Sixty-Seventh Day of School

Today we had a Flow Map-retell contest of the selection, On My Way to School.

In Social Science we reviewed how we are a part of many groups (family, team, class, community) and in order for everyone to get along in those groups, members must follow rules and have common courtesy.

 In Visual Art we learned that "line" is one of the basic elements of art (tested). We learned a basic vocabulary for discussing line and practiced making various types of lines.

Unit 3 Week 1 Preview

In our new unit we will be exploring fun and laughter. In the first week we ask what makes us laugh and how do we make other people laugh. Our oral vocabulary is amuse, delighted, humorous, mood, ridiculous. Our reading sight words are away, school, today, way, and why. For spelling we will focus on 'long-a' spellings. We will memorize the first stanza of our vowel poem. We will listen to and generate rhyme. We will use a Flow Map to generate a retell. We will incorporate time-order cues and words into our retell.

In Social Science we will discuss good sportsmanship and rules (HSS 1.1.2) We will also learn the basic components of a simple map.

In Visual Art we will discuss line as the first basic element.

Second Reporting Period

We expand our writing proficiency to include the genres of persuasion and opinion. Students will be required to write a time-limited opinion piece on demand which will be panel-reviewed for a district portfolio score. This score will weigh heavily on this term's final score in writing. In reading, 45 WPM are required with a timed independent retelling scored for accuracy and length.

In Science we will take a closer look at air and its influence on us and our environment.

In Social Science we will be constructing various types of maps. We will need to name and locate the 7 continents and 4 major oceans as well as the general location of Los Angeles on a world map.

For the Arts we will focus on Visual Art and its 7 basic elements.

Sixty-Fourth Day of School

The principal was impressed by our unit projects. Each child that had a completed project presented it to the principal who then interviewed the child regarding their worker descriptions. We then challenged him to a game of noun claps. We were unable to trick him but it was fun.

At-Home Support

In order to complete one of the unit projects for the next unit, students will need to collect favorite family jokes, riddles, and anecdotes. As family members come to visit this week, have your child take notes on jokes and funny stories family members remember. Notes can also be taken over the 3 week winter holiday break.

Happy holiday to everyone!

Sixty-Third Day of School

First progress reports will be sent home tomorrow.

We have begun our study of clock reading. We will be required to read an analog clock to the hour and half-hour.

Most if not all students will have a Thanksgiving surprise completed to take home tomorrow.

Eight students were able to complete their unit projects. Some students were able to complete more than one  project. All completed projects will be reviewed by the principal tomorrow.

Unit 2 Week 5 Preview

For the next few instructional days we will ask what neighbors do together for fun. Our oral vocabulary words will be: audience, entertain, brilliant, enjoy, perform. Our sight words will be: all, put, show, together, under, want. In phonics we will be introduced to the digraphs 'sh,' and 'th'. We will again generate retells and summaries of our selections using visualization and Flow Maps

Sixtieth Day of School

Six students have completed their unit projects.

Today we are bringing home a sample of "gak" from our science experiment. It is fairly harmless if a few simple precautions are heeded:

1. It is not edible.
2. It should be kept away from any textile which can not be thrown into a washing machine.

This week we wrote cards which will be sent to armed service workers by one of our parents volunteering this weekend for Veterans' Day. Hope everyone has a good holiday.

Unit 2 Week 4 Preview

Continuing our exploration of families and neighbors, we ask the question: what is a home? Our oral vocabulary words are collapse, company, construct, entire, and material. Our high-frequency focus words are again, could, make, one, then, three. For spelling we will focus on short-vowel 'u'. Our grammar rule will be proper nouns and capitalization.

Monday we will read our class president speeches and Tuesday we will vote. A copy of our voting ballot with those children making speeches will be sent home. This, along with a copy of their speech may be an example of those documents you might consider scanning or typing to your child's flash drive.

For discussion: What constitutes a home? (A family or dweller, the building materials, and the neighborhood or community.)