Bowling Day

Today we have our spelling review test and our bowling field trip!

Readers' Theater

Our class worked in groups to reread "Discovering the Atocha" as a Readers' Theater presentation.  Practicing fluency and expression is an important part of becoming a stronger reader.  We also took our story comprehension and vocabulary assessment.

Friday's spelling test will be a review unit.  This will be our last spelling test.

The New Lenox Public Library presented their summer reading program to our school today.  It is my hope that all students will continue to read over the summer, whether it be books, magazines, comics, or newspapers.  Find a summer reading spot (for me, it's in my hammock!) and try to make it a fun, daily habit.

Discovering the Atocha

Today we read the story "Discovering the Atocha" on pages 776-784 in our reading book.  We also discussed the vocabulary words in the story and completed practice workbook page 173.  Students are expected to reread this story as their Tuesday night reading homework assignment.  This will be our last reading book story!

This week's spelling test is a review unit.  Next week we will be playing some spelling review games and having a spelling bee.  Today we completed spelling workbook pages 119-120.

Idioms, Similes, & Figurative Language

After taking our spelling unit 29 test, students worked on idioms and other forms of Figurative Language, including similes and metaphors.

Adverbs

We worked on learning about adverbs today.  Adverbs tell how, when, or where something happened. We completed an adverb practice sheet and worked on an adverb assessment.  We also completed spelling workbook pages 117 and 118 to review for tomorrow's spelling test.

John Muir and Stickeen

Today we took our story assessment over the comprehension and vocabulary from the historical fiction story "John Muir and Stickeen."  Students enjoyed learning about the real life adventures of this extreme explorer and his friend's dog, Stickeen.

We will have a spelling test on Friday.

Next week will be our last Tuesday night reading homework assignment!

Historical Fiction

Today we discussed vocabulary and read the story "John Muir and Stickeen: An Icy Adventure with a No-Good Dog."  Students completed Practice Workbook page 168 to review the vocabulary. Homework is to reread the story found on pages 754-768.

We also completed contraction and possessive review activities and a worksheet to assess these skill in grammar.

The spelling test will be given on Friday.

Prefixes and Suffixes

This week's spelling words look difficult, but they aren't hard to learn.  We practiced looking at the base word and learning how to spell the base word.  Then it's easy just to add a prefix or suffix to make a new word.  Learning how to spell by dividing the word into these parts should make this week's test fairly easy!  Students completed workbook page 115 in spelling.

We also practiced fluency by working on one-minute reading selections.

Figurative Language

Today we discussed and reviewed "Figurative Language."
Here are a couple of short definitions of these kinds of language that we practiced in class.

            The definition of hyperbole is a description that is exaggerated for emphasis.

1. An example of hyperbole is saying you are so hungry you could eat a horse.
2. Personification is giving human characteristics to non-living things or ideas.
3. An author describing the sun smiling on a field of flowers is an example of personification.
4. The definition of a metaphor is a word or phrase used to compare two unlike objects, ideas, thoughts or feelings to provide a clearer description.
5. An example of a metaphor is calling the dependable father a rock
6. The definition of a simile is a figure of speech where two unlike things are compared using the word "like" or "as" followed by a figurative example.
7. An example of a simile is "He is as hungry as a horse."  
8. An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meaning of its words.
9. "It's raining cats and dogs" is an idiom.

Tall Tales

Students today took their weekly lesson test over "The Bunyans."  This was a fun tall tale about the events in Paul Bunyan's family life including the meeting of his wife Carrie and their two children, Teeny and Little Jean.   We all enjoyed the story.

Our homophone spelling test will be given on Friday.

We are currently also working on contractions in grammar class.  Students completed Practice workbook page 162 to review this skill.

The Bunyans

Students are to reread the tall tale, "The Bunyans" on pages 726-741 tonight for homework.  We read and discussed the story today, and we completed the "Robust Vocabulary" lesson on workbook page 163.  Our story assessment will be tomorrow.

Tomorrow is "Walk for A Cause" after school.  Students who signed up to walk should plan to be at our event until 3:00.  Tomorrow is "Neon Day."

Our spelling test on Friday will be over homophones.

Homophones

Our spelling test this week will be over words that are homophones.  Homophones sound the same but are spelled differently.  Students learned many of these same homophones in third grade, so hopefully this test will go very well.  We completed practice workbook pages 111-112 today and drew pictures of each homophone.

In grammar, we reviewed irregular verbs and completed a review paper for a grade.

Tomorrow we will be reading the Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan.

Spelling Test

Today we went on our band field trip to Liberty Junior High.  Students in Mrs. Hickey's class and Mrs. Rick's class took their spelling test today since we will not be switching classes tomorrow due to early dismissal.  Mrs. Danforth's homeroom will still take their spelling test tomorrow.

We also worked on a special "Mothers' Day" writing project.

Today was a busy day!

Story Assessment

Today we took our story assessment over the "Grand Canyon" text.

Tomorrow is our spelling test for Mrs. Hickey's class and Mrs. Rick's class, since we have early dismissal on Friday at 10:35.  The spelling list for this week is made up of Latin word parts, such as vis, struct, graph, spect, and phon.  After  studying these word parts, the spelling test should be fairly "easy" this week.

In grammar, we continue to work on irregular verb tenses, contractions, punctuation, capitalization, and the application of these skills.

Grand Canyon

Our reading story today was titled "Grand Canyon," on pages 705-714.  Students are expected to reread the story tonight for homework.

We practiced our vocabulary words on Practice workbook page 157.

Due to early dismissal on Friday, our spelling test will be given on THURSDAY for Mrs. Hickey and Mrs. Rick's classes.  Mrs. Danforth's class can still take their test on Friday.

Latin Word Parts

Today we practiced learning our unit 27 spelling words on spelling workbook page 107.  These words are easily divided in to five Latin word parts that can help make memorization very easy.  Students completed a word chart showing the five meanings:

spect (look)
struct (build)
graph (write)
vis (see)
phon (sound)

OUR SPELLING TEST WILL BE ON THURSDAY due to early dismissal (10:35) on Friday.

We also completed grammar workbook page 92 which was a review of irregular verbs in the present, past, and helping verb state.  For example:

wear, wore, worn
know, knew, known
break, broke, broken

Dinosaurs

Today we read a fun poem called "Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp."  Poetry is a great way to practice fluency.  This poem can be found on pages 686-689 in our reading text book.  We also worked on researching dinosaur facts.

We took our spelling test over silent letter words.

Please use the weekend to read for enjoyment and perhaps to take a look at next week's spelling words, as seen on the "Danforth's Jungle" newsletter that your child brings home each week.  Due to early dismissal (10:35) on Friday, we will plan to take the spelling test on THURSDAY.

Bears

Today we stayed with our homerooms and worked on bear facts.  We went to our "The Bears" movie and learned about the lives of these interesting, wild creatures.  Students had a good time and put their non-fiction learning skills to use.

Our spelling test tomorrow is over silent letter words -- a bit of a challenge, so be sure to study tonight.