I have abandoned the blog this week. I sent so many class emails, I spaced it. I am going to email out a copy of the extra credit packet tomorrow, so if you need to add a new email to our distribution list you can let me know by sending an email to avillastrigo@northdavisprep.org. Tomorrow is the gift exchange, don't forget to bring one if you haven't yet. We will have the elementary sing-a-long at the elementary building. Last year there were parents there, so if parents would like to come you are welcome. There are no chairs to my knowledge.

We had excellent skits today. The progress from the dress rehearsal yesterday was truly amazing. You can all be very proud of yourselves because you did everything on your own. I didn't demand anything was done in a specific manner and you all came up with great ideas. I think we all had fun learning to work with others and working on fluency was pretty painless this way. Well done with your acting, fluency, and group work!

Just spelling practice tonight and the vocabulary cube (due Thur).

*We have a read-in Friday schoolwide. I just found out kids get to bring pillows, blankets, and a favorite book. It should be a great reading celebration!

Homework for the week:
Spelling is stapled in a packet this week by mistake, but it should work fine. Students can work ahead if they wish, but just the first activity is due tomorrow, the next activity Wednesday, and so on. I would also like students to brainstorm three ideas for their persuasive essay outline on "Why fifth graders should OR should not have access to pop and snack machines at school."

Science Fair
Some students and parents cringe at the words, but we will do our best to make this as smooth as possible at home and it truly is a rewarding learning experience in the end.
-A detailed outline was sent home today. Parents: after going over it with your child, please sign the pink slip to verify they shared it with you.
-The sheet stapled behind the info. sheet is the planning sheet, which is due Friday. I will conference with each student early next week and approve projects that may be started as soon as the holiday break.
-A journal will come home with students when we go to break which includes structured graphic organizers and help for completing the project.

Read-a-thon and Early testing
The POET is having a breakfast for the teachers on Friday of this week, so parents will be teaching our class. Students get to have a read-a-thon! Don't forget a favorite book. We will also have our weekly quizzes on Thursday.


Vocabulary words are the same as last week--these will be used in skits, so you should know them well.

articulation- Expressing in coherent verbal form. "the articulation of my feelings"
blocking- Shut out from view.
dialogue -The lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction.
gesture- Motion of hands or body to emphasize or help to express a thought or feeling.
improvise- Manage in a makeshift way; Perform without preparation or come up with the best lines possible when lines are forgotten.
inflection- A manner of speaking in which the loudness or pitch or tone of the voice is modified. monologue -A (usually long) dramatic speech by a single actor.
pitch -A measure of the highness or lowness of a sound.
posture- Position or arrangement of the body and its limbs.
projection -Theatrical definition: Speaking in a voice that is strong enough to be heard clearly at the furthest points of the room.
staging -The production of a drama on the stage.

Spelling- Alternate list
Breathe
Usually
Vacuum
Picnicking
Bouquet
Annually
Pursuit
Bouillon
Actual
League
Mimicking
Variety
Coupon
Maneuver
Curiosity
Peculiar
Visually
Courtesy
Initial
Pursue

Spelling- fifth grade list
Prerecorded
Reappear
Postscript
Cooperate
Prehistoric
Posttest
Coauthors
Recharge
Precaution
Postwar
Rejoin
Coexist
Prefix
Coworker
Reform
Prepaid
Refresh
Postdate
Reenter
Reclaim

Re-write any words missed from the practice test 10X and vocabulary puzzle. Don't forget to look over your skit and think about which parts you might like to take.

Spelling/Vocab. practice and finishing the rough draft of persuasive essays. Tomorrow we go to the computer lab to type our essays.

A note was sent home with students about our holiday gift exchange. I recommend the dollar store because it is a five dollar limit. Many find a great toy or game to bring for just a dollar.

Stay tuned for a couple other notes home. We have information about the science fair and another about holiday events going home this friday. We have almost all the report card envelopes back. Thanks for helping us reuse these!

Tonight's homework:

Persuasive Essay Outline (My city or town is the best place to live): We had quite some time for this in class. Most students have the main ideas down, which is the hard part. Just filling in the introduction and conclusion is mainly what I saw that wasn't finished. *Parents* Ask your child to show you their essay outline and maybe you can add to their ideas if they need help.

Spelling and Vocabulary Practice (We did 20 min. during Centers today, so hopefully you are almost done with this, too)

Have a great night!

Our vocabulary words for the next two weeks:

articulation Expressing in coherent verbal form. "the articulation of my feelings"

blocking Shut out from view.

dialogue The lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction.

gesture Motion of hands or body to emphasize or help to express a thought or feeling.

improvise Manage in a makeshift way; Perform without preperation or come up with the best lines possible when lines are forgotten.

inflection A manner of speaking in which the loudness or pitch or tone of the voice is modified.

monologue A (usually long) dramatic speech by a single actor.

pitch A measure of the highness or lowness of a sound.

posture Position or arrangement of the body and its limbs.

projection Theatrical definition: Speaking in a voice that is strong enough to be heard clearly at the furthest points of the room.

staging The production of a drama on the stage.


Unit 15 (Fifth Grade)
Prefixes: pre-, re-, post-, co-
1. prerecorded
2. reappear
3. postscript
4. cooperate
5. prehistoric
6. posttest
7. coauthors
8. recharge
9. precaution
10. postwar
11. rejoin
12. coexist
13. prefix
14. coworker
15. reform
16. prepaid
17. refresh
18. postdate
19. reenter
20. reclaim

"Alternate List"
Frequently misspelled words
1. breathe
2. usually
3. vacuum
4. picnicking
5. bouquet
6. annually
7. pursuit
8. bouillon
9. actual
10. league
11. mimicking
12. variety
13. coupon
14. maneuver
15. curiosity
16. peculiar
17. visually
18. courtesy
19. initial
20. pursue

*Homework should be short tonight. We did the vocabulary sentences together and students did one of their own. We also did one section of the spelling practice together.

No homework tonight, but you are strongly advised to review for tomorrow. We will review just a little bit before the unit tests. One resource you can use is myutips.com.

I wish I would have thought to suggest this before today. I was trying out the online test applicaton for an absent student and realized it would be a great resource in studying for anyone.

The class site is kind of strange because I didn't get to choose the wording in it. The practice test can be found at: drewnal22.myutips.org -- select the "Matter Test" then "simple log in." You should be able to log in without a password. Just type in your name and it will take you to a practice test. As you do each question you can practice the sorts of wording you may see and the kinds of tables, charts, and graphs that may be confusing.

We have spelling and vocab. practice tonight.

No assigned homework tomorrow night or Friday, but you can always study your words for the test Tuesday.

We will finish our novel tomorrow! It was hard to put it down today, so both classes voted to keep reading longer than I had planned and we will do a little bit of extra writing tomorrow to make up for today.

We have had some great conversations and many students have written me notes and put them in our "comment box" about change our class could make this term. We are all working together to move forward as a class and individually in our learning. Students have done an amazing job of reflecting on themselves this week and helping me with things I can do to better teach them in the new term!

Fifth grade spelling list:

Unit 13
r-Controlled vowels: /ôr/, /îr/

1. inform
2. ornament
3. disappear
4. pioneer
5. important
6. warmth
7. serious
8. forever
9. reward
10. appear
11. perform
12. force
13. peer
14. weary
15. pier
16. fortune
17. career
18. pierce
19. formal
20. enormous


"Alternate List"

Suffix: -ly
1. absolutely
2. briefly
3. vague
4. fortunately
5. urgent
6. particular
7. instantly
8. necessarily
9. deliberate
10. particularly
11. immediately
12. urgently
13. accurately
14. deliberately
15. presently
16. readily
17. approximately
18. vaguely
19. positively
20. absolute

* I forgot to write on the previous h.w. post that students have a paper they need to discuss with a parent regarding their academic strengths and difficulties thus far. I tried to explain to many students who worried that they aren't "bad" at anything that the difficulties they list don't have to be seen as failures, but rather the things they find most difficult about learning/school. Parents, you have an opportunitity to give your student some input about how they can achieve the things they want to in their learning. This week students will be filling out a performance rubric and I will fill out a similar one. We will conference about their progress during and compare our perspectives about their learning. Thanks for supporting your students!

Monday night homework

We will be practicing spelling and vocabulary words again this week, but the tests will not be until the Tuesday before break. This way everyone can start out showing excellent learning for the first tests of the second trimester. We are wrapping up our Matter unit and finishing our novel before the break as well. Can't wait for a great week!

End of Novel Vocabulary

brusque: adjective abrupt and short speech or behavior, often seen as rude

chagrin: noun,verb Strong feelings of embarrassment.

consolation: noun The comfort you feel when consoled in times of disappointment, the act of giving comfort to someone.

flip: noun,verb,adjective Hot or cold drink containing a beaten egg.

gruel: noun a thin almost liquid food made from boiling oatmeal or cornmeal

instigation: verb Intentional triggering or urging on.

poignant: adjective very emotional, moving effect

sundry: noun,adjective miscellaneous and unspecified, a group of random things

surreptitious: adjective Something done in a secret or quiet manner, great effort is made to be sneaky.

tryst: noun a secret meeting


Spelling lists will be posted tomorrow evening.

No homework this week! I am just as happy as all the students about it!!! We will be taking this week as an opportunity to delve into persuasive writing and get much reading in from our novel.
*Any made up work needs to be to me by Friday--after this weekend I will not be able to alter grades even if I want to because they will be locked.

A special thanks to our parent helpers! I couldn't spend as much time planning fun things like our science labs without all the help I get grading and working one on one with students. A couple of things coming up:

• We are hoping to get some more parents who like to work with kids in to read with students in the hall who are struggling.
• If you are interested in helping with a quilt we are hoping to make for our "Colonial Christmas" projects in December or have ideas about how we can best go about that, I would love to hear from you. I have some ideas about how I would like to do it, but don't sew myself. The idea is that this could become a service project for a family in need.

No homework tonight except for studying. Some need to practice the words they missed on the pre-test today. I gave flash cards to all so that students can quiz themselves or have a parent quiz them. Looking forward to more book report presentations tomorrow. They have been great so far!

Some kids didn't finish writing letters to the children in Africa and chose to take them home. This is a great service project headed up by our former librarian and many students are interested in helping kids in Africa after learning a little bit about their lives. No assigned homework, but make sure you are keeping up and using the class time provided. If not, take it home to finish. We will not have spelling or vocabulary next week, so lets end this tri with our best efforts in learning these new words.

Here is a reminder of the lists and book report criteria, if needed:

Vocabulary-
apprehension (aprihhEHnshuhn) noun dread; fear of a future event

discern (dihsurn) verb To come to know, recognize, or understand

docilely being easy to teach or train (calm)

exasperation (EHksaspurayshuhn) noun A great feeling of annoyance.

filigree (fihluhgree) noun ornamental work especially of fine wire

hornbook (hawrnbuk) noun a leaf or page containing the alphabet, religious materials, etc.,formerly used in teaching children to read.

merriment noun Activities that are enjoyable or amusing.

nonchalant (nonshuhlont) adjective Having the appearance of not caring;

qualms (kwomz) a sudden disturbing feeling, uneasiness.

resolutely (rEHsuhlootlee) adjective,adverb with a firm, unwavering mind

Spelling

-alternate list-
wrestle
scenic
guarantee
descendant
knoll
align
spaghetti
herb
sought
honesty
schedule
thoroughly
gnarled
hustle
descend
scenery
exhibition
resign
gauge
jostle

-Reg. Fifth list-
Repair
Aware
Carpet
Pardon
Guard
Remark
Scarce
Declare
Argue
Department
Vary
Prepare
Flair
Article
Farther
Regard
Area
Harvest
Despair
Flare

Book Report Options

1) One book report is due on the Monday of the last week of the term (but some scheduled to present Thursday and friday.)
2) Choose a challenging book at your grade level or higher
3) Select a different genre each term
4) Create a different type of report each term.

Here are the options for projects:

a) Interview a character from your book. Write at least ten questions that will give the character the opportunity to discuss his/her thoughts and feelings about his/her role in the story. After creating interview questions, you will dress up as that character and answer the questions in front of the class. If you select this option, please see your teacher to set up a time to perform your interview in class.

b) Construct puppets and present a show of one or more interesting parts of the book.

c) Read a book that has been made into a movie. Write an essay (1-2 pages) comparing the movie version with the book and which was better. Support your argument.

d) Write and perform an original song that tells the story of the book.

e) Write the plot for a sequel to your book (1-2 pages).

Monday night

Students earned no homework because they were awesome and focused on learning with the substitutes Thursday and Friday last week. This means I have given a great deal of class time to finish assignments. Most kids finished, if you didn't you might have a little bit to wrap up at home. This spelling and vocabulary practice is important. Some of the practice sheets have been a bit sloppy, in that words are continually misspelled or not double checked. The purpose of these is to practice and if we practice it incorrectly it will be hard to learn it the right way. Quizzes from last week were a little ugly for spelling and vocabulary and I know those that didn't do well can do better because you have in the past.

Reminders:

• Book reports due friday
• Book orders due in a couple of weeks
• New reading calendars will be distributed this week and last month's can be turned in

Spelling and vocabulary page tonight! Our test is Thursday this week, so tomorrow night our homework will be studying flash cards that we will make in class. Parents can sign the planner to verify about 15 min. of practice.

* A student earned a special class share time in homeworkopoly and wanted to show her dog to the class next Tue. Please let me know if your child is severely allergic or if the short visit will present another problem.

Tonights homework was a spelling practice and five vocabulary pictures from The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I apologize for few posts the past few days--an upset, teething baby is taking over my nights lately!

These are our vocabulary words:

defiance (dihfiiuhns) noun Refusal to do something, go against authority "child's defiance against his mothers request to pick up his toys caused her to become angry"

fervent (furvuhnt) adjective Extremely emotional "a fervent desire to change the student government caused the students to become excited"

incoherent (ihnkohhihruhnt) adjective Without logical or meaningful connection. "a turgid incoherent presentation"

incredulously adjective,adverb With disbelief. "the woman looked up at her incredulously"

malicious (muhlihshuhs) adjective Having or showing a desire to harm another. "malicious gossip hurts people"

precarious (preekEHreeuhs) adjective Dangerous, not stable "the precarious life of an undersea diver"

ravenous (ravuhnuhs) adjective Extremely hungry or eating food in great quantities as though very hungry "a ravenous boy gobbled down his food"

tangibly adjective real, able to be touched, able to be understood; "The girls saw the kittens were tangibly soft."

tremulously (trEHmyuhluhslee) adjective,adverb Shaking, trembling, or quivering. "the leaves rustled tremulously in the wind"

vagueness (vaygnihs) adjective unclearly "vagueness makes for an unclear explanation"




Spelling lists vary. Students, share your list with a parent. :)

R.R. Week (red ribbon)

Shelby Jeppesen is Writing This Post: Red ribbon week is a big week at NDPA. We have contests for coloring and essays. This year's red ribbon week theme is.....

" I will help my friends stay off drugs. " Most of the people in our school don't do drugs but as we get older it will start to get more tempting. Pretty soon you'll become addicted. You will try to stop but you can't. It'll become harder & harder to stop. It'll have to be a merical if you stop.That's why you should never even start. Mrs. Gomberg said, "Parents please put as much red ribbon on your cars a possible" in 2007. If you drive past our school you will see red ribbon near the front & back.
Parents, please put as much red ribbon on your car as possible.

Jakob Roundy is writing this post: The fall carnival is coming up on Saturday. The carnival is also a big week at our school. For more information read the paragraph below.

The fall carnival will be taking place at the elementry school building on Saturday,October 24.Please make sure you get your tickets before hand so you won't have to wait in line

Tonight's homework is practice with the definitions for vocabulary and a spelling practice page.

Six kids were missing H.W. in the morning class and 3 in the afternoon. I would love to see those kids get homework turned in tomorrow. Tonights assignment was much simpler and we took 15 minutes in each class to work on it.

Poems are due tomorrow so we can bind our books. Today was so much fun with Discovery Gateway. Students recieved free passes to visit the children's museum.

I had some students working on a story with this information and they weren't able to finish, so here is what we have going for the rest of red ribbon week:

WEDNESDAY, October 21
Enjoy your life by choosing the right time to be silly, funny, happy and
serious. “Sock and Shade out Drugs!” Lions, wear your craziest, cool,
funny, silly, cute, fancy, sporty SOCKS and SUNGLASSES today!
(*Remember: This is Picture Retake Day!)

THURSDAY, October 22
Rise above the influence and count on a friend to help you be “Drug Free!”
It is crazy to do drugs. We’d rather have CRAZY HAIR today.
NOTE: NO HAIR DYES

FRIDAY, October 23
Drug Free Lions are the coolest and that is how we will stay. Show your school
spirit today on FREE DRESS DAY! (This should be the type of dress in any school without a uniform--clothing innapropriate at any other school should be left at home.)

Tonight we have vocabulary and spelling homework in which students must find the sentence the word is in and copy. The vocab. can be a little bit time consuming, but our activities for the rest of the week will be shorter. I would like students to see the word used appropriately. Last week many of the sentences written by students demonstrated that the meanings weren't clear. We did at least three examples in each class, so that some of the assignment would be done.

Tomorrow we have Discovery Gateway bringing a field trip to us! This is a great presentation on the states of matter and then students get to do a hands on lab. Ask your child about it tomorrow after school!

We have been taking extra precautions like washing and sanitizing hands more often to prevent the spread of the flu and H1N1. The school has purchased items for each classroom to help us keep clean. In our class we are taking the time to quickly wash desks before switching classes and wiping down all surfaces. This is said to greatly decrease the chances of the spread of the virus as it has quite a long life on surfaces.

Tonight there shouldn't be much homework so that you have time to review your vocabulary. Just 10x each for any missed words from the spelling practice test. The words are difficult this week, so have a parent quiz you, make flash cards or cover up the words on your copy to quiz yourself. Make sure to bring your Witch of Blackbird Pond book to class tomorrow.

Tonights vocabulary homework is a crossword definition with the definitions as clues. Students: talk to your parents about your words. Try to explain them to someone else. On the test you will have to know your words well enough to match them with a sentence that they can fit into. The spelling homework is editing a paragraph and writing a paragraph using our words.
Over 90% of you are on track to play homeworkopoly with ALL homework turned in so far. Keep it up!

Home work tonight: picture vocab practice, spelling and reading.

We ahve spelling and vocabulary practice. Keep reading for our book report next month. Progress reports will be sent out this Friday.

No homework tonight (yay), although quite a few students have something missing. I have the homework records in hardcopy and will transfer to the online grade book this evening. Students should know what they are missing. I told them the day that was missing, but they have also filled out a slip of paper that says they know they came unprepared/without the assignment done.

We tried to do a study hall the last 12 minutes of class today, but it didn't work out very well. We tried both homerooms and, honestly, it was too disorganized for most to get much work done. At the very least, I hope it helped students to figure out what they were missing.

I am so excited for us to get farther into the book, The Witch of Blackbird Pond next week. Parents, ask your student about what they are learning about the time period from this entertaining, historical fiction peice. Have a great weekend!


*The stack of no names is HUGE. It is very discouraging to see all the work that has taken so much time just abandoned--I hope we get these papers claimed so they don't have to go to the trash.

Vocabulary reading about the California Redwoods and practice the spelling words missed by writing each one missed ten times OR many have no homework!

Tonight we have one more spelling and vocabulary practice. Tomorrow we will take the practice test. No homework tomorrow if you get 100% on your test. Book orders still due Friday, I have extra copies if you would like one.

Tonight's H.W.

Homework was spelling and vocabulary practice, but many students finished during our centers. Share your homework pages with a parent and see if they will check it for you!

Some kids have their "choice poem" to finish today that we have been working on since last week. It has a check list with it that will help with completion, don't forget to include the items that will help enhance your poem.

I passed out Extra Credit packets to students. Many said they wanted an opportunity like this at conferences, so here it is. :) It isn't due until October 23rd, but it can be turned in early. Remember--it is extra credit, not mandatory.

*Book report due next month (the week before the end of the term) keep reading. Calendars will be out tomorrow.

Here is the book order link:
www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
username: mrsvillastrigosclass
password: ndpa
(no caps in either one--they are due Friday the 10th to get our books by the end of the month)

No homework yesterday and no post--I was out for the day. Our post is a little late tonight! Many students have science for homework tonight--it is a fun assignment we did about specialized structures. Students should invent three unique specialized structures for an insect, humanoid, or animal-like creature from the planet Wakyabi. Most of the work for this should be done as we had about thirty minutes of class time.

No homework tomorrow, but I will post early in the day with the link to scholastic. I didn't realize I had to enable online ordering each month until a parent clued me in that it wasn't working. I meant to bring the codes home tonight and forgot, so I promise to send that out tomorrow! We recieved FIVE free book coupons for last month's online orders...woohoo! Enough for a new literature circle novel. Thank you parents and students saving allowance.

Some students have a homework practice sheet, but most do not. Study, study for tomorrow's test!!!

Acrostic by Abi Durham

Acrostic by Cache Arbon

Just spelling tonight! Study for our test Thursday.

Tonight we just have a short spelling practice. See you at conferences this week. Parents, your student has a paper with your appointment on it if you weren't able to make an appointment online.

No weekend homework! Grades will be fully up to date later this weekend. Hopefully your child shared the access codes and note from the fifth grade team stating that it isn't quite ready. L.A. is close to accurate, but science isn't quite there. I wanted to spotlight some awesome student work. Here are a few samples of poetry:

Haiku by Morgan Schmakski

Poem from the heart by: Angela Littlefield

Cinquain by Jakob Roundy

Limerick by Kristin Peters

Stay tuned for more!!!

Some students have no homework tonight! Parents, ask your student to see their practice test. We finished ITBS today, woohoo! Tomorrow we have an assembly from Front Runner and I will be passing out codes to check the gradebook at home. I know some teachers gave them out yesterday and you are probably anxious to get them, however our gradebooks were just set up this week. I have been tracking grades in a free online program and all I have to do is transfer them over. Mr. Garrido and I preferred to pass them out when you can actually log in and see something accurate.

Tonight is the last night for homework if you get 100% on the pre-test tomorrow. Happy studying...it is such awesome training to get into!

*Scholastic order should be here soon. I put in our order on the 11th and it usually takes a week for them to arrive.

Tonight's h.w. was a spelling and vocab. practice. Come prepared and only two more nights of h.w. to play homeworkopoly! We will continue ITBS tests tomorrow and our horse heredity/ family tree projects.

Tonight's homework

All students have a practice page for spelling and vocabulary. This program wouldn't let me copy and paste our word lists, so I will email a copy out tonight.

Some students are still finishing the cinquain poem. Students, make sure to do your final copy in pen and include a quality colorful picture. We have had parts of three class days to work on this, so it should be in the final stages.

The afternoon class had an additional assignment. I asked students a VERY broad question about how they use class time and I am looking for a paragraph (at least) answer. It has been a struggle to get focused in the afternoon for the majority of students (which is typical) and I am interested to see some things that students share. It will be a good conversation starter so that our class can problem solve and begin to use our time more effectively because we have so much good stuff to learn. There is no time to waste!

Book orders should arrive soon. We had a great turn out and the company gives us points for every order. We are working on getting some interesting books together for literature circles later in the year.

If you have embroidery floss that you aren't using we would love to take it off your hands. Please don't worry about going out and buying anything, though. We are doing a cool yarn painting project lead by Mrs. Roundy who just taught about Grandma Moses.

• Today we worked on our cinquain poetry, started the poetry reading contest, and practiced spelling.
• Tonight's h.w.--Practice spelling (write words missed on the pre-test 10x each)
• Book orders due tommorow
• Parents: Don't forget to schedule parent teacher conferences online using the directions your child brought home yesterday. We look forward to seeing you!!!

Tonight's h.w.: Spelling and Vocabulary. Study, study tonight so that you will get 100% on the pre-test tomorrow! Tonight will be your last h.w. night of the week if you ace the pre-test, too.

Tonight's homework is the spelling w.s. titled "Spelling and Writing." Study your words because it is a short week.

*Book orders due to me by Friday. Let me know if you want to do an online order and need help.

Thursday and Friday

Hola! I missed posting earlier today, but wanted to update everyone for the weekend. Hopefully everyone practiced the spelling words missed on the pre-test this evening. Every Thursday night the only homework will be writing each word missed 10 times. Tomorrow we will have our quiz and there will be no homework over the weekend.

Book orders

Book orders are due Friday, September 11 and there are some great deals for as inexpensive as $1. You can now order online! Every online order (no matter how small) gets our class a free book. I would like to use our points to order some great books for literature circles this year. Literature circles will allow us to read at least one more novel this year and allow for differentiation by interest and/or ability. I plan to do it with or without points, but it will help with cost. To order online go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs.
Username: mrsvillastrigosclass
Password: ndpa

Thursday night

Tonight could be your last night of homework for the week! Study hard and you will ace the practice test tomorrow. All those who get 100% will be exempt from the test Friday. We gave Haikus back to everyone today--don't forget to improve yours if it didn't quite fit the grading criteria. Those will be due tomorrow along with the family tree, which should be about finished. Tomorrow we will analyze the poetic devices used in some poetry.

Tuesday

I missed yesterday's blog! We are doing great anyway...at least 90% return rate on homework so far.

Tonight's homework: Spelling and Vocabulary practice page and some students may have questions about family members to help them complete their mini family tree tomorrow.

*Reminder* pictures are tomorrow. The smallest package is $7.50 and they go up into the mid 20s for larger packages. If your child lost the envelope one from home is fine. Even if you don't order pictures, a picture will be taken for the year book.

Have a wonderful weekend! No homework assigned (typically our vocab./spelling practice will be Monday-Thursday). It was a fast Friday today: we did our weekly testing, worked in groups to show our learning on families in Spanish, and enjoyed some free time we earned.

Last night's homework was a little flawed. It didn't have a list of our words on it and many students struggled to complete it. It will not be due until next week and students will have some class time with thier vocab journals to complete it.

Teachers took part in a training on the ALEKS online program for math this afternoon. It seems to be a really effective computer resource. One of the teachers at our school said her children moved up two grade levels this summer doing the program. If your student needs extra math help and you would like to order it through the school, it is just $39 for the year. Typically the program costs $20 a month. I know I don't teach math, but I thought I would share because many parents ask what they can do to help students with math.

Thursday

L.A.-Today we did some work with Haiku and created comic strips using onomatopoeia. We did a practice test for our name spelling test tomorrow. Many kids got 100% or close to it, which is awesome! I think it is so important all of the students know the kids in their class. There is nothing more sad than being called "hey you" 3/4 of the way through a school year. Those with 100% will do an alternate activity-- rather than take the test. Don't forget to review tonight if you missed any on the practice test today. :) Our homework was a crossword puzzle with all our poetry terminology in it. A reading log will be distributed tomorrow that will help students record reading time the last week of August and through the month of September.

Science- We learned about common traits and decided what traits each student exhibited. We used the information to complete a class survey. Next week we will learn how to find the percentage of students in each category and create a graph with the information.

Introductory Post

It is my hope that this blog can serve as a communication tool for our class. Students may ask questions about assignments and the blog will immediately send an email to me, so that I may reply as soon as possible. Students and parents may also see a reminder about homework and/or projects. Furthermore, I am excited to give students a more public venue to share some of thier writing. Stay tuned for pictures!

It is a little late for this evening, but our homework for tonight was a multiple choice style review of some of the poetry terms we have learned this week. We will correct it in class tomorrow so that we can see which concepts are still unclear. The terminology is very useful because all terms are poetic devices that will make student poetry wonderful.

Today we did some grammar review, looked at pictures of common dominant and recessive traits/began a class survey about our heredity, did our first free write, and discussed some poetic devices which will help students to write thier Haiku poems.