February 19th, 2009
Class activities for Thursday, February 19
Spelling: We practiced writing sentences for words with multiple meanings. Tomorrow will be a spelling and skill test over words with multiple meanings.
Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due Fridays.
Reading: None today due to the Talent Show. Great work Chloe and Jennifer, our Talent Show participants!
Writing: Students spent some time planning for their future novel (see below for more details).
Our next piece with be a persuasive letter to the editor about a topic chosen by each student. Here’s an overview of the project, and here’s a checklist to help with writing the letter. This piece will be due March 6.
The piece after that will be our final fiction project of the year. Students will write a novel. You read that right. Each student will write their own novel, with a word goal minimum of 1,500-3,000 words, based on their reading level (each student’s minimum writing goal is equal to their reading level multiplied by 500). The novels will be written in Google Docs (docs.mrhowd.com) to make use of the word count feature. Final novels will be uploaded to lulu.com and published as paperback books, which can be purchased for reasonable prices. So yes, students will actually write and publish their own novels. This project is based on the National Novel Writing Month Young Writers program. Complete details will follow soon. Students were asked today to start thinking about their novel topic, characters, plot and setting. With the average fourth grader needing to write about 133 words each school day, students will need to start this project by “hitting the ground running.”
Math: None today due to the Talent Show.
Science: None today due to Musical Practice.
Social Studies: None today due to Musical Practice.
- Yellow magnets: 0
- Orange magnets: 0
- Red magnets: 0
- STAR Awards: 0
- Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 6*
- Hours with no yellow magnets (record: 58): 10
- Days with no orange magnets (record: 39; previous score: 25): 1
*Unfortunately, six students move their magnets yesterday with a guest teacher, including three orange magnets. Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.
Notes:
- The Fourth Grade Musical is tonight! Students should meet in the classroom at 6:45 pm, dressed nicely (preferably with black slacks/skirts and white shirts/tops).
- 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: Alexis and Jennifer
