Holiday!

Hello all! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday and this beautiful weather. I have a few minutes to blog so I wanted to let you know what is up for our week ahead.

Reading- We are currently moving on to non-fiction reading for the next few weeks. Students are going to be learning about different text features ( table of contents, index, glossary, captions, pictures, illustrations, graphs, tables, and maps). The expectation is that students are able to identify these text features and explain what information they learn from them about the topic. Sometimes students get confused and write about the job of the text feature, so I will be stressing the idea of sharing what information students learned. We will not forget about story elements though. Through our listening center students will continue to develop their understanding of story elements.

Writing- We are still working on writing for personal expression and will do so until the end of the quarter. This week students are writing a new piece about a time in their lives. Students are working on narrowing their topics so they can write a more detailed description of what occurred. For example if a student wanted to write about their trip to Disney World that would be a very broad topic so we are working on getting them to share just one aspect of their trip, swimming at the pool or their favorite ride. That way they can add more sensory details instead of just making a list of what happened on the trip. Student are expected to write using capital letters and punctuation as well as using complete thoughts for their sentences. What I am observing is that students are writing their ideas but only putting one period at the end of the sentence. I am asking them to go back and review their work putting a period wherever they take a natural breath or pause. This is helping some.

Spelling - We have started a new spelling exploration for the next two weeks on long e. Students should have brought home their new lists last night for homework. They will have the same words for the next two weeks. Students have either 5 ,10, or 15 words based on their spelling inventories at the beginning of the year. I try to differentiate in this way to not overload students and so I can challenge students who need it. If you have any questions about your child's spelling list please feel free to contact me anytime.

Homework- We are getting so much better at bringing homework in THANK YOU! Please remember reading logs are to be signed each night and spelling journals are to be brought in each day even if the students did not have a particular writing assignment that night.

Interims will be coming home on Friday October 3rd. If you have any question about your child's interim please feel free to contact me. ALL students will be receiving interims this quarter to keep all parents informed. Thank you for your continued support.