update 12-7

Two more weeks until winter break!!!

We are still very busy learning every day.  :)  We continue to read informational text and are working on finding 2 main ideas with details to match.  We also have practiced cause and effect, along with reasons and evidence.

In writing, we have been writing short informational articles about topics we have read about to practice writing in our own words.  We have talked about writing headings and how important they are to nonfiction text.

We just started an short informational project related to what students are learning in science.  All topics relate back to Force and Motion.  They will be researching, writing, and creating a display to show off their learning.  It will all end with a group presentation about what they learned.  Ask your child what topic she/he chose.  Some examples are...roller-coasters, catapults, and cannons.

Last Friday, in Social Studies, students shared their Native American Projects with the class.  They enjoyed cookies and each other's company as they shared.  It was a success!  Look for those to come home in report card envelopes.

Reading Counts points are due by 12/18.  I met with each child today to share their current progress.  There will be small treat if they make their goals!  I am proud of how much reading each class has been doing.

update 11-30

Last day of November!  I am hoping that everyone had a restful and nice Thanksgiving.  Last week, my theme was gratitude.  The kids made a mini-project about what they are thankful for.  Their job was to bring it home and share it for Thanksgiving.  After that, we made holiday cards to donate to a place I found called, "Cards for Hospitalized Kids".  See the link for more information. 

We continue to read informational text and work on those standards.  Skills covered are: main idea and details, cause and effect, summarizing, and finding reasons/evidence.  We read an article from out StoryWorks magazine about dolphins and one man's work filming them to help save them.  The kids seemed to be interested in that.

Today, we read about Tarantulas.  I got a lot of scrunched up faces, but they seemed to enjoy reading about them.  :)

We also are currently working on our Native American Projects.  These are due this Friday.  Kids are typing their paragraph drafts onto a template through the Google Classroom.  They will get one more day in class to work and the rest can be worked on at home.

Later this week, we will be starting a mini-informational writing unit where kids will get to choose a topic of their choice.

I sent an email earlier about our class narratives being published, see below:

Good news! I am almost done putting together our stories and illustrations for the class book we are publishing. Today I sent home with each of your children a flyer that you can fill out if you would like to order one.

Even if you are not interested (which is totally OK),  please still sign the bottom and check the black box on the bottom that says no. I do need all of them returned to send in as a form of consent to publish the stories.

If you have any questions, let me know. I appreciate all of your support! An extra order forms scanned and attached if you need to print one off.

Reminders:
*Reading Counts Points due by 12/8   (I met with each child and made a plan for him/her to follow to meet the goal.)
*Reading Logs are due Friday.  Online ones are optional at this point.

Update 11-17

We finished up our narratives yesterday and today we finished the illustrations to go with them.  The kids all did a great job on these!

Mrs. Harwood and I met with every child yesterday and today about Reading Counts.  We are halfway through the quarter.  Each child has his/her goal and a plan to finish up the quarter and meet that goal.  Please ask your child to see that paper.  It is important!  Any questions, please let me know.  If you notice several 0's on the report, please have a discussion with your child about this.  I discussed this with them yesterday.  All Reading Counts points for 2nd quarter are due by December 18.  (the last day before winter break)

We have officially moved into informational text.   With Mrs. Will in Social Studies, we are studying and learning about Native Americans.  The kids have been working hard taking notes, watching videos, and learning about these four groups of tribes:  Southwest, Pacific Northwest, Plains, and Eastern Woodlands.  They are having quizzes in Social Studies about each of these groups.

We will be creating a flipbook project in Language Arts that will be due December 4.   Students will have to choose two tribes and two sections of their notes to compare and contrast such as food, clothes, homes, or beliefs.  They will put it together and color-code a map to put on back.  Click the link to view the project.  

We also have been busy practicing and performing plays in class.  I did video them and put them on Youtube as unlisted.  Click the link below to view.  (Mrs. Will's class is not up yet because there have been several absences and they still have one more to go).

Mrs. Skeels

Four Dragons

How Rainbows were Made

Crane Wife

How Animals got their Beautiful Coats

Mrs. Stoyle

Four Dragons

How Rainbows were Made

Crane Wife

How Animals got their Beautiful Coats

Mrs. Will

Four Dragons

How Rainbows were Made

Crane Wife

How Animals got their Beautiful Coats

Update 11-9

We still are working on writing stories to create a class book.  Students will also have to draw a one-page illustration to go with the stories for the books. This week, students are typing their stories and working on structuring them to look like a real story. We will also talk about using past tense and keeping the point of view as 1st or 3rd person.  Students had to write one focused question about their writing piece that they wanted my suggestions for.   Each child has or will meet with me to conference about it.   

We are finishing up fiction this week.  The reading summative is Wednesday and the writing summative piece is Thursday.   The writing  piece is comparing and contrasting the lessons learned by the main characters. We are also practicing plays that we will perform at the end of the week.  Tomorrow was going to be the day, but it has to be changed since many kids are going to Kalahari.


I found a link with the top 100 books kids should read and found in interesting.  Check that out here.


Book Fair Buying Day is this Wednesday during the school day.  Also, the family night for book fair is Wednesday too, look for a flier to tell you the time.

Final product funny monsters

Update 11-2

We continue reading fiction and working on annotating this week.  Kids have learned to highlight when they read and add a word or phrase near it to show their thinking.  We talk about this and do this A LOT!  It seems to help us focus and understand what we read.  Theme and summarizing is also still a big focus.  They have two strategies to use for summarizing and seem to be able to use these well.

We also started more plays this week-ask your child which one he or she is part of!  We will practice this week and perform next week.

Next week, we will have a reading summative covering the skills of theme, summarizing, compare/contrast characters and events, making inferences, and supporting our ideas with evidence from the text.

In writing, we continue our work on writing narratives.  All students created a "roller coaster" story map for the story they are writing.  In class today, we color coded the narrative to see the different parts- lead, problem, rising action, climax, and the resolution.  We will continue to work on "showing, not telling" and using dialogue, etc. to polish and publish these stories.

Making Funny Monsters

Today we made funny monsters for the book fair contest! Such fun!