Wednesday, January 27, 2016

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

Monday, January 25, 2016

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.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

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.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Thursday, January 14, 2016

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

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

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