Archive for March, 2007

Class activities for Wednesday, March 21

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

Spelling: We worked on bar graphs for our “Take a Stand” opinion pieces today during spelling time. The unit 9 spelling worksheets are available here.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words each are due Friday. 

Reading: Students have been planning and working on their Literature Circles projects, which will be presented on Thursday and Friday. 

Writing: Students worked on bar graphs for their “Take a Stand” opinion pieces. The opinion piece and bar graphs will be due on Friday, March 23.    

Math: Students were introduced to exponents and also learned that terminating decimals are equal to fractions with powers of 10 in their denomonator (0.17 = 17 / 10 * 10). Homework is to finish Math Boxes 5.9.

Science: Students completed experiments with long gongs (coat hanger attached to a cup with string) and tuning forks. Homework is to finish the papers for these experiments.

Social Studies: We learned about the British colonies growing, France and Britain fighting over land, Indian groups taking sides, and the start of the French and Indian War. Homework is to finish reading about the French and Indian War and to finish the SQ3R organizer we started in class.     

Behavior Update:

  • Yellows: 5 magnets
  • Oranges: 1 magnet
  • Reds: 0 magnets

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

  • fundraising 3-7-07Juice Volunteers for Friday, March 23: Kayla and De’Aundre. Click here for a list of volunteers.  
  • Thank you to the nine chaperones who have volunteered for the Mackinaw trip. At this point, we have no more availability for additional chaperones. Spaces may open up as the trip gets closer.
  • Spring Conference times are now available for April 2, 3 and 4! Sign up at the office windows.
  • Upcoming Events: New writing piece due (March 23); Magic Show (March 23); Spring Conferences (April 2, 3 and 4); Straits of Mackinaw field trip (May 11). See the class calendar for more information.
  • We are looking for donations of medium and long cardboard tubes (have plenty of short ones, thanks!) 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!

Class activities for Monday, March 19 and Tuesday, March 20

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

***A guest teacher was with us yesterday, and those activities are included in today’s post.***

Spelling: Yesterday was a preview of upcoming spelling words, and today students prepared their Words to Learn list by correcting the words they missed on the last spelling test. The unit 9 spelling worksheets are available here.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words each are due Friday. 

Reading: Yesterday and today, students have been planning and working on their Literature Circles projects, which will be presented on Thursday and Friday. 

Writing: Students completed their “Take a Stand” rough drafts yesterday and had a revising conference. Today was a work day for students. This piece of writing will be due Friday, March 23.    

Math: Students worked on rounding yesterday. Homework was journal pp. 136, 138, 140, and 142. Today we reviewed the homework and worked on rounding. Homework today is to complete a rounding worksheet.   

Science: Yesterday students sent messages to their teammates using a code of sounds to represent letters. Homework was to complete the “Dropping In” response sheet. Today groups completed an experiment with a long gong (coat hanger attached to a cup with string) or a tuning fork.

Social Studies: Students finished learning about the fur trade yesterday and completed the “etch-a-sketch” organizer for homework. Today we started learning about the French and Indian War and started a SQ3R organizer.     

Behavior Update:

  • Yellows: 1 magnet
  • Oranges: 1 magnet
  • Reds: 0 magnets

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

  • fundraising 3-7-07Juice Volunteers: A new volunteer list will be sent home soon.  
  • Thank you to the nine chaperones who have volunteered for the Mackinaw trip. At this point, we have no more availability for additional chaperones. Spaces may open up as the trip gets closer.
  • Spring Conference times are now available for April 2, 3 and 4! Sign up at the office windows.
  • Upcoming Events: New writing piece due (March 23); Magic Show (March 23); Spring Conferences (April 2, 3 and 4); Straits of Mackinaw field trip (May 11). See the class calendar for more information.
  • We are looking for donations of medium and long cardboard tubes (have plenty of short ones, thanks!) 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!

Class activities for Friday, March 16

Friday, March 16th, 2007

Spelling: Students completed the unit 8 spelling and skill test today. The unit 8 spelling worksheets (available here) will be due on Monday.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words were due today. 

Reading: Today students continued planning their Literature Circles projects, which will be due on Friday.

Writing: Students reviewed the important parts of a “Take a Stand” opinion piece, using the mnemonic: Do cows drive everywhere during every race?, which stands for decide, core democratic value, define the core democratic value, explain how it matches the question, data, explain the data, and restate the decision. Students also started their rough draft for this piece of writing, which will be due Friday, March 23.    

Math: Students completed a multiplication MiniQuiz and took part in Math Skills.   

Science Inquiry: Today students did experiments with light, electricity, static electricity, magnets, flight, ramps and rollers, and more.  

Behavior Update:

  • Yellows: 3 magnets
  • Oranges: 0 magnets
  • Reds: 0 magnets

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

The Weekly Wrap (our week in 60 seconds):

  • Spelling: consonant blends, compound words, spelling test
  • Cursive: ten cursive sentences 
  • Reading: Literature Circles groups, inferring, projects
  • Writing: “Take a Stand” writing piece
  • Math: multiplication MiniQuiz, math skills
  • Science: sound, Science Inquiry 
  • Social Studies: French explorers, short-cut to Asia

Notes:

  • fundraising 3-7-07Juice Volunteers: A new volunteer list will be sent home soon.  
  • Thank you to the nine chaperones who have volunteered for the Mackinaw trip. At this point, we have no more availability for additional chaperones. Spaces may open up as the trip gets closer.
  • Spring Conference times are now available for April 2, 3 and 4! Sign up at the office windows.
  • Upcoming Events: New writing piece due (March 23); Magic Show (March 23); Spring Conferences (April 2, 3 and 4); Straits of Mackinaw field trip (May 11). See the class calendar for more information.
  • We are looking for donations of medium and long cardboard tubes (have plenty of short ones, thanks!) 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!

Class activities for Thursday, March 15

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

Spelling: We reviewed compound words today. We will have a spelling test tomorrow, and the skill test will assess compound words. The unit 8 spelling worksheets (available here) will be due on Monday.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words each are due Friday. 

Reading: Today students planned their Literature Circles project. We also previewed new class library books purchased from the book order.

Writing: Students learned the important parts of a “Take a Stand” opinion piece, using the mnemonic: Do cows drive everywhere during every race?, which stands for decide, core democratic value, define the core democratic value, explain how it matches the question, data, explain the data, and restate the decision. This piece of writing will be due Friday, March 23.    

Math: Students practiced multiplying three digit numbers by two digit numbers by playing Multiplication Top It Race to 500,000!  

Science: Today students sent messages to their teammates, using a code of sounds to represent letters.  

Social Studies: We started reading about the fur trade and began an “etch-a-sketch” organizer.      

Behavior Update:

  • Yellows: 0 magnets
  • Oranges: 1 magnets
  • Reds: 0 magnets

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

  • fundraising 3-7-07Juice Volunteers: A new volunteer list will be sent home soon.  
  • Thank you to the nine chaperones who have volunteered for the Mackinaw trip. At this point, we have no more availability for additional chaperones. Spaces may open up as the trip gets closer.
  • Spring Conference times are now available for April 2, 3 and 4! Sign up at the office windows.
  • Upcoming Events: New writing piece due (March 23); Magic Show (March 23); Spring Conferences (April 2, 3 and 4); Straits of Mackinaw field trip (May 11). See the class calendar for more information.
  • We are looking for donations of medium and long cardboard tubes (have plenty of short ones, thanks!) 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!

Class activities for Wednesday, March 14

Wednesday, March 14th, 2007

Spelling: We reviewed more consonant blends (cr, pt, ft, wr). The unit 8 spelling worksheets are available here. We will have a spelling test on Friday; the skill test will assess compound words.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words each are due Friday. 

Reading: Today was the last discussion day for this Literature Circles cycle. Students will begin working on group project tomorrow to share their book with the class, and a new cycle will start next week.

Writing: Students started to collect data for their “Take a Stand” opinion piece. Homework is to survey at least seven adults about their question so that students get to see other sides of their argument.  This piece of writing will be due Friday, March 23.    

Math: Students practiced multiplying three digit numbers by two digit numbers. Homework is to complete a multiplication puzzle page. 

Science: Today students used their listening skills in the “Drop Challenge.” Students took turns dropping items into a circular drop chamber, and their opponents had to guess what item made the sound. 

Social Studies: We finished reading about French explorers discovering Michigan and founding settlements in the Upper Peninsula. Homework is to complete the “alphabet soup” organizer that was started yesterday.     

Behavior Update:

  • Yellows: 2 magnets
  • Oranges: 0 magnets
  • Reds: 0 magnets

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

  • fundraising 3-7-07Juice Volunteers: A new volunteer list will be sent home soon.  
  • Thank you to the nine chaperones who have volunteered for the Mackinaw trip. At this point, we have no more availability for additional chaperones. Spaces may open up as the trip gets closer.
  • Spring Conference times are now available for April 2, 3 and 4! Sign up at the office windows.
  • Upcoming Events: New writing piece due (March 23); Magic Show (March 23); Spring Conferences (April 2, 3 and 4); Straits of Mackinaw field trip (May 11). See the class calendar for more information.
  • We are looking for donations of medium and long cardboard tubes (have plenty of short ones, thanks!) 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!