2 more weeks!!

Things are winding down.  We have been doing a lot of report card assessing. Luckily we should be done with it soon, so we can move on to things that are more fun.

In projects the students are finishing up their market day products.  This week they will be working on making their posters and pricing their items. The 1st and 2nd graders are getting excited to be the consumers for our project.

The students will be taking their last spelling test on Thursday.  They all have high frequency words so they need to be studying.  

On Tuesday June 5th we will be having a Poetry Slam!  Parents are invited to come at 2:30 to watch the students recite their poems.  They have been working hard on getting their poems memorized so I hope you can make it!

Field Day is on June 7! Make  sure your student wears sunblock. There will also be a lot of water activities so count on your child getting wet!  They should come to school with a swim suit under their clothes. They should bring extra clothes to change into before we watch a movie at the end of the day.  Remember everyone is out of school that day at 2:00.

Important upcoming dates

Testing days are about to begin.  This week we will do a lot of reviewing to prepare for our tests.

Please make sure your student is at school on the following days:

Tuesday 5/1- 3rd grade ACT ELA
           - 4th grade ACT Math/Science

Wednesday 5/2- 3rd grade ACT Math/Science
             - 4th grade ACT ELA

Monday 5/7- 3rd SBAC ELA part 1
          - 4th SBAC Math part 1

Tuesday 5/8- 3rd SBAC ELA part 2
           - 4th SBAC Math part 2

Monday 5/14-3rd SBAC Math part 1
           -4th SBAC ELA part 1

Tuesday 5/15-3rd SBAC Math part 2
            -4th SBAC ELA part 2

4/9-4/12

Reading:  
3rd grade compared and contrasted the important points in two texts on the same subject. 

4th- Found cause and effect events in 2 different articles.

Both classes received new spelling words.  They will have a spelling test on 4/19.

Writing:  The students each received the same article on animal helpers.  Then some wrote a narrative paper based on the article, some wrote an opinion and some wrote an informational.  We will continue doing this for 3 weeks.  By the end of the 3 weeks they will have done one of each kind of writing.

Grammar: We are reviewing all the standards we have covered this year.  I am pulling small groups to work on specific standards.

Projects: We got ready for student led conferences. 

**Don't forget student led conferences will be on Friday April 20th anytime between 8:00 and 1:00.  These are student led so your student must be with you.  If you cannot come you can come before or after school the following week.

3/19-3/23

One more week until Spring Break!!

Reading: We focused on finding the main idea and supporting details.  They also received new Latin/Greek words on Monday and took a spelling test on Thursday.

* The students will not be getting a new spelling list unitl AFTER spring break.

Writing: We finished up the deep sea creature writing.  Come check them out in the hallway!

Grammar: We reviewed putting punctuation in dialogue.

Projects:  We continued working on our animal adaptation projects.  

Important Dates this week:
     * Wednesday March 28th @ 10:45 Music program in the High School Hangout
     * Thursday March 29th between 2:30 and 3:30- Animal Adaptation presentations in the cafeteria.

3/12- 3/15

Reading:  I continued doing reading assessments.  The students practiced Cause and Effect. They also received new spelling words and took a Latin/Greek test.

They will receive new Latin/Greek words on Monday.  

There is a Spelling Test on Thursday 3/22

Writing:  We are finishing up our Deep Sea Creatures writing.  They are turning out great!! 

Grammar:  We worked on singular and plural possessives nouns.

Projects:  The students continued working on their animal adaptation projects.

3/5- 3/8

Writing: The students continue to work on their deep sea creature writing.  We should be finishing these up next week.

Reading: We started the 2nd trimester testing.  The students got their new Latin/Greek words.  They will test on 3/15/18.

Grammar:  We worked on correctly putting commas in addresses

Projects: We continued working on our animal adaptation project.  

spelling test

Don't forget there will be a spelling test tomorrow!

1/16-1/18

Reading: This week the students received their spelling words.  Everyone will have the same words this time.  All week we practiced using these high frequency words correctly.  We will continue practicing next week. The students should also be practicing at home. There will be a test on Thursday 1/ 25.

The students took a Latin/Greek test.  I was very disappointed with how many students did not study.  I remind them daily to study for this test.  They also have the new roots in their binders to study at home.  Those that received a 1 or a 2 retook the test at the end of the day. We quickly went over the words and then they were give 10 minutes to study.  Also all of the students received a 3 after this.


Writing: The students continued working on their snow globe writing.  

Grammar:  We continued working on plural vs. possessive nouns.  This is a very hard concept but they are doing a great job understanding it.

Projects: The students continued working on their weather projects. 


* Snack: Every day I have at least 5 students who tell me they do not have a snack.  I am no longer bringing extra snacks for students. Please make sure your student brings a snack for the morning and one for the afternoon.

2/5-2/8

Reminder:  Your child may bring in a Valentine for each student in the class.  Please only fill out the from section of the card. I will provide the treat for the Valentine party. 


Writing: The students are each researching a deep sea creature.  I love this writing assignment  because these creatures are all so unique!

Reading: We continued learning about text feature.  This week we focused on pictures and captions. 

The students received their new Latin/Greek words.  We will test on these on Thursday 2/15.

The students did a great job on their spelling tests!  

Grammar: The students learned about shades of meaning with related words.  We also reviewed parts of speech, quotation marks and irregular nouns.

Project:  We started our animal adaptation project.  The students will each create the ultimate animal to survive in a specific habitat.  We read about the 4 different habitats.  The students each got to pick which habitat they wanted their animal to be in. We then read about animal hands/feet.  The students filled out a note taker picking which animal hands/feet they want their animal to have.  

1/29-2/1

** We need shoe boxes for our next project.  If you have 1 or 2 you could send in that would be very helpful.  Also if you have any magazines with animals in them that you could donate to our classroom that would be great!


Reading: This week we started reading non-fiction.  We introduced the text features title, subtitle, heading and subheading.  

The students also received their spelling words.  Their test will be on 2/8.

3rd Graders: They did a great job on their work this week.  They took their time and went back and found their answers in the text.  I was very proud of their work ethic! 

4th Graders:  This week the 4th graders did not take their work seriously.  Out of the entire class only 3 turned in their work completed correctly.  The others had to get their work back to fix.  Some of them had to fix it 3 or 4 times before getting it correct.  If they go back and use their text to find their answers they would not have this problem.  Starting this week, if a student turns in his/her work the first time and misses enough problems to earn a 1 on the assignment I will be sending it home for a parent signature.  They will still be required to fix their work and turn it back in.  This work in not too hard for them, they just don't want to take the time to read carefully and go back and find their answers.

Writing:  The students had a narrative assessment.  They had to write a narrative story about missing Valentines.

Grammar:  We worked on subject/verb agreement.

Projects:  We finished up our weather projects and presented to the 2nd grade.

1/8- 1/11

Reading: 

3rd: The students practiced using context clues to determine the meaning of an unknown word.

4th: The students compared and contrasted the same story using multi media.

Writing: The students are writing a narrative about being stuck in a snow globe.

Grammar: We started learning about possessive nouns.  

Projects: We started our severe weather projects. The students are are working together with students in Mrs. Luyt's class. I love when we are able to do this!