Monday, September 29, 2014

September 22-25

Reading:  This week for reading we focused on the 5 elements of a story.  Each day we talked about one of the elements.  We also started edmodo this week.  Have your student show you this at home. They are expected to complete edmodo in class but if they don't they can access it at home.

Cursive:  We learned the letters y, z, A, B, C and D.  They are all so excited to finish learning all the letters.  They are getting pretty good at writing the ones we have learned so far.

Writing:  We started a new opinion writing. Each student picked what animal they think is the best.  They did a quick jot and wrote down everything they know about the animal and why they think it is the best.  Then they used their chrome books to research their animal so find facts to support their opinions.

Grammar: Each group did a graffiti write on all the nouns they could think of.  Then they started categorizing them into people, places and things.  This week we are going to talk about pronouns based off of the nouns they found.

Projects:  Everyone was assigned a category.  With their group they started researching their topic 150 years ago and today.  This week they are going to use their research to start writing their papers.  We also had our field trip to the museum.  The kids were awesome!!  What a great bunch of students I have!!

If anyone is available to come in and help during projects these next few weeks that would be great. The more adult hands here to help out the better!  We do projects from about 2:30- 3:15 every day.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

field trip

Just a reminder that we are walking to the museum tomorrow.  Please make sure that your child is wearing comfortable shoes to walk in. Those of you joining us for the walk, we are leaving at 11:40 so be to the classroom by 11:30. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email or text 427-0641. Thanks!

Sunday, September 21, 2014

September 15-18

Reading: (3rd and 4th): This week we learned about first and third person point of view. We had our first Latin\Greek test. Overall they did very good! They received their new spelling words and will have a test on Thursday.  This week we will start using Edmodo.  Have your child tell you all about it.

Writing: We have almost learned how to write all of the lower case letters in cursive. We will learn the last 2 on Monday and then begin the capital letters! We finished up our ant opinion writing. We also wrote letters to our 8th grade buddies. Next week we will do another opinion writing.

Projects: We started our new project this week. It is called Back to the Future. We will be comparing how life was 150 years ago to today. We started off by exploring some things from 150 years ago. We played some games, washed clothes and sifted flour amongst other things. The favorite thing we did though was make butter! They were all so excited about doing this and asked where we got the special liquid in the jar :) We just put heavy whipping cream in a mason jar and took turns shaking. Once the butter was made we tried some on a cracker. It was yummy!

Monday, September 15, 2014

picture day

Just a reminder our class has picture day tomorrow.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

September 8-11

Reading: We started book club this week.  They will meet with me twice a week so we can discuss their books.  We will soon start using Edmodo. This is where they will complete their reading assignments.  Since I am new to Edmodo I have to wait until they can verify my account. This should only take a few days.  Until then the assignments will have to be paper pencil.  Your child should be able to get all reading assignments finished during class time if they use their time wisely.  If they don't complete an assignment in class they will then have to bring it home for homework.

We also started Latin/Greek roots this week.  We are starting with the numbers 1-4.  They will be assessed on these on Thurs. Sept. 18. 

We had our first spelling test this week. Overall most of the students did well.  When tested they have to write dictated sentences containing their spelling words.  This is to be sure that they can spell their words within context not just as a memorized list. 

Writing: We continued with our opinion writing.  

Grammar: We learned about adjectives with a fun popcorn activity. 

Projects:  We finished up our first project.  The students performed their skits for their classmates and received feedback on Monday.  On Tuesday they made any last minute corrections. On Wednesday they performed their skits for Mrs. Loop's class.  Next week we will begin a new project.


Sunday, September 7, 2014

Week 3

Reading 3rd and 4th: We continued building our stamina during Daily 5.  The students were given their spelling lists.  They will be tested on them on Thursday the 11th. For their test they will have sentences dictated to them and will be responsible for writing the sentence correctly along with spelling their words correctly.  We continued finding the antagonist, protagonist and setting in a story. We also added finding the theme and character traits.

Writing: In handwriting we learned the letters r,s,u,v,w and x.  We practiced writing words that have the letters we have learned so far. We also started our opinion writing.  I read them a book called Hey, Little Ant.  It was about a boy who was about to squish an ant.  In the story you got both the boy's point of view and the ant's point of view on whether the ant should be squished.  I then read them a nonfiction book about ants.  We learned that ants are very interesting! The students took notes while I read both books. They then had to make an opinion on whether the boy should squish the ant or not. Using their notes they had to fill out a graphic organizer that stated their opinion, had 3 reasons to support their opinion, along with evidence from our non fiction book to support their reasons.  This week we will be working on self editing and peer editing.  Their rough drafts will be due by Wednesday.

Grammar: The students worked on correcting their DOL papers. When we correct the papers they are responsible for correcting any mistake they make.  I will correct a random day of DOL each week.  We also talked about nouns, pronouns.

Projects: The students continued working on their skits. We practiced in front of Mrs. Windriver's class and received great feedback. Each group will make any corrections to their skit and be ready to perform for the 1st grade on Wednesday.

COUNT DAY is Thursday September 11. This is the only day besides Halloween that the students don't have to wear their uniforms.


Monday, September 1, 2014

Reminder

Just a reminder that we are a nut free classroom. Please make sure your child does not bring any items that contain any kind of nuts. Thanks

Week 2

Reading: We have been building stamina during Daily 5.  So far we have learned about read to self, work on writing and read with someone.  Both my third and fourth graders have done an excellent job working independently in these 3 areas.  This week we are going to start word work.  The students will be getting their spelling lists on Tuesday.  They will not have a spelling test on these words until next Thursday, September 11.  We have also been learning about protagonist, antagonist and setting.  By next week we should have Daily 5 completely up and running so I will be able to start working with groups of students.

Writing: We did an Oreo taste test to get us ready for our whole class opinion writing.  We tried berry Oreo and birthday cake.  I was surprised when berry won! As a group we went through the whole writing process. This week they will begin an independent opinion paper. We also learned 6 new letters in cursive this week.

Grammar: We practiced editing our DOL sentences.  We also focused on finding nouns and pronouns in the sentences.

Projects: The students split into groups according to what agreement they wanted to work with. Each group is now working on a skit that they will perform to the 1st graders to teach them about the tribes agreements.  This week each group will practice in front of our class and get feedback from each other.

We officially have a name for our class buddy, Camboo.  Our first student took Camboo home this weekend.  I can't wait to hear about their adventures.

If anyone would like to donate paper towels to our class that would be great. I like to have them wash their hands before lunch so paper towels would make it so we don't have to air dry! :)