Monday, November 27, 2017

November 27-Dec. 1st

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving week! Spelling words and grammar homework came home today.

Reading
We are moving on to Poetry! Love this genre. We will focus on four different kinds of poetry: humorous, lyrical, narrative, and free verse. I will model how to track our thinking with poems, name and notice figurative language, and discuss the authors message. Students received a study stack today with various poems. We will mark up the poems together and then later use them for writing in the spring time. We will make an anchor chart of figurative language we are noticing in our study stack. Students will need to know the following: metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, and hyperbole. Feel free to study these terms with your child. The students will be tested over figurative language and poetry the last week before break (preferably in the beginning of the week).

Writing
We are working on our rough drafts for our SFML. We will meet in writing groups to conference about our base story, learn how to revise and edit, and then write the final product. This will take place over the next three weeks. My goal is to slow the kids down and look at ways to improve the story. (If that means we write the final product after break, then I will just grade their base story for structure.) We are starting a craft elements chart. So far we have noticed how authors use descriptive language in their writing. I expect for students to try to apply this in their own writing.

Grammar
We are reviewing adverbs. The students did a fun activity today with adverbs. We are constantly noticing adverbs in our read aloud and how it impacts the writing. Have your child point out adverbs they are noticing in their nightly reading for homework or when you both are reading together. Next grammar test will be next Friday, including their spelling test.
Side note: I did take out the grammar grades out of spelling category and put them into the writing category. Just FYI incase you noticed your child's grade change.

Social Studies
We will focus on the Founding Fathers closely and the branches of government.

Monday, November 13, 2017

November 13-17

 Don't forget about field day on Friday. If you plan on checking out your child afterwards, please see me or a third grade teacher to sign them out. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

Writing
We are going to take things slow. Instead of focusing our attention on craft (which we will still do in our shared read alouds) we are going to focus on storytelling and conferencing. I am going to put the kids in writing groups. They will get into their groups to storytell a SFML (story from my life) they plan on writing. From there, they will plan their story on the story arc. Students will then conference again in their writing groups to confirm their story has structure.

Reading
We are finishing up Traditional Literature this week. This week my plan is to review the reading benchmark with the kids. I've handed back their reading benchmark so they can see how they did and review questions they may have missed. I also plan on starting our next read aloud, " The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" by Kate DiCamillo. Love this book!

Social Studies
We are wrapping up our maps. Students will share their maps with a partner.

Monday, November 6, 2017

November 6-10

Writing
This week we are moving on to craft elements. We will name and notice craft elements in our read alouds and the stories we have already consumed. The craft elements we will focus on are: dialouge, inner thinking, backstory, descriptive details, and show/not tell. I encourage you when you are reading with your child at night, to point out the craft elements and discuss how it added to the story.

Grammar: We are reviewing adjectives this week. We are noticing how adjectives helps readers visualize. We are working on adding adjectives to our writing. Students will have a grammar test on Friday reviewing nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Reading
We are having fun with traditional literature. Students have read myths, legends, fables, and fairy tales. They've been tracking their thinking with a graphic organizer.
Our focus this week is to teach the reading strategies. Students will have their first reading assessment on Thursday. They will read three passages and answer questions to go along with it.

Social Studies
The students are begging me this week for social studies time. They've been working on their island maps. Students had to create a map and include the following: key, compass rose, title, land forms, bodies of water, and overall presentation. I will hang the maps up in the hallway when they are finished. 

Don't forget the states test on Wednesday!