Last Terra Nova Day!

We've ended Terra Nova week!

Monday is 100th Day -- "Dress Like You are 100" is the theme of the day!

No spelling test this week, but use the time to get a head start for next week's tough word list.  We are already practicing next week's words in class.  Please also use the time to read for Book it or Six Flag Reading Club.

Block Two is reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing as a novel study this week.  Since tests are during Block One, we don't have very much morning time together, but we are practicing for next week's spelling test and reading more fables, tall tales, fairy tales, etc. 

Spelling City

Spelling Lists

Next week we will read Juan Verdades, The Man Who Couldn't Tell a Lie, in our Storytown book. 

eBook

Terra Nova Math Tests Today

It's Terra Nova Week!  Today we took our math tests.  Tomorrow we will have several small tests: Language Mechanics, Vocabulary, Spelling, and Math Computation.

No spelling test this week, but use the time to get a head start for next week's tough word list.  We are already practicing next week's words in class.  Please also use the time to read for Book it or Six Flag Reading Club.

Block Two is reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing as a novel study this week.  Since tests are during Block One, we don't have very much morning time together, but we are practicing for next week's spelling test and reading more fables, tall tales, fairy tales, etc. 

Spelling City

Spelling Lists

eBook

Reading and Language Arts Terra Nova Today

It's Terra Nova Week!  Students took three tests today -- two Reading and one Language Arts.  Tomorrow we will take our Math tests. 

No spelling test this week, but use the time to get a head start for next week's tough word list.  We are already practicing next week's words in class.  Please also use the time to read for Book it or Six Flag Reading Club.

Spelling City

Spelling Lists

eBook

Terra Nova Week

It's Terra Nova Week!  Students took three tests today -- Sequences, Analogies, and Quantitative Reasoning.  Tomorrow we will have two Verbal Reasoning tests.  I like to think of these as "Detective Solving" questions.  They can be fun!

No spelling test this week, but use the time to get a head start for next week's tough word list.  Please also use the time to read for Book it or Six Flag Reading Club.

Narrative Tales

We continue to learn about the narrative forms of fairy tales, tall tales, folk tales, pourque tales, fables, and myths.  We are reading several examples of each and will be attempting to write our own tomorrow.  Students made booklets hilighting the features of each style of narrative text.

Tomorrow is also our Unit 18 spelling test.
Spelling City

Block 1 completed reading Because of Winn-Dixie.  Block 2 is currently listening to the story The Indian in the Cupboard.

Notes were sent home today about next week's Terra Nova Testing.  There will be no spelling unit next week.

Narrative Genres

Hewitt Anderson's Great Big Life

Today we took a test over "Hewitt Anderson's Great Big Life" on pages 466-489.  We are discussing many different literary forms, such as tall tales, fables, and folklore.  We will be watching several of the examples of different types of narrative literature listed below.

eBook

Folktale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG9eknk6mqw

Fable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXOYRyQrRCk

Pourquoi  (Why?) Tales

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO1K4wXy2CI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itszep0duwI

Tall Tale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-zKKoHvXn0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNswbV4BLWk

Myths

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwOQ3YAhFpo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoRzxhmgLGg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJCm8W5RZes

Fairy Tale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8SjCkUCFBM

Hewitt Anderson

Hewitt Anderson's Great Big Life

Today we read "Hewitt Anderson's Great Big Life" on pages 466-489.  We are discussing many different literary forms, such as tall tales, fables, and folklore.  We will be watching several of the examples of different types of narrative literature listed below.

eBook

Folktale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG9eknk6mqw

Fable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXOYRyQrRCk

Pourquoi  (Why?) Tales

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO1K4wXy2CI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itszep0duwI

Tall Tale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-zKKoHvXn0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNswbV4BLWk

Myths

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwOQ3YAhFpo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoRzxhmgLGg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJCm8W5RZes

Fairy Tale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8SjCkUCFBM

About the Artists

Our reading story this week is Just Like Me.  We read about different artists and how they created self portraits to express themselves. We read books in the classroom about many famous artist, including Pablo Picasso, Vincent VanGogh, Grant Wood, and Mary Cassatt.  We are creating our own self portraits and writing autobiographies.  Students are typing autobiographies, and they will be graded on the following criteria: 

Brief Autobiography

1	2	3	4	5
Sentences are not provided,  and/or errors in spelling and punctuation make work unreadable	Sentences are not clear and have major errors in punctuation and/or spelling	Several errors in sentence clarity, punctuation, and spelling	The majority of sentences are detailed and clear with proper spelling and punctuation	All sentences are detailed and clear with proper spelling and punctuation
Paragraph does not contain information about life’s influence in relation to self portrait.	Paragraphs contains very little information about life’s influence in relation to self portrait	Paragraph contains adequate information about life’s influence in relation to self portrait	Fairly descriptive paragraph about life’s influences in relation to self portrait	Very descriptive paragraph about life’s influences in relation to self portrait

We studied spelling words with er, ar, and or endings.  We completed Unit 17 workbook pages.  Here's the link to Spelling City for Unit 17 Spelling games:

Spelling City

This week we also worked on possessive and reflexive pronouns, completing practice workbook pages 96 and 101.  Here's a link to explain reflexive pronouns: 

http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/reflexive_pronouns.htm 

Another skill we are learning is Steps in a Process.  Here are some activities you can have your child do at home to practice Steps in a Process:

Steps in a Process Activities

Just Like Me Story Test

Our reading story this week is Just Like Me.  We read about different artists and how they created self portraits to express themselves.  Today we took the story test over vocabulary and comprehension, and we are creating self portraits and writing autobiographies.  Students will type their autobiographies tomorrow, and they will be graded on the following criteria: 

Brief Autobiography

1	2	3	4	5
Sentences are not provided,  and/or errors in spelling and punctuation make work unreadable	Sentences are not clear and have major errors in punctuation and/or spelling	Several errors in sentence clarity, punctuation, and spelling	The majority of sentences are detailed and clear with proper spelling and punctuation	All sentences are detailed and clear with proper spelling and punctuation
Paragraph does not contain information about life’s influence in relation to self portrait.	Paragraphs contains very little information about life’s influence in relation to self portrait	Paragraph contains adequate information about life’s influence in relation to self portrait	Fairly descriptive paragraph about life’s influences in relation to self portrait	Very descriptive paragraph about life’s influences in relation to self portrait

We studied spelling words with er, ar, and or endings.  We completed Unit 17 workbook pages.  Here's the link to Spelling City for Unit 17 Spelling games:

Spelling City

This week we also worked on possessive and reflexive pronouns, completing practice workbook pages 96 and 101.  Here's a link to explain reflexive pronouns: 

http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/reflexive_pronouns.htm 

Another skill we are learning is Steps in a Process.  Here are some activities you can have your child do at home to practice Steps in a Process:

Steps in a Process Activities

Just Like Me

Our reading story  is Just Like Me.  We read about different artists and how they created self portraits to express themselves.  We will also be creating self portraits and writing autobiographies.  Students should reread this story tonight for homework.  They may bring in any art supplies that they would like to use to create their self portrait this week.

eBook

We studied spelling words with er, ar, and or endings.  We completed Unit 17 workbook pages.  Here's the link to Spelling City for Unit 17 Spelling games:

Spelling City

This week we also worked on possessive and reflexive pronouns, completing practice workbook pages 96 and 101.  Here's a link to explain reflexive pronouns: 

http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/reflexive_pronouns.htm 

Another skill we are learning is Steps in a Process.  Here are some activities you can have your child do at home to practice Steps in a Process:

Steps in a Process Activities

Spelling Unit 17

Today we worked on our spelling words with er, ar, and or endings.  We completed Unit 17 workbook pages.  Here's the link to Spelling City for Unit 17 Spelling games:

Spelling City

We also worked on possessive and reflexive pronouns, completing practice workbook pages 96 and 101.  Here's a link to explain reflexive pronouns:

http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/reflexive_pronouns.htm

Our reading story tomorrow is Just Like Me.  We will learn how different artists create self portraits to express themselves.  We will also be creating self portraits and autobiographies.

Another skill we are learning is Steps in a Process.  Here are some activities you can have your child do at home to practice Steps in a Process:

Steps in a Process Activities

This is a fun site that our class used in class to answer some "I Wonder Why...?" questions:

http://wonderopolis.org

http://www.whoinventedit.net

Schoolhouse Rock invention video:

Schoolhouse Rock Inventions

Our Inventions

Today we read about some more unusual inventions and created our own dream inventions.  We utilized our creativity and our writing skills to both explain and design our inventions.  Here are some activities you can have your child do at home to practice Steps in a Process:

Steps in a Process Activities

This is a fun site that our class used in class to answer some "I Wonder Why...?" questions:

http://wonderopolis.org

http://www.whoinventedit.net

Schoolhouse Rock invention video:

Schoolhouse Rock Inventions

So You Want to Be an Inventor Jeopardy

Inventor Biographies for Kids:

http://www.biography.com/people/wilbur-wright-20672839#early-life - Wright Brothers

http://mrnussbaum.com/thomas_edison/ - Thomas Edison

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-thomas-edison/ - Thomas Edison 

http://www.ducksters.com/biography/entrepreneurs/levi_strauss.php - Levi Strauss

http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-graham-bell-9205497 - Alexander Graham Bell 

Our spelling Unit 17 test is next week.

Spelling Lists 

Spelling City - games 

Inventions and Steps in a Process

Today we worked on learning Steps in a Process, and we put these steps to work by making some detailed paper airplanes.  


Here are some activities you can have your child do at home to practice Steps in a Process:

Steps in a Process Activities

This is a fun site that our class used in class to answer some "I Wonder Why...?" questions:

http://wonderopolis.org

We have been learning about inventions  You may wish to view it with your child and select inventions appropriate for their understanding level. 

http://www.whoinventedit.net

Schoolhouse Rock invention video:

Schoolhouse Rock Inventions

So You Want to Be an Inventor Jeopardy

Inventor Biographies for Kids:

http://www.biography.com/people/wilbur-wright-20672839#early-life - Wright Brothers

http://mrnussbaum.com/thomas_edison/ - Thomas Edison

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-thomas-edison/ - Thomas Edison 

http://www.ducksters.com/biography/entrepreneurs/levi_strauss.php - Levi Strauss

http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-graham-bell-9205497 - Alexander Graham Bell 

Our spelling Unit 16 test is tomorrow.

Spelling Lists 

Spelling City - games 

Wonderoplois

This is a fun site that our class used today to answer some "I Wonder Why...?" questions:

http://wonderopolis.org

Our story today test was over  So You Want to Be an Inventor?  Students reread the story on pages 414-427Here's a site called "Who Invented it?" about modern inventions.  You may wish to view it with your child and select inventions appropriate for their understanding level. 

http://www.whoinventedit.net

Schoolhouse Rock invention video:

Schoolhouse Rock Inventions

So You Want to Be an Inventor Jeopardy

Inventor Biographies for Kids:

http://www.biography.com/people/wilbur-wright-20672839#early-life - Wright Brothers

http://mrnussbaum.com/thomas_edison/ - Thomas Edison

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-thomas-edison/ - Thomas Edison 

http://www.ducksters.com/biography/entrepreneurs/levi_strauss.php - Levi Strauss

http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-graham-bell-9205497 - Alexander Graham Bell 

Spelling Lists 

Our test will be on Friday. 
Spelling games can be found at :Spelling City Games

Kindergarten Information Night will be held on Thursday, February 25 from 6:30-7:30.  Forms were sent home today with further information.

So You Want to Be an Inventor?

Spelling Lists 
Our test will be on Friday. 
Spelling games can be found at :Spelling City Games

Kindergarten Information Night will be held on Thursday, February 25 from 6:30-7:30.  Forms were sent home today with further information.

Our story today is called So You Want to Be an Inventor?  Students should reread the story on pages 414-427 tonight for homework.  The blue story sheet is due back tomorrow for our vocabulary and comprehension test.  We completed workbook pages 91, 92, 93 today.  Here's the link to the eBook.  The story is found in Theme 4:

eBook

Here's a site called "Who Invented it?" about modern inventions.  You may wish to view it with your child and select inventions appropriate for their understanding level. 

http://www.whoinventedit.net

Schoolhouse Rock invention video:

Schoolhouse Rock Inventions

Another fun site is :

http://wonderopolis.org

So You Want to Be an Inventor Jeopardy