March 4th, 2016
Class activities for Friday, March 4
Spelling: None today.
Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Friday.
Reading: None today due to Career Fair. Students received their latest STAR Reading Level this week; here is our class average:
As you can see, our class made a large improvement in our class reading level! We’ve been trying to make changes to boost this score:
- Don’t Break the Chain at home reading contest to encourage everyone to read 20 minutes daily.
- We increased our MobyMax Reading Skills practice from two to five days a week.
- Students tried to take more time; our class data shows that students that take more than 15 minutes on the STAR test to better.
So far, it looks like our hard work is paying off. We are now back on track to reach our class reading level goal of 5.4.
Writing: None today due to Career Fair. For students working on their persuasive letter (more details here, here’s a checklist, here’s an example letter we wrote together), it is due Monday, March 7.
Our current project is our final fiction piece of the year. Each student has a daily writing goal of 150-300 words. The novel project is due Wednesday, March 30. Your student should be prewriting at this point. Look below for more details.
Novel Writing Project 2016
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 1,500-3,000 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:
- 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 on this in school 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 after school 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.
- Half of this grade will be if students complete their own, personal word count goal.
Homework is work on writing for at least 15 minutes.
Math: None today due to the Career Fair. Here are some skills we’ve been working on lately:
Students also received their last STAR Math level score. Here’s our class results:
As you can see, we improved past our yearly goal. We set a stretch goal of 5.4, and we our on our way to achieving that soon!
Homework is to practice MobyMax Math or Khan Academy for at least 15 minutes.
Science: We read about how the moon has many more craters than earth, but has no atmosphere, liquid water, or life like earth does. Homework is to finish Investigation Review p. 41 started in class.
Social Studies: None today due to Career Fair.
Notes:
- Spring Conferences are March 8-10. View or edit or conference time here.
- The 4th Grade Musical has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 22. Students need to meet in our class at 6:00 pm, wearing something nice in black or white.
- Looking for a way to motivate your student to read at home? Try Don’t Break the Chain. It’s a simple way to building reading habits.
- Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
- Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
- View grades, assignments, and attendance at ParentVue or StudentVue.
Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.
