Weekly Overview - April 16-20

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14....APRIL 16-20

Dear Parents:

I hope that you and your child were able to enjoy some special times together this week. Now we really kick into “high gear” as we head into the last few months of school. Please reestablish homework and bedtime routines as soon as possible.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

DOL/Sitton: We will continue to review English editing skills with our DOL sentences. We will also use our Sitton spelling workbook to review spelling patterns and rules. There will not be a phonogram test this week.

Reading: Our listening comprehension test for the story, “Stone Soup”, will be on Monday. The rest of the week we will be working on a realistic fiction story called “Fireflies for Nathan”. In this story a boy goes to visit his grandparents and has a fun time doing something that his father had done as a boy. Our reading strategy focus is summarizing events (this fits in well with our exit level I story summary requirement) and our comprehension focus is noting the sequence of events. Please remember that Take-Home books are to be returned at least once a week.

English: We are going to start something completely new!  We are going to learn about 3 different types of words: nouns (people, places, things), verbs (action/doing words), and adjectives (describing words for nouns).  The children will be reading and categorizing words.  We will continue to review all editing skills through creative writing.

Writing: The students will have an opportunity to once again show their understanding of the narrative process. On Friday they will be given an hour to show what they can accomplish toward a complete narrative. This writing will be assessed and students will have more opportunity to work on it after the initial assessment and hour-long time. This year there is no formal district assessment, but in future years the students will be required to complete some type of writing assessment within a specified time limit. We are doing this informally this year just so you can get an idea of how your child would have scored, if in fact we were having the formal assessment.

Spelling: Beginning this week, if your child has perfect homework for Monday and Tuesday, and a perfect Wed. practice test, s/he will not need to take the final test on Friday.

1.  They're good friends.       6.  Do you have a larger piece?

2.  Let's go!                     7.  He can't find us.

3.  We've bought some toys.  8.  Take what you want.

4.  I'll share my cookies.      9.  Would she know them?

5.  Didn't they like that?      10.  Which animal could we have?

MATH: This week we will be working on the topic of data and graphs. We will work on using data from real graphs, picture graphs, and bar graphs. The students will also collect data using tally marks and make picture and bar graphs.

SCIENCE: We continue to finish up our in-class animal reports. Just a reminder that the animal research notes are due Wednesday, May 2. Help your child to budget his/her time and not leave it until the last night. Any late projects will lower the Behavior grade one level (A to A-) since it relates to responsibility. Thank you for helping your child to experience success with this project, but please do not do the project for your child. We may be working on how solids and liquids mix with other liquids.

*********************SPECIAL NOTES*************************

Looking ahead:

This Friday, April 20- PTA-sponsored Game Night 6:30-8:30

April 30- Walk-a-thon pledge drive begins

May 2 – Animal research notes due

May 4 – animal report notes with final copy paper and illustration paper sent back home to be worked on

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce