Unit 4 Week 2

For our current week of instruction we are discussing how families are the most important team we will be a part of. Our oral vocabulary words are concerned, fortunate, member, share, trust. Our sight words are about, give, pretty, were, write. We are spelling with the long-vowel patterns 'ee', and 'ea'. Our comprehension strategy is asking questions; our comprehension skill is characters and setting. Recalling what characters do in particular settings helps us to recall events in a story and improves our ability to retell. For grammar we are continuing our work with subject verb agreement with the verb to have.

We have recently worked on adjectives with their corresponding comparatives and superlatives.

In Social Science we discuss voting.

One Hundred-Third Day of School

Today we had a group retell competition as part of a learning center project rotation. We also tried our hand at sorting particulate solids using graded screens in Science. We did not get to the math lesson so we took home the topic overview for the weekend.

You should find a list of names sent home for next Thursday's Valentine's exchange.

Reminder: citizenship speeches are due on the 15th.

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.