Week of May 14, 2012

Students are still DCAS testing and some will be retaking the DCAS next week.

Students will be receiving their Summer Reading Packet from the district this week.  Please read over this packet with your child and perhaps you can get a head start on purchasing the books from the stores.  This is a mandatory assignment from the district and the packet does a good job explaining the procedures.

Please encourage your child to read every single night for a minimum of 35 to 45 minutes.  This is critical in helping your child maintain and improve their reading strategies and skills.

 Session 1:  The final biography reports are due on May 16th.  These reports have taken the place of a 4th marking period book report for the students. 

We will begin our Persuasive Unit in ELA towards the latter part of the week...I will keep you posted next week.

 

 

Weeks of April 30 and May 7, 2012

All Sessions:  We have been practicing DCAS skills this past week.  We have practiced comprehension, inference, author's purpose, evaluate, summarize skills in addition to vocabulary and affix skills.

DCAS will take place for our ELA students on Monday, May 7, Tuesday, May 8, and Wednesday, May 9.  Please encourage your child to try to stay focused and alert during the entire testing time.  A good breakfast would be very beneficial and a good night's rest also. 

Session 1:   The book report for the 4th marking period will be their biographies from the book Standing Tall.   Students in this class have written Haikus for a contest.  The Haikus were sent to New York and based on the poems I have read, I feel certain we will have some winners from this class.  Wonderful, talented students:)

Sessions 2/9, 4/5, 6/7:  The book report for the 4th marking period will be an in-class assignment using story elements and summaries. 

We are on the countdown for summer vacation, but there is still plenty of teaching and learning that goes on in our classroom, so please remind your child to come to class prepared, with papers, pencils, etc.   Thank you for your support.

 

All classes should be reading their library books at home every night for a minimum of 40 minutes.

We are finishing "The Story of My Life'" in class, a memoir from Helen Keller; focusing on the differences between an autobiography and a memoir as well as recognizing imagery and the impact it has on the story.  Students will watch the movie Hoot in class and will make a comparison between the similarities and differences between the novel and the movie.  Students will also complete a detailed story map.  These are in class assignments.   

Students are given a Journal worksheet every day in class to complete; please ask to see them and discuss them with your child.