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)