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Spelling: None today due to the MEAP test. 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 began the MEAP English Language Arts test. Students read two selections, answered questions for each, answered questions involving comparing the two stories, and wrote a comparative piece using evidence from both selections.

Writing: None today. A piece of writing is due this Friday, October 13. Many, but not all, students have turned in their portfolios and they were laminated. Ask your student if they turned in theirs. If not, the next chance for students to get their portfolio laminated is Thursday.

Math: We reviewed polygons and then learned the names of six three-dimensional figures:

• rectangular prism (looks like a box)
• triangular prism (looks like an old-style army tent)
• sphere (looks like a ball)
• square pyramid (looks like an, um, pyramid)
• cylinder (looks like a soup can)
• cone (looks like a, yep, ice cream cone)

Students were challenged to find examples of these figures at home, sketch them, and tell us about them tomorrow.

Science: We graded the Investigation Review (check the online gradebook for the grade), put notes in our magnet minibooks, at completed the Getting Directions experiment about making a compass. Homework is to complete the analyze and conclude questions.

Social Studies: We learned that the Midwest is hotter and colder than the Northeast because we are farther from the ocean. The ocean provides the Northeast with cool breezes in the summer and warmer breezes in the winter, but the Midwest doesn’t have this natural air conditioner. As a result, our summers are generally hotter, and our winters colder.

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: four magnets
• Oranges: two magnets
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• MEAP testing has begun this week for English Language Arts, and will start 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.

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.

Spelling: None today due to completing a cursive quiz.

Cursive: Cursive worksheets pp. 18-20 were reviewed, and students completed a cursive quiz.

Reading: We read Esperanza Rising and completed a reading test.  

Writing: We talked today about how good writers include dialogue in their pieces so that the reader knows what the characters say to each other, and we also discussed focusing a piece of writing on just the best, most important, most interesting parts.

Students continued to work on their piece of writing, which is due next Friday. Students also have the continuing homework assignment to decorate their manila portfolio with pictures, magazine clippings, drawings, or anything else that is flat and can be laminated. The entire portoflio will be laminated on Monday.

Math: Students completed a MiniQuiz about naming and drawing rays, lines, line segments and angles. We also had Math Skills.  

Science Inquiry: We continued to talk about testable questions, which we will use to create experiments and make discoveries this year.  

Social Studies: None today, although the reading test was about the Iroquois Confederacy, one of our recent topics.

Homework Leftovers: Students may have leftover science, math or social studies homework from Thursday. These will be due on Monday. Look below at the post for Thursday to see that information.

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: two magnets
• Oranges: one magnet
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• MEAP testing starts the week of October 9 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.

***I had a meeting today. A guest teacher completed these plans.*** 

Spelling: Today students reviewed homographs–words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently (read, wind, use). Students will receive the next spelling packet by the end of the week, or it can be downloaded by clicking here.

Cursive: Cursive worksheets pp. 18-20 were made available this week and are due tomorrow. 

Reading: Today students continued to practice the “Passage Picker” job after reading Esperanza Rising.  

Writing: Students continued prewriting and should now be drafting for a piece of writing due next Friday. Students also have the continuing homework assignment to decorate their manila portfolio with pictures, magazine clippings, drawings, or anything else that is flat and can be laminated. The entire portoflio will be laminated next week, so students can work on it this week.

Math: Students learned the three rules for being a polygon: must have straight lines, must not intersect, must have no gaps or open spaces. Homework is to complete the “Geometric Designs” puzzle page 31. 

Science: Students finished reading the first investigation about magnets, iron and steel, and the poles of a magnet. Homework is to complete the Investigation Review worksheet, p. 81. 

Social Studies: Students worked on a “Regions of the US” map, coloring the regions and creating a key. This is homework if not finished in class.

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: three magnets
• Oranges: two magnets
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• Spirit Week is this week. Click here for a calendar of theme days. 
• 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.