MrHowd.com

Spelling: We reviewed common spelling patterns for the /k/ sound. This will be the skill tested on the spelling test Wednesday. The Unit 2 spelling packet will be due on Wednesday. The worksheets can also be downloaded by clicking here.

Cursive: Cursive worksheets pp. 27-29 were made available this week and are due on Friday. 

Reading: Today was a discussion day. Students used their Literature Circle responses from Friday to discuss their book, asking questions, sharing connections and illustrations, and reading selected passages.

Writing: None due to technology. The next piece of writing will be due November 3; this will be the final writing grade of the marking period.

Technology: Students continued to work on their digital inspirational poster. Today, students had the task of searching for an image that matches their quote.

Math: We reviewed place value today, focusing on the value of individual digits in numbers. For example, in the number 978, the nine is worth 900, the seven is worth 70, and the eight is worth eight. Homework is to complete journal pp. 32-33.

Science: Students received a mixture of sand, salt and iron filings, and were asked to separate the materials. Today, groups used a magnet to remove the iron filings. Now their task is to find a way to separate sand and salt. This will be their mission for Wednesday.

Social Studies: We took notes on the Southwest, and began learning about the West. Today, we focused on the Central Valley of California that is known for growing fruits and vegetables. We also learned that irrigation is used because the West is normally too dry to grow many crops.

Behavior Update:

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• Hawaiian Beach Bash! That’s our Halloween party on October 31 from 2-4 pm. The menu: Hawaiian pizza, fruit kabobs, and punch. We are in need of families to donate towards the cost of pizza, help make the fruit kabobs or other goodies, provide plates, cups, napkins (Hawaiian-themed?), or chaperone at the time of the party. If you would like to help, just send in a note or email.
• Appointments are now being made for fall conferences, November 14-16. A sign-up sheet is located at the office windows.
• 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!

Spelling: Today we learned the common spelling patterns for the /k/ sound. A spelling test will be next Tuesday, and the Unit 2 spelling packet will be due at that time. The worksheets can also be downloaded by clicking here.

Cursive: Cursive worksheets pp. 24-26 were reviewed today.  

Reading: Today students were placed in Literature Circles groups, and it was the first reading day. Students read a few pages of their book and wrote responses to the reading on a Literature Circles job sheet.

Writing: Today were talked about focusing on a narrow time. It’s hard to write with enough details if the topic is a five-day vacation or a long period of time. But if the topic is focused to just the best hour on the best day, then the writer can spend the time including plenty of details to help the reader picture the writing.

Students should be finishing up their prewriting, and begin drafting on Monday. Their final piece of writing for this marking period is due on November 3.

Math: Students worked in the Math Skills program today.

Happy Fall, Y’all!: Students made autumn wreaths today to decorate our hallway.

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: four magnets
• Oranges: no magnets
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• Hawaiian Beach Bash! That’s our Halloween party on October 31 from 2-4 pm. The menu: Hawaiian pizza, fruit kabobs, and punch. We are in need of families to donate towards the cost of pizza, help make the fruit kabobs or other goodies, or chaperone at the time of the party. If you would like to help, just send in a note or email.
• Appointments are now being made for fall conferences, November 14-16. A sign-up sheet is located at the office windows.
• 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.

I was at a training for Science Inquiry in the afternoon on October 18, so I’ve included those activities in today’s post. 

Spelling: None due to the MEAP Math test. We will resume with spelling tomorrow, and should have a test late next week or early the following week. Students are continuing to work on the Unit 2 spelling packet which will be due at the time of the next spelling test. The worksheets can also be downloaded by clicking here.

Cursive: Cursive worksheets pp. 24-26 were made available this week and are due on Friday. 

Reading: None today due to the MEAP Math test. Today was the Final Countdown (click here for cheesy 80s song) for the MEAP, so we will resume with Literature Circles next week.

Writing: Students had a prewriting conference with a partner, using the Checklist for Good Writers, and began prewriting for their next piece of writing due on November 3; this will be the final writing grade of the marking period.

Math: Students worked on creating different mathematical expressions for the same number. Homework is to finish Journal pp. 29-30; box four on p. 30 is optional. 

Science: Students took a math test over magnets on Wednesday, and today we reviewed the posters we made at the beginning of the unit, adding information we learned. Next stop: electricity!

Social Studies: Over the past two days, we learned that the Southwest is famous for:

• oil
• cattle
• coastal plains in Texas
• being near the Mexican border and all the accompanying cultural influences

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: two magnets yesterday, seven today
• Oranges: no magnets
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• Appointments are now being made for fall conferences, November 14-16. A sign-up sheet is located at the office windows.
• 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.

Spelling: None today due to the MEAP Math test. Students are continuing to work on the Unit 2 spelling packet which will be due at the time of the next spelling test. The worksheets can also be downloaded by clicking here.

Cursive: Cursive worksheets pp. 24-26 were made available this week and are due on Friday. 

Reading: None today due to the MEAP Math test.

Writing: Students reviewed their first graded piece of writing, a few students shared their writing, and the Checklist for Good Writers was introduced. The next piece of writing will be due November 3; this will be the final writing grade of the marking period.

Math: Students took a math test over the following topics:

• rays, lines, line segments, and angles 
• two and three-dimensional shapes 
• polygons

Science: We reviewed for tomorrow’s science test over magnets.

Social Studies: We learned today about the desert regions of the Southwest, and how the Colorado River is used for drinking water and crop irrigation. We drew sketches about each important idea we learned today. Homework is to finish this Etch-a-Sketch paper, writing down important ideas that match each picture that was drawn.

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: three magnets
• Oranges: no magnets
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• Progress Reports were sent home today! 
• Appointments are now being made for fall conferences, November 14-16. A sign-up sheet is located at the office windows.
• MEAP testing this week will be for the subject of Math on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 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.

Spelling: Today we learned that it is easier to spelling longer words if the word is spelled one syllable at a time. Students are continuing to work on the Unit 2 spelling packet which will be due at the time of the next spelling test. The worksheets can also be downloaded by clicking here.

Cursive: Cursive worksheets pp. 24-26 were made available this week and are due on Friday. 

Reading: Today we practiced the Literature Circle jobs of creating questions and connections, drawing illustrations and picking passages. We also had a discussion about our responses to the book Esperanza Rising.

Writing: None today due to Technology. The next piece of writing will be due November 3; this will be the final writing grade of the marking period.

Technology: Students continued to work on their digital inspirational poster. Visit the technology page to see what this project involves.

Math: We played mathsketball today to review for a math test, which will be tomorrow. The test will be over the following topics:

• rays, lines, line segments, and angles (drawing and naming)
• two and three-dimensional shapes (sketching and identifying)
• polygons (what is and isn’t one)

Science: We graded the Earth as a Magnet Investigation Review from Thursday and collected it for a grade. A test over magnets will be on Wednesday.

Social Studies: We took notes about the Midwest in our Regions minibook. We also began learning about the Southwest. Today, we talked about the Grand Canyon, how it might have formed, and what is at the bottom of the Grand Canyon: the Colorado River.

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: two magnets
• Oranges: no magnets
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• Appointments are now being made for fall conferences, November 14-16. A sign-up sheet is located at the office windows.
• MEAP testing this week will be for the subject of Math on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 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.