October 9th, 2006
Class activities for Monday, October 9
Spelling: Today we learned what an idiom is: a saying that doesn’t mean what it literally says, such as on the tip of my tongue, right off the bat, or monkey business. We also looked in the idioms for common spelling patterns for the long /i/ sound. Download the Unit 2 spelling packet by clicking here.
Cursive: Cursive worksheets pp. 21-23 were made available this week and are due Friday.
Reading: Today we read Esperanza Rising and reviewed all four Literature Circles jobs: questions, connections, illustrations, and picking passages. The ELA MEAP test will start tomorrow, so we will start Literature Circles groups next week.
Writing: Our minilesson was about proving what a writer says by including details. If someone says, “my dad is famous,” the listeners will automatically want to know how or why. Including details to prove general statements helps to answer these questions the reader will ask.
Students also continued working on their piece of writing that is due this Friday, October 13. Many, but not all, students turned in their portfolios today and they were laminated. Ask your student if they turned in theirs today. If not, the next chance for students to get their portfolio laminated is Thursday.
Math: We reviewed polygons and made equilateral (all equal sides), right (one right angle) and isosceles (two equal sides) triangles on geoboards. Homework is for students to complete the Hidden Polygons worksheet (click here to download), using what they know about polygons. Hint: some of the polygons are hidden or formed along the edges!
Science: None today due to technology and writing. We will have a double session of science tomorrow instead of writing.
Social Studies: The “Regions of the US” map was collected for a grade, and we began our study of the Midwest. Today, we learned that the Midwest is famous for plains (large areas of flat lands), and growing different grains, such as corn and wheat.
Behavior Update:
- Yellows: five magnets
- Oranges: one magnet
- Reds: none
Ask your student what kind of choices they made.
Notes:
- MEAP testing starts this week for English Language Arts, and October 16 for Math. A good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast will be a great start to those testing days (something you all are already doing!).
- Box Tops Contest in progress! It ends on October 20.
- We are looking for donations of cardboard tubes (toilet tissue, paper towel, wrapping paper) for class projects. The tubes can be sent in any time during the year; this project will be on-going. Thanks for any help you can give!
- There is still some space left on our Room 130 Pride board. Let’s fill that thing up! If your student hasn’t yet brought in three unique “objects” about themselves, then please send them so that they can be put on display for all to see. We are looking for things like photos, postcards, papers, medals, or little trickets that can be put in bags and hung on the board. The only limitation is size, and being able to be attached somehow to a bulletin board. These objects can remain with us the whole year, or rotated out whenever the student wants.
