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