Friday, November 11, 2016

                                   

	Happy Veteran’s Day. In honor of our veterans, the classes read the book The Wall by Eve Bunting and created poems and/or letters for local veterans. We are grateful for their service.
Subject	Learning Targets and Activities for week of:  11/7 - 11/11
Reading	Students have done a great job finding the difference between a topic, main idea, and supporting details in informational text. We have also discussed using context clues to help us determine the meaning of unknown words. Next week, we will be writing summaries using nonfiction text. We use a strategy called Sponge Summary. Student keep-delete-substitute-write. Students look for words that are used over and over again that are relevant to the text. Delete unnecessary words, substitute words one or two words that can be grouped together, then write their summary. Students will take a mini-summative before Thanksgiving break on the nonfiction skills we have learned. Homework: Read for 20 minutes each night.
Writing	Students have been learning about writing an introduction to their informational writing. We looked at several writing pieces and compared how authors hook their readers into a writing piece. They are creating a lead and focus statement to hook their readers in and developing focus statements. We will discover new ways to write conclusions next week and start the editing and revising process. Our next writing piece will be on another topic your child is an expert in, but would like to research to learn more about it. Students will choose a topic and will also need an informational book on their topic. They will be creating their own books about their topic using nonfiction text features-table of contents, pictures, captions, graphs, tables, etc. I have MANY books for students to choose from in the classroom. Please have your child start thinking of a topic they would like to learn more about. I will assist them with finding a book on their topic. They may need your help with finding a book as well. All topics and books need to be determined by Monday, November 21st. Please be on the lookout for more information to come home next week.
Word Study	We are focusing on long vowels in the first and second syllables using the vowel pairs oi/oy and ou/ow in the first and second syllables. Word Study Homework: Due Monday, November 21st Vocabulary Homework: Due Monday, November 21st Word Study Test: Tuesday, November 22nd
Flynn Math	We are continuing to work on efficient strategies for single and digit multiplication and understanding the inverse division. Observing the progress of the class, homework is being offered to those who need some extra practice in their computation. If you want your child to have the extra practice, I will post it in the Google classroom or just send me an email.:) Homework Due: Friday, November 18th.
Content Areas	Social Studies - We began studying archaeology and prehistoric indians. This week was exciting as we did experiments on archaeology. They included examining antiques and drawing conclusions about them. Also, we build an excavation site with bread, jelly, Smarties, and other materials and the students were able to do random excavation testing and determine if habitation occurred. See pictures on our classroom blog!

Reminders & Important Information

Important Dates:

Wednesday, 11/2-Internet Safety Assembly

Tuesday, 11/8 - No School - Election Day

Tuesday, 11/15-Book Fair Preview

Thursday, 11/17-Book Fair Buying

Thursday, 11/17-Picture Retakes

Wednesday - Friday- 11/23 - 11/25 - Thanksgiving Break

Holiday Shop-12/6