Singing the Blues

Today, in music class Mr. Lawton had the students doing a variety of blues-related activities. First, the students engaged in a game from the Georgia Sea Islands. They had a lot of fun with this!

Then he introduced a couple of classic blues songs to them like “Hound Dog” and the students both identified the elements of the genre and learned to feel the rhythm.

We also spent a lot of time discussing the math homework is preparation for today’s test. The student took the test this afternoon, but we will correct it tomorrow.

After the test, they had a lot of time to get started on the homework. So even though it may seem like a lot, most of them should have most of it done by the time they get home.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 6-10 five times each in cursive. Also write a sentence for each of these words. (2) Do “Making Inferences.” (3) Do “Determining Fact from Opinion.” (4) Do “Discovering Meaning Through Context.” (5) Do “Getting the Main Idea.” (6) Do the “Mining for Minerals” study sheet. Be sure to use the Science Resources text and to write in complete sentences. (7) Do “Comparing Fractions 2” worksheet.

Looking at Minerals

The weekend went by pretty fast, didn’t it? But it’s nice to be back together again, too.

We started off discussing the math homework from last Friday. The students seem to have a pretty good grasp of fractions for the first chapter. They’ll be tested on it tomorrow. We also went over the Cricket in Times Square quiz and the spelling test from last week. The results – generally quite good – are on the gradebook.

This week we are going to be taking the Literacy Periodic Assessment. So, we will be doing a number of things to help focus on some of these key tested skills. One of those is the ability to distinguish among simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and personification. Our students first practiced writing and sharing examples of these today. They will be writing a story this week that will include examples of all of these. They started on the rough draft today. We’ll be refining it and doing second and final drafts later in the week.

In Science, we are starting work on minerals. Our students examined four mystery minerals today. They looked for properties such as color, opacity, and texture. They will be learning later in the week about the scratch test and the Mohs hardness scale to make a final determination of which minerals are which.

After lunch, we continued listening to James and the Giant Peach. We also evaluated a couple of paragraphs against a rubric for the trait of Word Choice. We are finishing topic 9 in math today.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 1-5 five times each in cursive. Write one sentence for each word, also in cursive. (2) Do “Remembering Details” study sheet. (3) Do “Classifying Words” worksheet. (4) Do “Finding Synonyms” worksheet. (4) Do “Problem Solving,” pages 243-244 and “Test Prep” on pages 247-248. (6) Do Comparing Fractions 1 worksheet.

Also, be sure that the rough draft of the story is finished for tomorrow.

Another Breathless Day

This may seem like a lot, but they also had a lot of time to get started on it in class.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 16-20 five times each in cursive. Write one sentence, also in cursive, for each of these words. (2) Do "Advertisements," pages 197 and "Context Clues," page 198 in the Practice Book. (3) Do "Think and Compare," on page 429 and "Critical Thinking" on page 433 in the hardcover Treasures book. These should be answered in short - 2 or 3 sentences - paragraphs. (4) Do the two James and the Giant Peach sheets - "Compounds" and "Endings" (5) Do the even numbers on the Division worsheet. (6) Do pages 238-239 in the math book.

Too Busy!!!!

It's been awfully hectic this week. Sorry for the negligence in posting.

More details on the great things they're doing later this week.

Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words 11-15 five times each plus one sentence. (2) Do the spelling jumble. (3) Do the division worksheet. (4) Do "Improper Fractions," pages 236-237 in the math book.

Coins, coins!

 

 

Quiet Day

The day seemed to go by pretty calmly. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all! After doing our journals - we had some very amusing stories about discovering an alien in our midst including several who decided that the teacher was one - we checked and thoroughly discussed our homework. We finished reading the "Uncle Romie" story in Treasures.

We also started work on our latest writing trait, word choice. We went over the standard rubric for assessing this and translated it from "teacher talk" to words students could understand better. The students then started making posters to illustrate the various things which good along with good word choice:

In math, we corrected our Topic 8 tests and started on fractions. I'd be less than honest if I said I was terribly pleased with the results of the math test. There were many good scores, of course, but we had a large number of poor ones, too. The scores are on the gradebook. We'll be reviewing!!!

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 14-20 five times each in cursive. Also in cursive, write one sentence for each of these words. (2) Do the spelling word search. (3) Do "Using Sensory Details" and "Inflectional Endings" on pages 179-180 of the Practice Book. (4) Do the questions on page 391 in the Treasures book. Be sure to answer everything in complete sentences. (5) Do "Regions and Sets" pages 225-226 in the math book and do "Look-Alikes" on the back of the answer sheet. (6) Do "Factors 3" worksheet.

Brrr!

What a chilly day! But we had plenty of work to keep us "warm"!

We worked on narrative in our journals today. The students had to write a story about something "horrifying." One of the girls wrote an incredibly funny story about discovering that Justin Bieber was at the door and planning to stay with them.

After that, we went off to Tech Center. Ms. Richard is starting a PowerPoint project with them. I am still a little mystified by what it is going to look like in the end, but the students were certainly working hard on it.

 

 After recess, we worked on our mock rocks projects. The students had put out some of the solution to evaporate. Today they examined the remaining crystals using a hand lens and drew them carefully. They speculated about what those crystals might be. Salt? Sugar? Something else?

We started to read "Me and Uncle Romie," the next story in the Treasures reading series. We will finish it tomorrow. We did our usual afternoon art, drama, and physical education mixing. We took our test over Topic 8 in the math series. That will probably be graded tomorrow.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 6-13 five times each in cursive. Also in cursive, write one sentence for each of these words. (2) Do the spelling jumble. (3) Do "Adding Sensory Details" and "Compound Words" on pages 179-180 of the Practice Book. (4) Do "Irregular Verbs" on pages 189-190 of the Practice Book. (5) Read pages 182-185 in the Science Resources book and answer the questions on the study sheet. Be sure to use complete sentences. (6) Do "Factors 2" worksheet. 

Back to School

I hope everybody had a wonderful King Day weekend. It sure went by fast for the teacher!

Again, we had music with Mr.Lawton. He discussed rhythm with them today.

 In Science, we continued our work from Friday. The students observed the vials of material from the mock rocks and how the material had settled out of suspension.

They then poured it into an evaporating dish to see if some of the material is in solution - it is - and to discover what those materials are.

In more routine matters, we also discussed this week's vocabulary and took the spelling test that we didn't have time for on Friday.


Please review for the math test tomorrow!

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 1-6 five times each. Also write one sentence in cursive for each word. (2) Do "Vocabulary," page 181 and "Comprehension," page 182 in the Practice Book. (3) Do "Vocabulary Strategy," page 186 and "Text Feature," page 187, also in the Practice Book. (4) Do "Problem Solving," pages 214-215 and "Test Prep" pages 215-216 in the math book. (5) Do "Factors" 1 worksheet.

Mock Rocks

We began today with Ms Drake reading to the students about Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

Busy

 It was and is a busy day. Just the homework for now.

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 16-20 five times each in cursive. (2) Do pages 169, 172,  175, and 176 in the Practice Book. (3) Do "Perspective," pages 212-213 in the math book. (4) Do the "Four times Two 4" practice sheet.  (5) Do the spelling word search for additional practice. This is semi-optional.

Cool

It's feeling a little bit more like winter again. I suppose we should have some rain - we really need it - but as a teacher I cannot say I've missed rainy day schedule!

We also had a pretty cool day in room 19 today. We worked on our persuasive writing again, and the students wrote about places that people should visit. I must say, we have some promising travel agents in room 19! Their choices were good and their reasoning quite persuasive.

Ms. Richard is starting a new project with them in Tech Center. I am not quite sure what the final produce will look like, but they had fun working in Photo Booth and in PowerPoint.

Again, they went to Mr. Pratt for History where - among other things - they are working on mission watercolors. Sounds like a good time to me!

Homework:  (1) Practice cursive by writing spelling words 11-15 five times each. (2) Answer the "Critical Thinking" questions on page 363 in the Treasures book. Be sure to answer in complete sentences using most of the words from the question. (3) Do "Linking Verbs" pages 177-178 in the Practice Book. (4) Do "Nets" pages 210-211 in the math book. (5) Do the "Four Times Two 3" math worksheet.

Music Begins

Today the students started music with Mr. Lawton.

As you can see, they had fun.

 

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 6-10 in cursive five times each. (2) Do "Solids," pages 207-209. (3) Do the "Four Times Two 2" practice sheet. 

Welcome Back

It was a lot of fun to be on vacation, but it was also fun to come back today. We had a great first school day of 2012 in room 19.

We started a new story in the reader, so we went over the vocabulary today. The students are working on persuasive writing this week, so today they practiced writing a short paragraph about "the best show on TV." Their choices were interesting. So different from what the teacher watches....

They went to History with Mr. Pratt. His students are working on geology with me, and that is the unit I will be starting with our class next week. We took the algebra quiz that we didn't have time for on the 16th today, and I'll be putting the results in the gradebook today.

In math, we're working on radius and diameter. It's super easy!

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 1 to 5 in cursive five times each. (2) Do pages 167-168 in the Practice Book on plurals and this week's vocabulary. (3) Do the spelling jumble. (4) Do "Circles," pages 204-205 in the math book. "Circle in the Air" on the back is a logic problem. It may be best to save that for last. (5) Do "Four Times Two 1" and be sure to show all work.