February 5-16

Seems to be a lot going on this month! Here's what's going on for the next two weeks.

Valentines party will be next week on Wednesday! Please have the kids bring their bag/box on Tuesday or Wednesday morning. We will pass out valentines before recess. 

Writing
We are in the process of building a criteria chart for "What Makes a Great story" Here's what we have so far. (see picture) We still have to discuss characterization, and qualities of good writing. We will add to the chart everyday until next week. Students will then read various SFML to see if they fit the criteria and how we can improve the story.

Grammar- This week is pronouns

Reading
We have been reviewing our strategies for Non-fiction. Tomorrow they will take a reading PSA. This will be for a grade considering it covers everything we have taught for non fiction over the last couple of weeks. (text features, main idea, cause/effect, etc.)
For reader's workshop, students are getting in groups to read non fiction articles. We are discussing the important events together. Students will then work in small groups to determine what new information they learned and discuss the authors purpose. Next week, students will share what they learned with the class.

Social Studies
The kiddos have a states test coming up. I will send home the letter and review sheet today in the Tuesday folders.
We are wrapping up Harriet Tubman this week and then moving on to Todd Beamer and Hector P. Garza next week.

Jan. 29th- Feb. 2

Writing
We are creating a criteria chart as a class of "What makes a GREAT SFML" Students so far have told me we need to have a story worth telling and clear structure. We will discuss how tension, well developed characters, and pacing adds to the story. Students will then get into groups to revise a story by adding craft elements.

Spelling- Test this Friday

Grammar- Students will be tested on prepositions on Friday. I gave the students a sheet to study to help them.

Reading
We worked on reading strategies as a class today over a non fiction passage. Students will complete a reading non fiction passage for a grade on Wednesday. Their reading PSA will be next week on Wednesday. I am continuing to meet with students one on one for an informal conference.

Social studies
We will discuss Harriet Tubman this week. 

January 22-26

Goodness, what a crazy month this had been!

It's all about catch up this week.

Reading
We are continuing with non-fiction! Last week we read an article about Polar Bears. The kids read it once and marked it up. We will now discuss the main idea and supporting details. Students will then answer some STAAR like questions using the article. We will do this together. I will take an observation grade on this. We are also reviewing our reading strategies. On Friday, we will do a practice passage together but this time over non-fiction.
I'll be holding one on one reading conferences this week and next. This grade will be based on the book they are reading during reader's workshop. I'm looking for fluency, accuracy, but most importantly, comprehension.


Writing
We are continuing to critique. Students have been reading base stories from my life. We've been discussing as a class what craft elements can be added to improve the story. I've been impressed in what they have to say. The kids will have a craft on Friday. They will need to know the definitions of each craft element. There will also be a reproduction activity with the quiz. (We have done this many times in the classroom). They will have a story out of order. They will need to put it back in order according to the story arc and then label the structure. I encourage you to ask your child to explain the different craft elements and how to do a reproduction activity. :)
They are continuing to work on their winter break stories. I hope to have them wrapped up by the end of the week.

MAP testing: Students will complete the language portion on Thursday. This will test be over conventions, grammar, spelling, etc.

Grammar- We are continuing with prepositional phrases. More than likely they will take the grammar quiz on Friday.

Social Studies
We will continue to study important people from our past. Students are taking notes in their social studies journal. I will send these home for you all to see once we are done.

January 3-12

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great holiday break and staying warm. Brr... talk about cold!

Here's what's going on for the next two weeks:

Reading
We are moving into the genre of Non-fiction. We will review text features and why they are important. Then we will move into main idea and supporting details. Students will be reading Scholastic News, Story Works, and Time for Kids to help them navigate this genre.
We are also starting the second round of MAP testing. Students will start testing next week. You should receive their report in the first week or two of February.

Writing
The students will be working on critiquing two stories for the next two weeks. We will discuss what went well with the story and how we can improve the story with craft elements. By the 19th of January, students will be tested over the craft elements. (Craft elements: inner thinking, dialogue, backstory, show/not tell, and descriptive details)

For writer's workshop, students will pick a small moment from their break to write about. This will be their first informal writing piece for the new year.

Grammar: Prepositions and prepositional phrases
Spelling: Continuing with homophones

Social studies
Our third nine weeks unit is focusing on influential people and how they impacted history or their community. We will focus on the following people: Kadir Nelson, Tommie DePaola, Phillis Wheatley, Hector Garcia, Harriet Tubman, Hellen Keller, etc. We will focus on one person a day, taking notes in their journal.

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.

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.

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!