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Spelling: We learned that homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings (there/their, weather/whether, shone/shown, maid/made).

Cursive: Cursive pp. 30-32 were due today.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles. Students also completed a narrative reading test.

Writing: Students continued to work on their draft.A personal narrative, based on a true story (slightly fictionalized), is due November 7. This will be the final writing grade of the first marking period. Your student should be drafting by now.

Math: Today was Math Skills. Your student can complete Math Skills online from any internet connected computer. Have them take you to docs.mrhowd.com and show you their Math Skills tracking sheet.

Science: None today.

Social Studies: We started to learn that the iron and steel from the Midwest is used to make automobiles.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 7
• Hours with no orange magnets (record: 29): 94

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

Notes:

• Aloha! Want to come to our Hawaiian Beach Bash on October 31? Click here to add your name to the guest list. Thank you for all the generous donations! We should have everything we need for the party. But we could still use a hand at 1:00 on the day of the party for setup, or for clean up!
• Check your Fall Parent Teacher Conference time online.
• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Sign up for daily email updates, including activities, homework and important information.

Spelling: We continued to see that the letter h changes the sound of some letters: (were/where, phone). We also discussed how pieces of words can help to discover the meaning of the word (automobile = self+moving, photograph = light + writing, phonograph = sound + writing, television = moving over a distance + seeing).

Cursive: Cursive pp. 30-32 are available and due Friday.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles. Due to some poor class choices and a lack of self-control, we didn’t finish our discussions and will continue this at recess tomorrow.

Writing: Students had prewriting conferences today.

A personal narrative, based on a true story (slightly fictionalized), is due November 7. This will be the final writing grade of the first marking period. Your student should be drafting by now.

Math: We used miniboxes of raisins to look at data landmarks. We discovered the maximum, minimum, mode and range of raisins in our class raisin boxes. Homework is to finish Math Boxes 2.5.

Science: We reviewed the electrical circuit experiment from yesterday and extended it. Today, students created a circuit with a bulb, two wires and a battery.

Social Studies: We learned that the Midwest is rich in iron, used to make steel.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 6
• Hours with no orange magnets (record: 29): 87

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

Notes:

• Aloha! Want to come to our Hawaiian Beach Bash on October 31? Or can you help donate items? Click here to add your name or donations. (If you can’t come, but want to donate, enter your student’s name on the guest list).
• Check your Fall Parent Teacher Conference time online.
• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Sign up for daily email updates, including activities, homework and important information.

Spelling: We learned that the letter h changes the sound of some letters: (cat/chat, ten/then, sell/shell).

Cursive: Cursive pp. 30-32 are available and due Friday. Students also completed a cursive quiz today. Some students are still working on balancing speed and neatness. I told the class that practicing five minutes a night will make a big difference over time.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on the strategy of using clues to make inferences.

Writing: We talked about making a beginning, middle and end chart to write notes for prewriting. This BME Chart can be used as a checklist during drafting to make sure all important events are written into the story.

A personal narrative, based on a true story (slightly fictionalized), is due November 7. This will be the final writing grade of the first marking period. Your student should be prewriting by now.

Math: None today due to art. Check your students addition facts scores at SnapGrades.

Science: We completed an experiment that challenged students to light a flashlight bulb using only one wire and a battery. Later, students will use this understanding of an electrical circuit to study light. Homework is to finish the Sparky’s Light Kit experiment if not done in class.

Social Studies: None today due to library.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 5
• Hours with no orange magnets (record: 29): 79

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

Notes:

• Aloha! Want to come to our Hawaiian Beach Bash on October 31? Or can you help donate items? Click here to add your name or donations. (If you can’t come, but want to donate, enter your student’s name on the guest list).
• Check your Fall Parent Teacher Conference time online.
• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Sign up for daily email updates, including activities, homework and important information.

Spelling: None today due to session two of the MEAP English Language Arts test.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 30-32 are available and due Friday.

Reading: None today due to session two of the MEAP English Language Arts test.

Writing: None today due to session two of the MEAP English Language Arts test.

A personal narrative, even slightly fictionalized, will be the next piece of writing, due November 7. This will be the final writing grade of the first marking period.

Math: None today due to session two of the MEAP English Language Arts test.

Science: None today due to session two of the MEAP English Language Arts test.

Social Studies: None today due to session two of the MEAP English Language Arts test.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 3
• Hours with no orange magnets (record: 29): 72

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

Notes:

• Aloha! Want to come to our Hawaiian Beach Bash on October 31? Or can you help donate items? Click here to add your name or donations. (If you can’t come, but want to donate, enter your student’s name on the guest list).
• Schedule your Fall Parent Teacher Conference online now and avoid work and family schedule conflicts.
• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Sign up for daily email updates, including activities, homework and important information.

Spelling: Today we reviewed common spelling patterns for the long e vowel sound: e (he), ee (green), ea (mean) and y (really).

Cursive: Cursive pp. 30-32 are available and due Friday.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on synthesizing and context clues as reading strategies.

Writing: We listened to My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother, by Patricia Polacco. Patricia Polacco is a Michigan author who often writes stories about her childhood. While she may embellish them a little, they are mostly memories that she has written as an interesting story.

Students were told that they, just like Patricia Polacco, could take an interesting memory and turn it into a story. If they can’t remember details about the setting, what characters were wearing, what was spoken, etc., theny can make them up, as long as the fictionalized details match the overall story.
This slightly fictionalized personal narrative will be the next piece of writing, due November 7. This will be the final writing grade of the first marking period.

Math: We practiced place value using calculators, and also played a math game. Homework is to complete Journal p. 34.

Science: We made new Light minibooks today.

Social Studies: We learned that the Midwest has hotter summers and colder winters than the Northeast, because the ocean is far from the Midwest.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 2
• Hours with no orange magnets (record: 29): 63

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

Notes:

• Aloha! Want to come to our Hawaiian Beach Bash on October 31? Or can you help donate items? Click here to add your name or donations. (If you can’t come, but want to donate, enter your student’s name on the guest list).
• Schedule your Fall Parent Teacher Conference online now and avoid work and family schedule conflicts.
• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Sign up for daily email updates, including activities, homework and important information.