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***Monday is St. Patrick’s Day! Students wearing the most green will win a Shamrock Shake!***

Spelling: Today we continued our review of contractions.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of at least seven words each are due Friday.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles; some groups worked on “fix-up strategies” to use when it becomes hard to understand a passage of text.

Writing: We looked at some example Take-a-Stand papers, both good and bad. Students worked on starting their bar graph, selecting Core Democratic Values, or continuing their Take-a-Stand rough draft. Here is a fuller explanation of the parts of a Take-a-Stand persuasive piece.

The next piece of writing, a persuasive Take-a-Stand piece, is due Thursday, March 20.

Math: None today.

Science: Today was science inquiry. Students investigated various topics, including flight, light, ramps, magnets and electricity.

Social Studies: Students started working on a quilt square, similar to those used to convey secret messages for the Underground Railroad. Students are either coloring their squares or using construction paper. Homework is to finish the quilt square and bring it on Monday.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 15

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

Notes:

• March is Reading Month. Class goal: 100 books (limit of two “just right” picture books for each student) by March 28!
• Progress reports were sent home today.
• 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 (full list): Sean and Halie. Thanks for your generosity!
• Visit our Mackinaw Field Trip page for more information on our May 9 trip.

Spelling: Today we reviewed contractions.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of at least seven words each are due Friday.

Reading: Today was limited to reading our shared text, Esperanza Rising, due to a rain forest assembly by Wildlife Unlimited.

Writing: Students worked on collecting data, starting their bar graph, selecting Core Democratic Values, or starting their Take-a-Stand rough draft. Here are some example Take-a-Stand papers, both good and bad. And here is a fuller explanation of the pieces of a Take-a-Stand persuasive piece.

The next piece of writing, a persuasive Take-a-Stand piece, is due Thursday, March 20.

Math: We reviewed estimating sums today.

Science: Students made new sound minibooks and played a game in which they had to listen to identify an object dropped into a chamber by its sound.

Social Studies: None due to library.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 7

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

Notes:

• March is Reading Month. Class goal: 100 books (limit of two “just right” picture books for each student) by March 28!
• 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 (full list): Sean and Halie. Thanks for your generosity!
• Visit our Mackinaw Field Trip page for more information on our May 9 trip.

Spelling: Today was a preview of upcoming spelling words.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of at least seven words each are due Friday.

Reading: None today due to discussion of the yearly Student Satisfaction Survey ( PDF).

Writing: Students finalized their Take-a-Stand questions and started collecting data. They were asked to survey two different groups (e.g., students and adults) when collecting their data. Most should now be in position to start prewriting and drafting their Take-a-Stand position piece.

The next piece of writing, a persuasive Take-a-Stand piece, is due Thursday, March 20.

Math: None today due to discussion of the yearly Student Satisfaction Survey (PDF).

Science: This time was usurped by the distracting poor choices of a few students and then a discussion on how to react when distractions happen, how to express concern, and the appropriate response for when a person makes a mistake.

Social Studies: We learned about a controversial theory stating that slaves used secret messages encoded into quilt square patterns to communicate and plan their escape on the Underground Railroad. Here is an article (PDF) from Carolina Country explaining the theory.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 1
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 1

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

Notes:

• March is Reading Month. Class goal: 100 books (limit of two “just right” picture books for each student) by March 28!
• 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 (full list): Sean and Halie. Thanks for your generosity!
• Visit our Mackinaw Field Trip page for more information on our May 9 trip.

Spelling: Students prepared their Words to Learn list of words they missed on the last spelling test. This is their customized spelling list for the next test. Ask your student which words they are practicing for the next test, and if they are finished with their Words to Learn list.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of at least seven words each are due Friday.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles.

Students also took a STAR computerized reading test yesterday. Our class average reading level was 5.29 (click chart at right), which is over our yearly goal of 5.16. That indicates over a year’s worth of reading level growth, by March! At this pace, the class reading level by June is forecasted to be 5.9! Great work to all the hard working readers!

Writing: Students learned a trick for writing persuasive, Take-a-Stand pieces:

• Do-Decide
• Cows-Core Democratic Values
• Drive-Define
• Everywhere-Explain
• During-Data
• Every-Explain
• Race-Restate

Students also decided what they would like their Take-a-Stand question to be. Homework is to finalize the question if not done already.
The next piece of writing, a persuasive Take-a-Stand piece, is due Thursday, March 20.

Math: Students completed a MiniQuiz on the distributive property of multiplication. We also practiced estimating sums. Homework is to finish Journal pp. 118-121.

Science: Students completed a test over these concepts:

• Light is energy;
• White light is made of millions of different colors;
• Prisms separate white light; filters block colors of light;
• Light moves in straight lines;
• Shadows are areas where light is blocked;
• Shadows grow larger when the light source is closer to the object; they grow longer when the light is on the side of the object.

Social Studies: We reviewed the components of a Take-a-Stand piece and how Core Democratic Values and data are used to convince others of your ideas.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 1
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 3

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

Notes:

• March is Reading Month. Class goal: 100 books (limit of two “just right” picture books for each student) by March 28!
• 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 (full list): Sean and Halie. Thanks for your generosity!
• Visit our Mackinaw Field Trip page for more information on our May 9 trip.

Spelling: None today due to moving seats.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of at least seven words each are due Friday.

Reading: Representative Dave Robertson read to our class today and answered questions about the legislative branch.

Writing: None due to technology.

The next piece of writing, a persuasive Take-a-Stand piece, is due Thursday, March 20.

Math: We finished reviewing the Core Democratic Values today during this time.

Science: We finished reviewing the Core Democratic Values today during this time.

We will have a science test tomorrow assessing these concepts:

• Light is energy;
• White light is made of millions of different colors;
• Prisms separate white light; filters block colors of light;
• Light moves in straight lines;
• Shadows are areas where light is blocked;
• Shadows grow larger when the light source is closer to the object; they grow longer when the light is on the side of the object.

Social Studies: We finished reviewing the Core Democratic Values today during this time.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 3
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 23

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

Notes:

• March is Reading Month. Class goal: 100 books (limit of two “just right” picture books for each student) by March 28!
• 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 (full list): Sean and Halie. Thanks for your generosity!
• Visit our Mackinaw Field Trip page for more information on our May 9 trip.