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Spelling: None today due to discussion of how Friday went with the guest teacher.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 54-56 are available and due Friday.

Reading: The final two groups performed their Literature Circles projects today.

Writing: We read a book, Verdi, by Janell Cannon, and talked about making characters seem real with dialogue and description. Students should be revising by now. A piece of fiction is due into portfolios by this Friday, December 19.

Math: We reviewed multiplication and division fact families today and practiced division facts. Homework is to complete Journal pp. 57-58.

Science: None today due to inefficient use of social studies time, having to repeat questions and directions multiple times. There will be a science test tomorrow over light, color and shadows.

Social Studies: We graded the review worksheets from last week and will have a test over government on Wednesday.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 2
• Hours with no yellow magnets (record: 31): 0
• Days with no orange magnets (record: 39): 0

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

Notes:

• Our Mexican Fiesta party is Friday, December 19. Family members are needed to help with food preparations, set up, cleanup, and with the piñata. We also need help with food donations. Click here to see our volunteer list.
• Donations for sponsored family: our class will be collecting donations for a few families in need this holiday season. A letter went home with students explaining food and gift donations. Our class will be donating items for a 7-year old boy. Several students volunteered to donate one of the gifts from the shopping list provided; others volunteered to donate wrapping paper and tape. We will wrap the gifts on Friday, December 12. Thanks for helping this family have a wonderful Christmas!
• 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: None due to the fiesta

Spelling: We listed words with common spelling patterns for the /j/ sound: gi, gy, ge, j, dge.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 51-53 are available and due Friday.

Reading: Four groups performed their Literature Circles projects today; the remaining two groups will present tomorrow.

Writing: None today due to Bring a Family Member to School Day. Thanks to all the family members that visited us today (about 20 people came!)!

Math: None today due to art.

Science: We graded the Light Investigation Review. We’ll have a test on Monday assessing these concepts:

• Light is energy;
• White light is made of millions of different colors;
• Prisms and color filters;
• How to make colored light from red, blue and green light; and,
• Shadows.

Social Studies: We learned about the local level of government. Homework is to complete review worksheet pp. 31 and 33.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 2
• Hours with no yellow magnets (record: 31): 1
• Days with no orange magnets (record: 4): 39

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

Notes:

• Our Mexican Fiesta party is Friday, December 19. Family members are needed to help with food preparations, set up, cleanup, and with the piñata. We also need help with food donations. Click here to see our volunteer list.
• Donations for sponsored family: our class will be collecting donations for a few families in need this holiday season. A letter went home with students explaining food and gift donations. Our class will be donating items for a 7-year old boy. Several students volunteered to donate one of the gifts from the shopping list provided; others volunteered to donate wrapping paper and tape. We will wrap the gifts on Friday, December 12. Thanks for helping this family have a wonderful Christmas!
• 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: Matt and Savanna

Spelling: We discovered common spelling patterns for the /j/ sound: gi, gy, ge, j, dge.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 51-53 are available and due Friday.

Reading: None today due to a double math time. Tomorrow will be a double reading time.

Writing: We talked about using dialogue and description to bring characters to life. Our next piece will be a fictional story, due into portfolios by December 19.

Math: Students made factor forests today (click here for an example) to practice factors and multiples. Homework is to finish the factor forest and a factor review sheet, if not done in class.

Science: Students played shadow darts today. The object was to create a shadow just the right size to hit a dart board. Homework is to complete the Light Investigation Review.

Social Studies: None today due to library.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 1
• Hours with no yellow magnets (record: 31): 1
• Days with no orange magnets (record: 4): 38

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

Notes:

• Our Mexican Fiesta party is Friday, December 19. Family members are needed to help with food preparations, set up, cleanup, and with the piñata. We also need help with food donations. Click here to see our volunteer list.
• Bring a Family Member to School Day is tomorrow! Classroom activities start at 3:15.
• Donations for sponsored family: our class will be collecting donations for a few families in need this holiday season. A letter went home with students explaining food and gift donations. Our class will be donating items for a 7-year old boy. Several students volunteered to donate one of the gifts from the shopping list provided; others volunteered to donate wrapping paper and tape. We will wrap the gifts on Friday, December 12. Thanks for helping this family have a wonderful Christmas!
• 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.
• This week’s juice volunteers: Matt and Savanna

See pictures from our field trip to the Capitol and Historical Museum, posted live! Check back throughout the day to see updates from our field trip. Feel free to post comments about out trip.

Spelling: We reviewed two common patterns for the short /e/ sound: e and ea. We talked about the fact that some sounds have more than one spelling pattern. Click here to download the Unit 5 spelling worksheets.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 48-50 were due today; even though students had two weeks to complete this assignment, 14 students failed to do so. This showed me that it does not appear to be beneficial to extend deadlines, since 50% of the class did not make use of the extended time. I told that class that they should not expect to see extended deadlines in the future.

Reading: Students completed an informational reading test today. We also discussed the Poinsettia Information Search from Tuesday.

Writing: Most students started a prewriting conference today. Our next piece will be a fictional story, due into portfolios by December 19.

Math: Students completed a factor MiniQuiz today; we used this website. Students were told that they could practice and retake the MiniQuiz next week at lunch, if they weren’t happy with their score.

Science: None today.

Social Studies: We completed a holiday project today. In conjunction with our Spanish class, and Esperanza Rising, a book we are reading in class, we are learning about the customs of Mexico during December and January holiday season. Mexico has a unique culture, yet is a close neighbor, and many different holidays are celebrated there during this time of the year. Today, we made a Nacimiento, a traditional nativity village, including mountains, cacti, animals, townspeople, complete with moss, lights and a cellophane waterfall!

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 0
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 0
• Hours with no yellow magnets (record: 7): 21
• Days with no orange magnets (record: 4): 36

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

Notes:

• Capitol Field Trip on Tuesday, December 9. Click here for more information or a permission slip. Let me know if you would like to chaperone. More chaperones are needed.
• Donations for sponsored family: our class will be collecting donations for a few families in need this holiday season. A letter went home with students explaining food and gift donations. Our class will be donating items for a 7-year old boy. Several students volunteered to donate one of the gifts from the shopping list provided; others volunteered to donate wrapping paper and tape. We will wrap the gifts on Friday, December 12. Thanks for helping this family have a wonderful Christmas!
• 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.
• This week’s juice volunteers: Matt and Savanna