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Health: We continued our discussion of how drugs can be illegal and unhealthy. This week’s Internet Task also focuses on researching drugs and health.

Language Arts: Today we learned that some poems are written using a metaphor, such as comparing school to a pinball game, or home to a circus.

The last piece of writing will be due June 2 and will be a collection of poems.

Spelling: None due to Health.

The Level Four Core Word list is an option for continued practice.

Math: We practiced dividing polygons into sections and then naming fractional parts of the polygons. Homework is to complete Math Boxes 7.3, boxes 1,3,4, and 6.

Science: We did an activity to look at how much of the earth is covered with water. Students colored squares on a grid of earth, representing water squares with a blue color, and land squares with green. Homework is to finish coloring the squares on the grid, and to count total blue and green squares. Also, students were asked to name each of the seven continents. 

Social Studies: None due to Essential Skills testing.

Notes:

1. Post a comment to tell what you learned about drugs.
2. Later, read some of the other comments, pick one, and write a comment about it. Make a connection. 

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Reading: We used Literature Circles time to continue to work on the Social Studies and Science Essential Skills tests. We also read our Time for Kids.

Technology: Today we began to make digital yearbooks using PowerPoint. Students inserted pictures and wrote captions to create digital pages.

If you do not have Microsoft Office and PowerPoint at home, download the free OpenOffice. OpenOffice is an open-source (free) office software suite that is very similar to Microsoft Office. It will open MS Office documents, and looks similar. Students can use the program, Impress, to make PowerPoint presentations. Also included is a word processor, a drawing program, a spreadsheet and a database program.

Spelling: None due to the Essential Skills tests.

The Level Four Core Word list is an option for continued practice.

Math: Today students participated in Math Skills. We also learned how to determine a fraction of a number, such as 1/3 of 12 or 2/5 of 10. Homework is to complete math journal pp. 193-195.

Health: We discussed how, when and where students would be influenced to use drugs in a healthy and legal way, or in an unhealthy and illegal way. We also made a web to illustrate how drugs can be healthy (medicine), legal, unhealthy and illegal.

Notes:

Reading: We used Literature Circles time to start the Social Studies Essential Skills test. We also had WEB silent reading time.

Language Arts: Today we studied a way to write poems using fragments instead of complete sentences. We wrote the following poem as a class:

First Day of School 

Gleaming Hallways,
Up early,
Confused kids,
Children learning,
Remembering names,
Crazy games,
Missing summer,
Nasty lunch food,
Kids screaming,
Bells ringing,
Busses leaving,
Bus stops waiting.

Students began working on a fragment poem of their own, some using previous stories to turn into their poems.

The last piece of writing will be due June 2 and will be a collection of poems.

Spelling: None due to the Social Studies Essential Skills test.

The Level Four Core Word list is an option for continued practice.

Math: None due to the Social Studies Essential Skills test.

Science: None due to attending the Third Grade Musical.

Social Studies: None due to attending the Third Grade Musical.

Notes:

Reading: Today was a discussion day for Literature Circles groups. Students are continuing to work on visualizing, selecting favorite passages, writing questions and making connections.

Language Arts: Today we looked at how to turn a story into a poem. Students began working on a poem, or writing a story to turn into a poem. We discussed how many poems are written about memorable things that have happened to the author, or people the author knew. The last piece of writing will be due June 2 and will be a collection of poems.

Spelling: Today students previewed and spelled some words that will be on the next spelling test.

The Level Four Core Word list is an option for continued practice.

Math: We graded yesterday’s homework and discussed showing fractions on a number line.

Science: None today due to a longer Social Studies.

Social Studies: We got a sneak peak of Michigan’s history by reading Michigan: An Illustrated History for Kids. We also played a game to review this overview of Michigan history.

Notes: