Unit 2 Week 3 Preview

This week we will emphasize comparing the past and the present (tested) and review comparing the effects of geography on lifestyles (tested) in order to be able to pass a test on Friday in Science and Social Science if all goes as expected. Students should be bringing home their notes from class today in order to study (discuss) with you for their test. They should be able to name several differences in lifestyle between people that live in a warm climate from those that live in the cold. They should also be able to mention some differences between living in the past and the present. We discussed differences in shopping (in the past- fewer stores with a wider variety of items and services), transportation (in the past- slower animal-powered vehicles on dirt roads), school (in the past- one-room school buildings for all ages without computers), and clothing (in the past- long-sleeved dresses and shirts with high collars and bows or ties, stockings or high socks and boots).

We will be spelling with 's' and 'r' consonant blends this week (step, spend, grab, trap).

Six students have completed seminar for their worker report. Those completing so far have done a very good job. They have not only demonstrated their skill in writing composition but their diligence and independence to work to completion.

Reading logs are due on Wednesday.

Topic 7 Math Test

Twenty-one students passed this test with a score of 16 (adjusted) or better. Thirteen students scored 20 points or better and there was one perfect score.

Forty-Eighth Day of School

Today we worked on our Tree Map describing our neighborhood worker. Four students have completed this task and have begun work on the draft of their worker report. We will publish our work as a poster for the worker.

In Social Science we discussed how the climate of a particular region affects the transportation, dress, and recreation of the people who live there (tested) We discussed how the resources of an area largely determines the materials used to build shelter (tested).

We took our topic 7 math test today and results will be forthcoming.

We will soon be ready to begin our timed math tests for facts up to 12. Perfect scores achieved on these tests receive a star on the star chart.

For discussion:

Why do the people of Alaska and the people of California dress differently?
What can the people of Spain and the people of California both do for fun that people who live in Alaska can not do? Conversely, what can the people of Alaska do that we cannot?

Home Activity Suggestion 2

We are two weeks away from our national election day. Every year Room 11 has the tradition of electing a class president. This supports the government portion of our Social Science standards.

Those students interested in running for class president will work on a speech at home to be delivered to the class on November 5, 2012. On November 6th we will vote for who we feel will make the best class president for the 2012-13 school year.

Unit 2 Week 2 Preview

This week we discuss cooperation and our role in helping out. We discuss families and neighbors working together to help each other. Our oral vocabulary words are appreciate, partner, cooperate, responsibility, and delectable. This week we will continue with the comprehension strategy of summarizing. We will focus on short vowel 'e' (tell, went) in spelling and touch on long 'o' spelled 'o_e' (hope, note). Our sight vocabulary words are eat, no, of, some, who. For grammar we will pluralize nouns requiring '-es' (lunches, dishes). We will complete a simple Flow Map in order to retell a story. We will complete our personal Tree Map of favorites and then begin work on a Tree Map which we will use for the brainstorming (prewrite) of our unit project on neighborhood workers. I would expect for our parents to know the neighborhood worker of their child's choosing and to be discussing the tools, dress, and duties of the worker in order to facilitate and improve writing fluency. 

In Social Science we will discuss at length how physical environments affect the way people live (food, shelter, clothing, transportation, recreation) (HSS 1.2.4) (tested). We will compare the environments of Alaska, Spain, and California.

In Science we will use our senses to describe a liquid which behaves like a solid.

In math we will complete topic 7 and take the test.

First District Quarterly Assessment

Of the 24 students taking the test 20 passed with 70% or better. One student passed with a perfect score and the class raw average was 78%. Five students scored 90% or better.

Forty-Fourth Day of School

We  have completed our first District Quarterly Math Exam. I will post results soon.

Today we participated in the Los Angeles Shake Out Emergency Preparedness Drill.

In Health we learned about wise choices. We learned the 6 tests for a wise decision/choice: is your decision healthful, safe, does it follow community/family guidelines, show good character, etc. We then made a "Caring Chart" to log caring actions.

Tomorrow we will complete a personal Tree Map categorizing favorite items in order to practice our Tree Map  skills for the prewrite portion of our unit project.

Topic 7 math test will be next week.

Forty-First Day of School

Today we learned the difference between a summary and a retell. We also generated a summary together of  a selection we read. Later we had another retell contest. Topic 6 math tests and school pictures were sent home.

Tomorrow morning we will take the open-ended response portion of the District Quarterly Math Exam.

Topic 6 Math Test

On topic 6 math test 22 students passed with a score of 17(adjusted) or better. One student scored perfectly while 14 students scored 20 or better.

Unit 2 Week 1 Preview

Our weekly themes in this second unit will center around our families and our neighbors having already examined ourselves, our abilities, and our growth. Our last idea about teams was that families are the most important kind of team. This week, we will explore the idea of families taking care of each other. For a unit project students will focus on a worker of their choice and write an expository piece about them. Our oral vocabulary words are guide, protect, provide, separate, wild. Our sight words are her, our, they, two. Our comprehension strategy this week will be to focus on summarizing a selection. We learn to summarize by developing the skill of distinguishing main ideas from details. Summarizing a selection is a different skill than a retell. Where a retell would be to tell a story in our own words with as much interesting detail as possible, a summary isolates only the most important ideas answering the basic questions of who? what? where? when? why? and perhaps how? This story is about a girl walking in the forest who seeks food and rest in the home of 3 bears. In phonics and spelling, will take a more detailed look at some long vowel spellings this week beginning with 'a_e'  (cane) and 'i_e' (ride) along with inflectional ending '-ed'. In grammar we will discuss sentence subjects and nouns.

For Social Science we will continue comparing and contrasting the past with the present (HSS 1.1.4) (tested). We will examine photos of schools long ago.

In Theatre Arts we will present our tableau we have used teamwork to create.

Thirty-Sixth Day of School

Today we learned about the life of Roberto Clemente. We learned about his constant charity to others less fortunate and his tragic early demise.

We have but a handful of students left to go through seminar before we close out our first Language Arts unit.

Math test on Friday, district quarterly math test the beginning of next week

Unit 1 Week 5 Preview

We close out the unit discussing what we like to do with our friends and what we can accomplish with teamwork. Our oral vocabulary words are challenging, charity, admire, focus, offer. Our sight words are help, now, use, very. We will develop our skill of identifying the author's purpose to develop the comprehension strategy of analyzing text structure. We will analyze texts where authors use description to give information. We will focus on final consonant blends (eg. -nk, -nt, -sk, -st, etc.) for decoding, and spelling.

For Social Science we will discuss the significance of Independence Day (HSS 1.3.2) and some national iconic symbols (HSS 1.3.3) (tested).

In Science we will begin to look at the properties of liquids (tested) and how they differ from those of solids. We will learn and use vocabulary concepts such to describe liquids such as opaque, transparent, translucent, and viscous.

In math we will continue with topic 6 and parts of 12.

In P.E. we will be using teamwork to accomplish various goals.

Thirty-Fourth Day of School

Twenty-Three students took topic 5 math test today; 20 students passed with a score of 16 or better. We achieved 3 perfect scores and 12 students scored 20 or better.

Today we were introduced to the idea of judging with criteria, a critical thinking technique. The process was demonstrated to judge our first story retell competition. Four groups presented a story-retell judged on the parameters of accuracy, clarity, and delivery.

Thirty-Second Day of School

Eight students have made it through the seminar process so far. One student felt motivated enough to go through seminar twice (having written 2 personal narratives) and already has word processed one which was copied to a flash drive. Three students have published their narratives. Several more students are on the verge of the seminar process.

We will take the topic 5 math test on Thursday.

For discussion: What is the topic of your personal narrative? Tell me some of the details of that topic.

Topic 4 Math Test

A score of 16  was a passing grade on this test, achieved by 16 students.  Five students scored at least 20 or more.