Math Topic 6 Test Results

With 21 students taking the test, 19 students passed with a score of 13 or better. Three students earned a perfect score.

Seventieth Day of School

Today table groups took turns retelling/acting out the story The Hatseller and the Monkeys. Groups had 2 minutes to tell/act an interesting, clear story. Everyone participated.

We took the Topic 6 Math Test. Results will be forthcoming.

Sixty-Ninth Day of School

Yesterday we tried our hand at writing an opinion (CCSS.W.1). This is a tested skill this reporting period. Students need to be able to state (introduce) their opinion, then back their opinion up with reasons using descriptive language (CCSS.L.1.f) and then provide a sense of closure (CCSS and rubric requirement: score 3) or provide a concluding statement (CCSS [grade 2] and rubric requirement: score 4).

Students now have the 3rd stanza to the vowel poem. We worked on the vowel spellings 'o_e' (broke, joke) and 'open syllable o' (broken, joking).

Today we took our 4th timed Math Test. Nine students passed and received stars. Tomorrow is our Topic 6 Math Test. There will be no homework tomorrow. Reading logs are due tomorrow.

Sixty-Sixth Day of School

Topic 6 Math Test Friday.

Some students may want to teach parents the main idea/detail game we played today.

Unit 3 Week 1 Preview

In our new unit we will be exploring fun and laughter. In the first week we ask what makes us laugh and how do we make other people laugh. Our oral vocabulary is amuse, delighted, humorous, mood, ridiculous. Our reading sight words are away, school, today, way, why. For spelling we will focus on 'long-a' spellings. We will listen to and generate rhyme. We will use a Flow Map to generate a retell. We will incorporate time-order cues and words into our retell.

In Social Science we will discuss good sportsmanship and rules (HSS 1.1.2) We will also learn the basic components of a simple map.

In Science we will be studying the elements of weather.

In Visual Art we will discuss line as the first basic element.

Sixty-Fifth Day of School

Report cards for those parents who have not yet received one and who have already met with me will go home on Monday.

There is no homework today by special recommendation of the Class President. Enjoy your weekend.

Sixty-Fourth Day of School

Today we reviewed how to include the theme of a story in the summary. Some parents may have heard the summary: One day at the park, Beth and her friends made instruments to play in a band. The theme of the story is having fun. So then, the summary with the theme included would be: Beth and her friends had fun one day at the park making instruments and playing in a band. This corresponds to our theme of the week which is: having fun with neighbors.

You should find our second stanza for the vowel poem in your child's folder which is actually the third stanza for the poem about the vowel 'i' (we will come back and learn the stanza for 'e' later). We concentrated on two spellings for 'i' today: Open syllable 'i' (pilot, spider) and 'i_e' (pile, spice).

Today we also had a "timed" math test with subtraction facts. Two students got 100%. Many of the mistakes were due to students inadvertently adding instead of spelling.

Sixty-Third Day of School

Today we took a good amount of time to work on unit projects. Those who are finished are now working on a persuasive piece.

We read a realistic fiction selection called Beth and the Band.  In groups, we wrote a summary of the story (one sentence which captures the main idea of the story). We then wrote a summary of the story as a class and learned some hints to help our summary sound concise.

For discussion, ask your child if they can remember one of the summaries for the story and make sure to practice this skill on occasion with them after reading at home.

Unit 2 Week 5 Preview

For the next few instructional days we will ask what neighbors do together for fun. Our oral vocabulary words will be: audience, entertain, brilliant, enjoy, perform. Our sight words will be: all, put, show, together, under, want. In phonics we will be introduced to the digraphs 'sh,' and 'th'. We will again generate retells and summaries of our selections using visualization and Flow Maps

Keep in mind the special dismissal times for each day of the week this week and the beginning of next week.

Fifty-Seventh Day of School

The grades for Topic 5 Math Test were very encouraging including 3 perfect scores. All students passed exceeding the adjusted minimum passing score of 14. Eleven students scored 20 or better.

Four Unit Projects have been published for Unit 2. Keep in mind, some students have yet to complete their project for Unit 1 and we are quickly approaching the end of Unit 2.

A significant number of 2's have been earned for the homework grade on the report card due to missing reading logs. If you have an August, September, or October reading log at home, make sure it gets turned in tomorrow as grades are due in the office tomorrow. Coincidentally, this class has also earned a significant number of 4's in the very same category. This is a grade where a parent has almost complete control as to what is earned.

Hang on to your child's Social Studies and Science notes as they can be used for the finals at the end of the year. A large portion of your child's Science and Social Science grade is based on written tests in the final reporting period.

Fifty-Sixth Day of School

Today we learned about spelling the long-a sound with an open syllable (baker, lady, gravy) and with the spelling pattern a_e (bake, grave). We are continuing work on Unit Projects. One student has already completed work on their Unit 2 Project with others close behind. We also started memorization of our vowel poem. Today we brought home the first stanza about the vowel 'a'. There will be 5 stanzas altogether.

We also began work on a math project aligned to CCSS. We will continue work with this tomorrow and take our Topic 5 Math Test on Wednesday along with our Social Science and Science Tests.

Unit 2 Week 4 Preview

Continuing our exploration of families and neighbors, we ask the question: what is a home? Our oral vocabulary words are collapse, company, construct, entire, and material. Our high-frequency focus words are again, could, make, one, then, three. For spelling we will focus on short-vowel 'u'. Our grammar rule will be proper nouns and capitalization.

For discussion: What constitutes a home? (A family or dweller, the building materials, and the neighborhood or community.)

Every year Room 11 has the tradition of electing a class president. This supports the government portion of our Social Science standards. Those students interested in running for Room 11 Class President 2013-14 will work on a speech at home to be delivered to the class. Due to our busy schedule and other reasons, we will postpone our class president speeches until November 12. Voting will take place on the following Wednesday. Credit for that At-Home Project will count towards the second reporting period.