Reminders

Reminder! The Walk-a-thon is tomorrow. Each student should have a paper with at least one sponsor. If that happens, we may work on a day without homework….

Also, the field trip to LACMA is Friday. As of now, we have three parents who are definitely going. I would be happy to have one or two more….

Homework: (1) Write spelling words 16-20 five times each. Write one sentence for each word. All this should be in cursive. Also do the spelling word search activity. (2)Do “Adjectives,” on pages 287 and 288 in the Practice book. (3) Do the Great Horn Spoon chapter 11 study sheet. (4) Do “Same Perimeter” on pages 368-369 of the math book. Also do “Area by Design” on the back of the answer sheet.

So, So Busy!

These couple weeks before Spring Break are busy…well, frantic might be a better description. There is so much to be done in preparation for not only testing but Open House. Add to that the Walk-a-thon, a field trip, and there’s barely time to breathe.

We started out with our journal writing. Now, I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but one of the features of our daily writing is that students have to read what they wrote to their classmates once a week.

Today’s prompt was to write a story with this as the opening line: “I heard the howl of the wolf echoing across the valley.” Our students took this in a number of very creative directions. After this we checked, corrected, and discussed our homework. We briefly reviewed the “National Parks” story from Treasures. The students then started on the rough drafts of some folk tales that they will be getting ready for Open House.

After recess, the students went to Mr. Pratt for history. After lunch, we read another chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! In math, we are examining the area of irregular figures (mostly L-shaped).

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 11-15 five times each in cursive. Write a sentence for each, also in cursive. Do the spelling crossword puzzle. (2) Do “Writing Frame” page 283 and “Latin Roots” page 284 in the Practice book. (3) Do By the Great Horn Spoon! chapter 10 study sheet. (4) Do “Area of Irregular Figures” pages 365-366 in the math book and “Applause” on the back of the answer sheet.

Studious

We started off the day in the Tech Center where the students are doing some research on ecosystems related to our current theme in the Treasures reading program. As usual, they did a great job and Mr. Riko was extremely helpful.

Back in the room, we checked, corrected and discussed our homework. We also read the main selection for the week from the reader. It concerned reintroducing wolves and elk to national parks. The students found it moderately interesting.

They went to Mr. Pratt for History after recess, and after lunch we read some more of By the Great Horn Spoon! and studied the area of rectangles. We also spent some time with our first grade reading buddies.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 6-10 five times each. Write one sentence for each word. All this should be in cursive. Also do the spelling jumble activity. (2) Do “Main Idea,” page 279, and “Dictionary,” page 282 in the Practice book. (3) Do the Great Horn Spoon chapter 9 study sheet. (4) Do “Area” on pages 362-363 of the math book. Also do “Perimeter Patterns” on the back of the answer sheet.

Ordinary

A pretty ordinary Monday. We checked, corrected, and discussed both the quizzes and the homework from Friday. The results were generally great and are on the grade book. We read a story about national park. We started an I-search paper on an animal. We talked about perimeter. We practice our play.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 1-5 five times each. Write one sentence for each word. All this should be in cursive. Also do the spelling shapes activity. (2) Do “Phonics,” page 277, and “Vocabulary,” page 278 in the Practice book. (3) Do the Great Horn Spoon chapter 8 study sheet. (4) Do “Perimeter” on pages 359-360 of the math book. Also do “All the Way Around” on the back of the answer sheet.

Relaxing and Having Some Fun

Now that the great CST writing test is done, we were able to relax and do a couple of more fun things.

This afternoon the students made telegraphs. I went over a little background to the telegraphs and how the telegraphs depended on the electromagnet, but the students were largely on their own as they were given the materials and challenged to figure this all out. They did it surprisingly well!

Then we finished the day with a little curricular art. This unit in the reading book focuses on environments, and the students are going to be doing “I Search” papers on an animal. We started this by working on our powers of observation. I gave the students the animal they will be researching and asked them to draw the photograph as closely as possible and to color using oil pastel as a medium.

Most students are still working, but the results of some of my early finishers are pretty impressive.

Homework:  (1) Write words 11-15 five times each. Write a sentence for each word. Do all this in cursive. (2) Do the spelling crossword. (3) In the Practice book do “Foreshadowing” on page 270, “Synonyms” on page 271, and “Articles” on page 274. (4) Write a two paragraph response to the “Roadrunner” story. In the first paragraph, write a summary of what happened in the story. In the second paragraph, explain what the author’s purpose was and what clues in the text lead to this inference. (5) Do the Algebra 3 worksheet. 

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Writing Portion of the California Standards Test. Please make sure that your child arrives on school on time and well-rested.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 1-5 five times each. Write one sentence for each word. All this should be in cursive. (2) Do “Phonics,” page 265, and “Vocabulary,” page 266 in the Practice book. (3) Do the Algebra 1 worksheet. Answers should be written in x= format. (4) Do “Ordering Integers” on pages 340-341 of the math book.