.  We spent some time sorting our spelling words by their sounds and using them to complete sentences. We played a review game for our RIT words (to help practice for Monday's quiz) and found out that many of us need to be studying these very important words more closely!  :/ We also continued to work on writing skills, by writing a Welcome To Northpoint letter to Mrs. Helman.  She certainly enjoyed the advice (that showed up from many friends) to stay away from the "Mac and glue" in the cafeteria!  :)  Last but not least, we spent some time writing our third diary entry.

HW: Finish letter to Mrs. Helman, letter/card to Jaylan, and diary entry #3 for tomorrow.  Book orders are also due tomorrow.  Weekly homework is due Friday, like normal.  RIT word quiz will be given on Monday.

Math: We spent a few minutes on maps and how to use map scales today.  Since we all did well with that skill, we moved right onto to number sentences and distinguishing between those that are true and those that aren't.

HW: Page 69 in journals, math box and study link 3.9 are all due tomorrow.  A look ahead-Unit 3 math test will be given next Wednesday.

Social Studies: No Social Studies today due to Art Smart

HW: Woods' class will be having their chapter 3 test next Tuesday and Grannan's class will be having their test next Wednesday.

Terrific Tuesday!

LA: We had a busy morning.  We have received the great news that we will be receiving the Odyssey program for Language Arts as well as Math, therefore, we took some time today to take the Reading MAP test so that we can make the best use of that program for each student!  The Odyssey programs will replace the old Renaissance Programs that we have had in the past.  We also reviewed singular and plural nouns in grammar, as well as common and proper nouns, too.  We made time for our next diary entry, (we're doing one each day this week to help us understand the character's motives from our story) and worked on our Diamonte Poems that were started on Friday.

HW: Finish Diamante Poems, diary entry #2 and continue to work on weekly homework.


Math: Problem solving!  We had a great time learning how to properly go through the process of solving problems.  We learned that it's important to fully understand the problem, get rid of the unnecessary information, gather together a plan to solve and finally make it happen.

HW: Math box and study link 3.8 are due tomorrow.

Social Studies: (Woods) We finished up with our Asian American groups pictures today and finished reading all the sections in chapter 3.  We also made it through the Reading Further section.  Partners began their work on 5 song verses about the groups of people we have been learning about in this chapter.

HW: Study guides for the chapter 3 test were passed out today.  The test will be given next Tuesday.

Welcome back to school.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.

The Make-A-Wish Golf Outing and Silent Auction was an AMAZING success! Thank you so much for all of your support.

Art Smart is this Wednesday!

Language Arts

Book orders are due on Wednesday. 

Mondays are always busy days as we introduce the vocabulary and skills that we will be reviewing throughout the week.  Today the students went to IMC and music.  We came back to class and got straight to work.  We took our spelling pretest and got our homework for the week together.  Our grammar skill of the week is singular (single) and plural (plenty) nouns.
We then introduced our story vocabulary:  overheard, opportunities, border, unions, strikes, citizen and boycotts.  Our comprehension skills for the week are generating questions and making inferences.  Our story is My Diary from Here to There.

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

HW:  Weekly Work and Diary Entry #1


Math: We had a great trip to Egypt today.  We had many great discussions as we started the "World Tour" section of our Math book.  A lot of information was read and shared about this country.


HW: Math box and study link 3.6 are due tomorrow.


Social Studies: (Grannan) We all came together today to teach one another about the early groups that came to America.  It's always fun to learn from one another.


HW: A look ahead...the chapter 3 test is scheduled for next Wednesday, 10/13!