MrHowd.com

***Grand Blanc Lanes field trip on Wednesday, December 19***
Click here for a permission slip

Spelling: Today we played spelling battleship to practice forming words with the /s/ spelling pattern: ss, sc, s, ci, cy, ce. This will be the skill tested on the spelling test coming up on Tuesday. Note that we will begin to quicken the pace of spelling, so we should have a test every 10 days or so.

Cursive: Cursive pages 47-49 were due today.

Reading: Students worked on their Literature Circles projects, which will be presented on Tuesday.

Writing: Today was an editing day. Students spent time choosing their three editing features. Some students were ready to move beyond one or more of the standard editing features of spelling, capitals and sentence sense. The next piece of writing is due December 20.

Math: None today.

Science: None today due to technology.

Social Studies: We discussed the Alphabet Soup organizer and that was submitted for a grade. Students also made new mini-books.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 0
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 4
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 24

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

Notes:

• Mexican Christmas Fiesta coming on Friday, December 21! Click here for a volunteer list.
• Helping a family in need: our class volunteered to purchase presents for two boys whose family is having a hard time. Look for a letter that was sent home this week, and ask your student what they volunteered for.
• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: thanks to responsible and generous families, we have a juice backlog, so no juice volunteers needed for a few weeks!

Our Mexican Christmas Fiesta is coming on Friday, December 21. The party will include Mexican traditions, songs, games and food. Below is a list of volunteer items for our party:

• Flat corn tortillas (40): Mr. Howd
• Flour tortillas (20 each volunteer): Zach P., Sean, Christian, Katie
• Shredded cheese: Coltin, Reagan, Justice C.
• Salsa or taco sauce: Patrick
• Prepared, seasoned beef taco meat (one pound each volunteer): Chandler, Zach T., Brad, William, Kayla
• Prepared, seasoned, shredded chicken breast (approx. four chicken breasts each volunteer): Terence, Brittan, Madison, Hannah. Note that chicken fajitas seasoning is an easy way to season the shredded chicken.
• Sliced cucumbers (four each volunteer): Caleb, Halie, Justice G.
• Lemon juice: Paige, Jadin. This is for sprinkling on the sliced cucumbers.
• Cinnamon and sugar: Mr. Howd
• Mexican hot chocolate: Mr. Howd
• Nopalitos (prickly pear cactus): Mr. Howd

Thanks for contributing to our fiesta! Family members are invited!

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

Spelling: Yesterday students learned that the numbers twenty through ninety-nine are hyphenated (21 = twenty-one). Today, students made a Words to Learn by correcting words they missed on the last spelling test. These words are their new spelling words to practice for the next test.

Cursive: Cursive pages 47-49 are available and due Friday.

Reading: Yesterday was the final discussion day for this cycle of Literature Circles. Today, students worked on their Literature Circles projects.

Writing: Students worked on revising yesterday and today. Students should be near the end of revising and ready to start editing tomorrow. You will know if your student has revised if you see words crossed out, sentences or paragraphs added…in other words, it should look a little messy. If nothing looks like it has been changed, then little revising has taken place.  The next piece of writing is due December 20.

Math: Yesterday, students worked on evaluating numbers sentences that have parentheses and learned that the math inside the parentheses is always completed first, then the rest of the number sentence is calculated. Homework was to finish Journal pages 68-69. Today, we reviewed true, false and unknown number sentences, with and without parentheses.

Science: Students worked on scripts today for their Wicked Weather projects:

• Thunderstorm safety
• Flood safety
• Tornado safety
• Blizzard safety
• The Wicked Weather instruction page

Social Studies: Yesterday, students read about Michigan’s land and water. Homework was to finish an Alphabet Soup organizer, which will be due tomorrow.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 21

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

Notes:

• Candle orders are available for pick up.
• Helping a family in need: our class volunteered to purchase presents for two boys whose family is having a hard time. Look for a letter that was sent home this week, and ask your student what they volunteered for.
• View grades, assignments and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: thanks to responsible and generous families, we have a juice backlog, so no juice volunteers needed for a few weeks!

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

Spelling: Yesterday students reviewed the fact that the letter r following a vowel changes the vowel sound, as in the words girl, surprise and her. Students identified words that matched this pattern. No spelling today.

Cursive: Cursive pages 47-49 are available and due Friday.

Reading: Yesterday was the final reading day for this cycle of Literature Circles. Today, students planned a project to share their  Literature Circles book with the class.
Writing: Students had revising conferences yesterday. Today, we talked about how stories have two parts: outer story (what characters do and say) and inner story (what characters think and feel). It’s good to have outer and inner story elements in a story. Today was also a revising day. The next piece of writing is due December 20.

Math: Yesterday, students worked on true and false numbers sentences. Homework was to finish Journal pages 65-67. Today, we played factor bingo to review factors and products in our Santa’s Secret Shop-shortened math time.

Science: Yesterday, students worked on a mini-poster to warn of the dangers of being unsafe with electricity. Homework was to finish the poster if not done in class. Today, we started reviewing weather safety with a melodrama project. Here are some resources to help with the project, and the instruction page:

• Thunderstorm safety
• Flood safety
• Tornado safety
• Blizzard safety
• The Wicked Weather instruction page

Social Studies: Yesterday, students completed the government social studies test. None today due to some administrative tasks.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 0
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 6

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

Notes:

• Helping a family in need: our class volunteered to purchase presents for two boys whose family is having a hard time. Look for a letter that was sent home today, and ask your student what they volunteered for.
• Progress reports went home today.
• View grades, assignments and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: thanks to responsible and generous families, we have a juice backlog, so no juice volunteers needed for a few weeks!

Here’s our week in 60 seconds:

• Spelling: /s/ spelling patterns, r following a vowel makes a new sound
• Cursive: none this week
• Reading: Literature Circles books will finish next week; determining importance, inferring strategies
• Writing: bring characters to life with dialogue, description, action, portfolio piece due December 20
• Math: multiplication and division facts, factors, products, multiples, prime numbers
• Science: electrical safety
• Social Studies: national government, test on Monday
• Notes: new school day times starting Monday, 8:50-3:50.