May- Week of 5/30-6/1
In Language Arts this up and coming week, we will continue analyzing and reading Folktales, Myths, and Fables. The students will also continue analyzing Cause/Effect throughout this new genre study. This up and coming week, the students will be Aesop's Fables, retold by Julie Harding and illustrated by Maria Voris. Within this reading, the students will be interacting with the following fables: "The Fox & the Stork", The Fox & the Crow", The Crow & the Pitcher", "The Peacock", "The Town Mouse & the Country Mouse", "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing", and "The Dog & His Shadow". How many, if any, can you recall reading or listening to as you were a child? Please have these types of conversations, at home, with your child, this up and coming week.
With their nightly 30 minutes of Reading time, I am asking the children to continue to respond to the literature that they are reading each and every night. Here, I am asking the students to split their reading time in half, by reading for 15 minutes and then responding to what they are reading for the second half of their 15 minutes. Here, they can keep a special "Reading Response Journal" at home, where they can write about their reading each and every night. They should also be sharing their responses with you. This will continue to enhance the area of Literary Expression and Response, as it is a Common Core Standard. There may be times where I will ask the students to bring in their "Reading Response Journals", in order to share with the class and myself, what it is that they are reading at home with you. This will also enhance their ability to communicate their thoughts/ideas with others in a more meaningful way.
Our class goal for this year is finding ways in which we can become "better readers."
Word Study- On Monday, June 4th, the students will receive their spelling lists according to how they perform on their Spelling pretest. Be on the lookout for your child's words on Monday, 6/4! Students will then be working towards their completion of activities pertaining to this week's list: Words with Latin Roots. **Also, students will continue adding those misspelled words that they have been recording within their Investigative Notebooks, to their weekly Spelling tests. There will be anywhere from 5-10 words added to their lists each week from now until the end of the school year. This is where the students will complete various activities in class, by Friday of each week. Please note that at any time where the students are not completing their Word Study activities in class, during the allotted time that is given, these activities will then be finished as homework, to be turned in the next day. At any time, students may complete more than the required weekly activities if they would like to or if they finish with the five activities before Friday. There will be Spelling Test #35 on Friday, 6/8. Any words that were misspelled on both their mastery list as well as from their dictation sentences, will be added to your child's "Investigative Notebook" as words that need to be frequently revisited for mastery.
Writing - We will finish writing our own "Fantastical" story this week, using what we have learned about the importance of generating Ideas into our stories, in order for enhancement. The students are creating their very own "books" with these stories, which will also contain their very own illustrations!
The students will also finish working on their own "Explanatory Folktale". Students have been working on creating a story in which one of their characters is a wise old person in a tribe, who moves from the desert to the coast in search of food, and notices that, in this new land, the ocean waters rise and fall each day. Their main character, known as the "tribal elder", must then explain the tide to his people. ***Students were to think about how they would explain the tide to the people whom have never seen the ocean before, as the foundation for their story... The students have created pretty amazing Folktales this past week and I am most proud of their efforts with these!
In Math, we will with Multiplication and Division.
We be getting back into the computer lab to play mathematical games on the computer. We now have access to Everyday Math Games!!! A letter went home with your child on Wednesday of this week, that also included your child's login name and password for them to be able to access these games at home. We will also continue spending our time playing mathematical games within our classroom, using our Smart Board!
In Social Studies, we will continue learning about our final destination will be Brazil, using the Internet within our classroom.
In Science, we will continue learning about and recording Weather.
TIDBITS: - Scholastic Book Orders for May- were to be due by May, 5/25- Please be sure to include a check written out to Scholastic when ordering.
- Please be sure to be going through your child's Friday Folder each week. Also be checking to see if your child has any "Weekend Homework" within their Friday Folder that needs to be completed. This "Weekend Homework" will be in a separate, stapled packet inside the Friday Folder.
- NO SCHOOL - Monday, 5/28 - Memorial Day Observance
- NO SCHOOL - Tuesday, 5/29 - Staff Development Day
- Thursday, 5/31 - Field Trip to CMOST with Mrs. Glick and Mrs. Hennessy's classes - leaving 9:15 and returning by 1:30 - PLEASE PACK A BAGGED LUNCH!!!!
PLEASE ALSO REFER TO THE CALENDAR SECTION OF OUR CLASS WEBSITE FOR IMPORTANT HAPPENINGS EACH MONTH!!!
Please refer nightly, to the Homework section on our classroom website, in order to find out what responsibilities your child has for each given night. Again, once our routines and schedules are established, you will learn just exactly what it is that we will be doing each and every week.
Have a great week and look for up coming events at the end of the week!!
Mrs. Reilly :)