September 20, 2013

We had a great time meeting our preschool-4 buddies today! The students each read a picture book to them, and then the preschooler and fourth grader drew a picture together of what the book was about.

Hispanic Heritage Month is starting. Our country is Puerto Rico. We'll begin researching facts about Puerto Rico's culture the week after next and will create a video to share our research with everyone. We'll also make a pinata to celebrate!

We began meeting in guided reading groups yesterday. The students are divided into four groups, reading Fudge-a-Mania, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Henry and Ribsy, or Frindle. The students will need to read these books outside of our small group meetings, so we can use that time to work on comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary skills. They may read these books during our reading class or as part of their reading logs.

September 5, 2013

The students had a lot of fun in science today, investigating our worms and observing what makes them an animal and an organism. We talked today about how the animal kingdom is divided into vertebrates and invertebrates, or animals with a backbone and without a backbone. The students were shocked to realize there are way more invertebrates than vertebrates in the world! We also began working on our reading letters today, which are letters the students write to me about the books they read (and I write back!). In writing, we've been reading lots of picture books, such as Too Many Tamales, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and Snow, and letting them inspire our own writing. We're going to begin tomorrow selecting one story idea and taking it all the way through the writing process. In social studies, we're comparing and contrasting the different regions of the United States, and in religion, we read about the covenant God made with his people and the Ten Commandments.

We are almost done with our first math unit, and the test on it will be next Wednesday, September 11. I am passing out a study guide for the students that talks specifically about what will be on the test. There are many chapter reviews at the end of the first unit that students can do for practice. It's also a good idea to read through their notes, look at old problems and worksheets we've done, and pay close attention to any problems they've gotten wrong in the past.

Our science test and social studies test will be the week after next. Right now, I'm planning on having the science test on September 19 and the social studies on September 20. Also, don't forget that tomorrow is our spelling test! The students will be tested on the spelling of the words they wrote down in their assignment notebooks.