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A guest teacher was with us yesterday afternoon, so yesterday’s activities are included in today’s post. 

Spelling: Yesterday and today, students practiced finding spelling patterns for the short o sound: al, o, aw, au. We also talked about idioms today, such as let the cat out of the bag, and keep your shirt on. Students have the Unit 1 spelling worksheets (download here), which will be due at the time of the spelling test next week. Find more information, including spelling lists, by clicking on the Spelling link. A spelling test will be next week.
Cursive: Cursive pp. 20-22 were due Friday.

Reading: Yesterday and today were discussion days for Literature Circles; students, asked questions of their group. Students also completed a reading test today.

Writing: Students turned in a piece of writing and also submitted their portfolios to be laminated. The next piece of writing is due on October 12.

Math: Yesterday, students reviewed flips, turns and slides as well as polygons. Today, students completed a MiniQuiz and had Math Skills.

Science: We reviewed Investigation Review p. 81 and also had Science Inquiry, in which students traded “weird” objects and tried to figure them out by asking questions.

Social Studies: None on Fridays.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 4
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• Picture Day is Tuesday, October 2.
• Here is the school supply list. I have dry erase markers for $0.25 and poly envelopes for $0.50.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: Terence and Christian

Spelling: Students learned that some words have silent letters and that they will need to use their spelling conscience to spell them correctly. Students have the Unit 1 spelling worksheets (download here), which will be due at the time of the spelling test next week. Find more information, including spelling lists, by clicking on the Spelling link.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 20-22 were made available today and are due Friday.

Reading: Today we practiced the Discussion Director Literature Circles job, which is to come up with some good, interesting, open-ended questions for the group to discuss. We used Esperanza Rising to write some questions for discussion.

Writing: We added to our Authority List of things we are good at and know about.

Students are also working on decorating their Writer’s Portfolio (manila folder) with pictures, magazine clippings, stickers, drawings, anything that can lay flat. This is due on Friday. The next piece of writing is due on October 12.

Math: We reviewed parallelograms and learned about polygons. Homework is to complete Math Boxes 1.5.

Science: We read in our texts about magnets. Homework is to complete Investigation Review p. 81.

Social Studies: We wrote notes in our minibooks about the Southeast and watched a few video clips as a review.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 4
• Orange magnets: 1
• Red magnets: 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• We were much MORE efficient with our time today, not wasting it on poor behavior choices and repeating what was already done! It was a great improvement and as a result, we finished everything we had planned. Everyone worked hard to help our class “avoid falling into the hole.”
• Bring a “weird” object to school on Friday. Anything that others cannot immediately recognize. We are going to try to figure out each other’s strange objects for Science Inquiry.
• Here is the school supply list. I have dry erase markers for $0.25 and poly envelopes for $0.50.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: Justice C. and Hannah

Spelling: Students spelled these words and tried to figure out what they have in common:

• answer
• become
• write
• often
• less
• knot

Homework is to write down in the planner what the words have in common.

Students have the Unit 1 spelling worksheets (download here), which will be due at the time of the spelling test. Find more information, including spelling lists, by clicking on the Spelling link.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 20-22 were made available today and are due Friday.

Reading: We again spent time talking about making good choices, not being stubborn, being teachable, listening and learning, and not having to repeat things time and again. Each student was asked to write the problems our class is having and what they can do to help. The story below illustrates some of the problems our class is having:

 An Autobiography in 5 Short Paragraphs by Portia Nelson

1. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

2. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in. I can’t believe I’m in the same place, but it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

3. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in. It’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

4. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

5. I walk down a different street.

We are still at step two or three, falling into the same holes over and over again. Some students, say it’s not their fault, others are starting to admit that they fell in the same hole again and are going to try to fix it. But until we use our time for listening, learning (the first time, not the twelfth time), and thinking, we’ll continue to have to use our time for repeating and reteaching.

Writing: We started making Authority Lists of things we are good at and know about.

Students are also working on decorating their Writer’s Portfolio (manila folder) with pictures, magazine clippings, stickers, drawings, anything that can lay flat. This is due on Thursday.

Math: We learned about parallelograms, parallel lines and intersections. Homework is to complete Journal p. 8.

Science: We reviewed the Pulling Through experiment and found out that the force of a magnet can penetrate different materials if they are not too thick.

Social Studies: We continued to learn coal and coal mines, finding out that most of our country’s coal is in the Southeast, and that children used to work in coal mines. Homework is to finish reading about coal and finish the Fact or Fiction worksheet.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 3
• Orange magnets: 1
• Red magnets: 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• The class is (still as of September 25) struggling with making the same mistakes over again, and being slow to correct. And it really is the class, not just a few individuals, so everyone can work on thinking, participating, showing more energy, working together. This was the same thing that showed up last week during math. It’s still happening this week, and usually takes the form of…teacher gives direction…class hears it (maybe)…class does the same old thing…teacher repeats direction…class does the same old thing…class has to practice…repeat these steps a bunch more times. This makes us very slow and inefficient, so improving this is at the top of my list, no matter how many recesses we give away, or how much homework goes home. We can’t continue to function this way. Hear it, do it, that’s what I’m telling the class. Make a mistake, fix it. We’re getting better, but we have a long way to go. Until this improves, expect to see more homework come home that wasn’t finished in class.
• Here is the school supply list. I have dry erase markers for $0.25 and poly envelopes for $0.50.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: Justice C. and Hannah

Spelling: None today due to introducing absent folders and selecting new team captains. Hopefully, we are running out of new procedures, so we can get down to business! Students have the Unit 1 spelling worksheets (download here), which will be due at the time of the spelling test. Find more information, including spelling lists, by clicking on the Spelling link.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 20-22 were made available today and are due Friday.

Reading: We started Literature Circles today. We’ll spend some time practicing this as a group before students start reading books individualized to their reading level.

Writing: None today. Technology was scheduled, but we never made it there. See notes below.

Students are also working on decorating their Writer’s Portfolio (manila folder) with pictures, magazine clippings, stickers, drawings, anything that can lay flat. This is due on Thursday.

Math: Today we reviewed naming and drawing angles. But rather than learn something new, the class got sidetracked on debating squares and rectangles. Most of the class was convinced that a rectangle is a square. This same problem happened last week, and is a direct result of not listening and thinking. Maybe listening, but not thinking. See below in the notes for how this problem is taking shape and what we are doing about it. And this did cause us to have homework: Math Boxes 1.4.

Science: We completed the Pulling Through experiment to see if magnetic force can penetrate objects. Homework is to finish the analyze and conclude questions.

Social Studies: We read about coal, one of the natural resources of the Southeast.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 3
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• The class is struggling with making the same mistakes over again, and being slow to correct. And it really is the class, not just a few individuals, so everyone can work on thinking, participating, showing more energy, working together. This was the same thing that showed up last week during math. It’s still happening this week, and usually takes the form of…teacher gives direction…class hears it (maybe)…class does the same old thing…teacher repeats direction…class does the same old thing…class has to practice…repeat these steps a bunch more times. This makes us very slow and inefficient, so improving this is at the top of my list, no matter how many recesses we give away, or how much homework goes home. We can’t continue to function this way. Hear it, do it, that’s what I’m telling the class. Make a mistake, fix it. We’re getting better, but we have a long way to go. Until this improves, expect to see more homework come home that wasn’t finished in class.
• Here is the school supply list. I have dry erase markers for $0.25 and poly envelopes for $0.50.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: Justice C. and Hannah

Spelling: We reviewed the Math MiniQuiz today during spelling time. Students have the Unit 1 spelling worksheets (download here), which will be due at the time of the spelling test. Find more information, including spelling lists, by clicking on the Spelling link.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 19-20 were due today.

Reading: None today due to an assembly about Student Council, Peer Mediators, and Safety Patrol.

Writing: Students continued to work on their piece of writing about caring for the earth. On Monday, students will choose one of the two pieces of writing from this week to submit for a grade.

Students are also working on decorating their Writer’s Portfolio (manila folder) with pictures, magazine clippings, stickers, drawings, anything that can lay flat. This is due next week.

Math: Today students completed the Math Skills pretest.

Science: We reviewed the A Magnet’s Ends experiment and found out that opposite poles attract, and similar poles repel.

We also had Science Inquiry today. We tested many different combinations of liquids and candies, even fruit, to see which would create geysers. Diet Coke and Mentos were the best combination, but all other pops created at least a small geyser. We were surprised to find out that M&Ms, Smarties, Ice Breakers, even grapes also created a small reaction. Thanks to all the volunteers who generously donated supplies for our experiment!

Social Studies: None on Fridays.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 3
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• Here is the school supply list. I have dry erase markers for $0.25 and poly envelopes for $0.50.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: Justice C. and Hannah