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Spelling: None today due to extra time with math.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on making inferences as a reading strategy.

Writing: Students started prewriting conferences in order to plan their persuasive letter.  Here is more information about this project, and here’s a checklist to help with writing the letter. This piece will be due  Friday, March 5.

This piece will be due March 6.

Novel Writing Project
The final piece of the 3rd Marking Period 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 1,000-3,500 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. Here are more details:

• We will start this project in class on March 8 and it will be due on March 26; however, students can begin early.
• This is our final fiction project; the novel can be any type of fiction story (mystery, science fiction, fantasy, realistic, historical, etc.)
• We will be working in the computer lab most days, using docs.mrhowd.com to type the novel. Students can also work on this from any internet-connected computer outside of school.
• Students might want to start thinking now about how they will use a computer afterschool if they need to, and if they will go to the library, use a home computer, or use a friend or family member’s computer.
• If friends and family would like to order a paperback version of the book, we will upload the final texts to lulu.com. Most books will cost between $5 and $10.
• A big portion of this grade will be if students complete their own, personal word count goal.

Math: None today due to the talent show.

Science: Students made new Sun, Moon and Earth minibooks today.

Social Studies: None on Fridays.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 3

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

Notes:

• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.

Spelling: Today was a preview of upcoming spelling words.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on making connections as a reading strategy.

Also, students received their reading level from their last STAR Reading test. As shown below, the class average reading level improved to 5.02, which is just under our yearly goal of 5.05. Congratulations to all students who continue to work and read to improve their reading level!

Writing: Students designed a survey and collected data about the topic of their persuasive letter.  Here is more information about this project, and here’s a checklist to help with writing the letter. This piece will be due  Friday, March 5. Homework is for each student to finish collected their survey data.

Math: We continued to practice millimeter measurement today. Homework is to finish Journal pp. 105-106.

Science: Students completed a science test today over electricity and electrical safety.

Social Studies: Teams continued to learn and write notes about their selected region.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 0
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 1

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

Notes:

• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:

Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.

Spelling: None today due to extra time with math.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on making connections as a reading strategy.

Writing: Students shared the topic of their letter in the form of a question (Should students be allowed to drink pop in school?) and started planning their letter. The  next piece of writing is a persuasive letter about an idea to improve our school or community. Here is more information about this project. The persuasive letter will be due Friday, March 5. Homework is for each student to spend more than 10 minutes planning their persuasive letter.

Math: Today, we practiced metric unit conversion (100 cm = 1 m, 25 mm = 2.5 cm). We also started to practice measuring using millimeters.  Homework is to finish Journal p. 103.

Science: None due to library.

Social Studies: Each group selected a region to learn about. Over the next few days, the groups will be learning about each region, writing notes, comparing their region to the Midwest, and teaching the class about their region.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 0
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 1

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

Notes:

• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.

Spelling: Students completed a spelling and skill test today.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

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

Writing: We spent some time prewriting about possible problems in our school, neighborhoods, city, state or country that students may want to try to improve. The  next piece of writing is a persuasive letter about an idea to improve our school or community. Here is more information about this project. The persuasive letter will be due Friday, March 5. Homework is to decide on a idea about a way to improve our school or community.

Math: None today due to an assembly.

Science: We reviewed electricity and electrical safety. There will be a test over this subject on Thursday.

Social Studies: We learned about Detroit’s important role during World War II of making war equipment in automobile factories.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 1

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

Notes:

• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.

Spelling: We reviewed homographs (words with the same spelling, but different sounds or meanings) today. This will be the skill tested on Monday’s spelling test.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on questioning and making inferences as reading strategies.

Writing: We finished reviewing Core Democratic Values today. The  next piece of writing is a persuasive letter about an idea to improve our school or community. Here is more information about this project. The persuasive letter will be due Friday, March 5. Students should be thinking of what they would like to write their letter about.

Math: Students practiced estimating and measuring using centimeters and meters.

Science: None today.

Social Studies: We reviewed Core Democratic Values. Students will later use this information in their persuasive letter about an idea to improve the school or community.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 8

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

Notes:

• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.