March 18th, 2015
Class activities for Wednesday, March 18
Spelling: We reviewed /ow/ patterns. This is the skill tested on tomorrow’s spelling test.
Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.
Reading: We practiced our class play today.
Writing: Students continued to work on the draft of their fiction novel project today.
Each student has a daily writing goal of 150-400 words. The novel project is due Friday, March 27. Students should be drafting now, with about 50-60% of the word count goal complete. Check StudentVue for your student’s progress, current as of two days ago.
Novel Writing Project 2015
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 1,500-4,000 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:
Math: We practiced evaluating expressions using parentheses today:
Skills that should be finished:
Skills your student should be finishing soon:
Skills we will be starting soon:
It would be helpful for students to continue working on these skills at home if they haven’t had enough time in class to master them.
Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes or more using MobyMax or Khan Academy, and to work on MobyMax FactMaster for 5 minutes.
Science: Students completed a MiniQuiz today about motion graphs, calculating speed, and how mass affects a collision.
Social Studies: We finished watching a “Dear America” video about a slave girl that helped others escape on the Underground Railroad.
Notes:
- Our next play practice is Monday, March 23 from 4-5; students can stay until 6 to work on the set.
- Our class play, The Legend of Lightning Larry, will be on March 31. Here is the practice schedule.
- 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.
- Fifth Grade Camp is May 7-8, 2015. Costs are $100 and payments are being accepted through May.
Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 6th grade.
