Week at a Glance 9-19-16

*Sorry this is a day late...

This Week At A Glance

General Note:  All the students have been assigned a study buddy.  The students also moved seats so that they sit next to their buddy.  The purpose of this is to establish more of a community in our classroom.  Study Buddies will look out for each other and help one another as needed.  If you have any questions about your child's role or this process, please contact me.

Reading - We finish up assessments this week and will be ready to start groups next week.  The students will also review to Reading Response.  This means that they will be reading and writing a response to what they read.  The students are already practicing this with Reading Logs, but they need to make sure their response can be backed up with evidence from the text.

Math - Unit 2 begins this week.  Your child brought home a Family Letter on Friday.  Please make sure to keep it some place safe and accessible.  You might need to refer to it when helping with homework.  This week's lessons focus on Number Stories (Story Problems), Extending Facts for Addition and Subtraction, and Multi-Step Number Stories (Story Problems).

Science - This is the last week for the students to complete their plant projects.  Most of the posters are completed and some of the students are working on Discovery Education.  All projects must be brought into school by the 23rd.  If your child is unable to bring their 3-D model on the bus, you will have to bring the project to and from school.  
Only 6 seeds were ready to be planted last week.  Those little plants have sprouted through the soil and growing away.

Writing - Opinion writing will be introduced this week.  In this writing genre, the students learn how to create an argument statement and support their opinions with facts.  

Spelling -  This week's spelling pattern is short e words.  The spelling list has been posted to the blog.  Please make sure your child completes their nightly homework to practice these words. 

Well Done!

Thank you to the following students:

Isabella B.

Brooke

Shelby

Mika

Camden

Chase

The sub left me a note stating that the six of you were especially well behaved and helpful while I was gone yesterday.  

Well Done!  I am very proud of you!

READING LOG

Here's a copy of the reading log as well...

Reading Log

Sick Day

I am not feeling well today and will not be at school.  Here are the Spelling List and homework for this week and the Math Practice sheet for today.  

See you all tomorrow!

Unit 2 Math 2-1

Week 4 Spelling Short e

Spelling Challenge Words

opening 

whether

weather

cancel

express

lead

led

enter

beggar

already

separate

medal

metal

ready

empty

plenty

fence

edge

escape

expert 

seldom

depend

clever

carpenter

guess

guest

Week at a Glance 9-5-16

This Week At A Glance

Reading - We are still working on building our stamina for Independent Reading.  While the students read independently, I am pulling students in order to assess their reading levels.  This will help me to best meet the individual needs of all the students.  The students are also working on ReadWorks.org and ixl.com.  These are programs that your child can work on at home as well.  He or she should know their username and password.  I will be sending an e-mail and note home with instructions on how to access these sites this week.

Math - This week's math lessons are all about multiplying, dividing and elapsed time.  Your child will be bringing home flashcards to practice with on Wednesday.  Make sure they are practicing with an adult who can check their accuracy.

Science -Our plant unit continues this week with some experiments.  The students will be dissecting a lima bean and looking at all the parts that grow into an adult plant.  Also, all students will begin to grow their own seed.  These will be kept in the classroom so that the students can easily observe them.

Writing - You may have seen a packet in your child's writing folder that was titled Writing cubicle.  This packet contains the focus of our lessons this week and should be kept in the folder.  I will be teaching mini-lessons about:  What Writers Write, The Writing Process, Revision and Editing, Prewriting, Why Writers Write, Supporting Information, Transition Words, and Peer Editing.  When we are through, the students will have a divided with reference information to use while they write.

This Week at a Glance 8/29/16

This Week At A Glance

Reading - We are working on building our stamina for Independent Reading.  The students are required to read for longer periods of time without distractions or interrupting their classmates.  We also started using an online program called ReadingWorks.  The students access the website through my blog.  I have assigned articles for them to read and questions for them to answer.  They can complete these assignments at their own pace.  If you have a computer and Internet access from home, ask your child to show you what they have been doing.

Math - This week the students will be working on elapsed time, scaled bar graphs and multiplication strategies.  Please keep in mind that the new math program spirals throughout the year, so you may see some of these skills revisited later on.  This gives the students a chance to review and enrich their learning.

Science -We are still working on our Plants Unit.  I will be sending a note home with your child regarding a project for this unit.  Please look for a green note in your child's mail on Wednesday.  This week's focus is on what plants need to grow and the life cycle of plants.

Writing - The students are being re-introduced to Writer's workshop.  This week's lessons will focus around A Protected Writing Time, Ideas and Extending Writing.  

Spelling Homework

Dear Parent(s), 

     Your child has Spelling homework for the 1^st time this year.  He or she will have an assignment every night Monday-Thursday.  Each week the spelling words will focus on a new pattern.  There are 15 core words and the students choose 5 challenge words that match the pattern.  I will post the spelling words on my blog weekly.  This week’s pattern is short a.  Please look over your child’s list and help them come up with 5 challenge words.  Tonight’s assignment is to write the spelling words 5 times each.

Here is the list of the core words for your convenience:

splash                  happen                  crack

scrap                    flag                        fancy

strap                     craft                       grand

snack                    map                       trap

hammer                dance                    stand

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  Thank you for your support at home.

Sincerely, 

Nikki Chapranda