March 24th, 2014
Class activities for Monday, March 24
Spelling: We practiced common spelling patterns for the /ou/ sound: ow and ou.
Cursive: Cursive workbook pp. 95-98 are due Friday.
Reading: Final groups performed their Literature Circles plays to the class today.
Writing: Today was the first revising day for the novel project. Each student should have reached 100% of their project word count goal by now. Ask your student or check StudentVue to see how much your student has done so far. The novel project is due Friday, March 28. Your student should be revising at this point. Look below for more details.
Novel Writing Project 2014
The final piece of the 3rd Marking Period will be our final fiction project of the year. Students will write and publish a novel. Each student will write their own novel, with a word goal minimum of 1,000-3,000 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. Here are more details:
- Here are some novels written by former students:
- 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.
- Half of this grade will be if students complete their own, personal word count goal.
Math: We practiced identifying hidden questions in multistep word problems. Journal P7-5 corresponds. Homework is to work on MobyMax Math or Khan Academy for 15 minutes or more.
Science: Students continued working on their Space Fashion Show scripts today (more details and a sample script). The Space Fashion Show is our final project of our space unit. Students are working in groups to write a fashion show script that tells about the sun, moon, or earth. One student from each group will “model” a costume of the sun, moon, or earth. The Space Fashion Show is Thursday, March 27 at 2:oo. Family members are invited!
Social Studies: Students worked in groups to make a comparison map of powers of the state and federal government, and shared powers.
- Yellow magnets: 0
- Orange magnets: 0
- Red magnets: 0
- STAR Awards: 0
- Magnets moved this week (goal: 9): 0
- Hours with no magnets (best: 73): 19
Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade online to see if your student moved their magnet.
Multiplication Madness
| W | L | PCT | GB | |
| Johnston | 7 | 0 | 1.00 | 0 |
| Moul | 2 | 2 | 0.50 | 3.5 |
| Bell | 2 | 4 | 0.33 | 4.5 |
| Howd | 2 | 5 | 0.29 | 5 |
| Watkins | 1 | 3 | 0.25 | 4.5 |
We have one more game tomorrow to see if we get in the tournament; the top four teams advance. Keep practicing!
Notes:
- See our St. Patrick’s Wearin’ o’ the Green pics here.
- Feb Factor Valentine’s Party pics.
- View the second marking period report card and third marking period progress report here.
- Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
- Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
- View grades, report cards, behavior, assignments, and attendance online.
Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.
