Monday, November 2, 2009

Week of Nov. 2-6

This week in Language Arts... we are continuing reading our novels with Native American Protagonists. This week is Literature Circle Discussion #2. What students should have read to be caught up is listed in their agendas as well as on Angel. As we read, we are learning about how the author develops a character through various events and problems. We are also practicing how to decode unknown words using the context. We will continue to practice these skills throughout the year as we read and learn new vocabulary!

This is a full Word Study week -- regular schedule.


This week in Math... we are wrapping up our graphing and data analysis unit. Our test will be Tuesday, Nov 3. Students will be coming home with their graded Graphing tests on Wednesday. Students should have completed test corrections and have a parent signature on the test to be returned on Thursday.

This week in Science.. we are exploring properties of matter -- how does salinity and temperature affect the density of water? How does that affect ocean water? We are conducting several experiments to answer those questions.

Students should be working on their final drafts of their Matter Projects -- Atlantic's (DENGLER) are due on Wednesday, Nov 4 and Pacific's (MCCANN) are due Thursday, Nov. 5.

This week, students will be bringing home a Matter Study guide to help them review for their Matter test which will be on Tuesday, Nov 10 for Atlantic and Wednesday, Nov. 11 for Pacific.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Week of October 26-30

It's hard to believe October is almost over and the first quarter is winding down. In this week's Friday Folder be looking for a Parent-Teacher conference reminder. Here's what's going on this week in Mrs. McCann's class!

This week in Language Arts... we are continuing reading our Literature Circle books and taking a close look at how the authors develop the main characters and how they change because of conflicts and events in the novel. We will be having our first student-led Literature Circle discussions on Tuesday, October 27. Check out the calendar on Angel to double check the reading assignments. Reading assignments are also recorded in each student's agenda. Each student should also have completed a job sheet in order to bring a certain perspective to the discussion. After Tuesday, students should continue reading their novel and completing a different job sheet for the Literature Circle meeting #2 which will be a week from Tuesday.

Word Study continues this week -- students have WS homework each night this week.

This week in Math... we are continuing our graphing unit. We are working on analyzing data by determining the mean, median, mode, and range of a set of data. A review packet for our graphing unit will come home this week for students to work on to prepare for our upcoming math test next week.
This week's homework assignments:
Monday - Wks: Finding the mean, median, mode, and range
Tuesday - Study guide going home -- due FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30
Wednesday -
Study Guide due FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30
Thursday -
Study Guide due FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30
Friday - No Homework -- Graphing Test on Tuesday, November 3rd.

This week in Science
... we are continuing our matter unit. We'll explore mixtures and differentiate between even and uneven mixtures. Students will receive instructions on how to finish their Matter projects at home either by handwriting the final draft or typing the final draft by downloading the Word document from Angel and typing in their research in the texts boxes. Final drafts of the Matter projects are due the first week of November.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Week of October 19 - 23

This week in Language Arts... students have been given a new class text. We are studying character development using books with Native American characters. We will also work on our decoding unknown words from context skills during this unit. Students have their reading pace marked out in their agendas, they have a calendar in their Language Arts folders, and the dates are also posted on ANGEL. Students will meet every Tuesday for the next four weeks to discuss their reading in a small group. They will meet with me throughout the week to work on character development. Students should be reading their Language Arts text and working on their job sheets at home -- this counts toward their reading log.

We are having a full Word Study week so students will have Word Study HW each night this week.

This week in Math... we are continuing to study graphs. We'll learn about Stem and Leaf plots as well as practice making them. We'll also visit the computer lab on Friday to make a line graph with the weather data we collected on the computer!
HOMEWORK:
Monday
- No Math HW
Tuesday - Wks: Stem and Leaf Plots
Wednesday -
No Math HW
Thursday -
Wks: Median, Mode, and Range with Stem and Leaf Plots
Friday -
No Homework

This week in Science...
we are exploring the difference between Chemical and Physical changes. We are also working on our Matter/Element research project. We'll visit the library Wednesday/Thursday depending on the section and choose our elements to begin research! Some of this project will be done in school but students will definitely need to spend some time working on it at home as well, especially when we get to the final draft. The project is due Wednesday, November 4th for Atlantic and Thursday, November 5th for Pacific.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Week of October 12 - 16

NO SCHOOL Monday! I hope everyone had a nice and restful 3-day weekend!
Progress Reports go home Friday, October 16

This week in Language Arts -- we are not having a full week of Word Study. We will do a class-wide sort and have only two nights of Word Study homework and no test on Friday.
Assignments:
Tuesday
- Reading Log 30 minutes -- be sure you are keeping up with this!
Wednesday - WS: Star Sentences (compound words sort) and Reading Log 30 minutes
Thursday - WS: Choice Activity (compound words sort) and Reading Log 30 minutes
Friday - Reading Log 30 minutes

We will wrap up our Junior Great Books unit by having our small group discussion (accountable talk) about the story Barbie. We will begin our next reading unit -- Native American Protagonists where we will also learn elements of character development and decoding unknown words from context skills. This week we'll be learning how Literature Circles will work and practicing the jobs we will all have during this unit to prepare for discussions in the Literature Circles. Students will receive their books for this unit on Friday or Monday of next week along with a unit-long calendar showing what needs to be read, what work needs to be done, and by when.

This week in Math... we are continuing our graphing units by learning how to make bar graphs on the computer. We will also explore line graphs -- reading, interpreting, and making predictions based on the information displayed -- we'll collect data and make our own line graphs as well.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Tuesday -
Wks - Reading & Interpreting double bar
Graphs

Wednesday -
Finish side 2 of The Cookie Sheet (analyzing double bar graphs)
Thursday -
Wks: Reading a Line Graph
Friday -NO HOMEWORK

This week in Science
... we are still exploring matter! We will explore what happens when two elements bond together. We'll make models of molecules, explore compounds, and chemical reactions. Students will also be introduced to their first research project in science. Look for the assignment and rubric to come home. MOST of this project will be done in class but students may need to spend time at home finishing it up. The project will be due the first week of November.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Week of October 5-9

This week's Announcements:
No School next Monday -- Columbus Day!

This week in Language Arts: We will have a group discussion/accountable talk about the story Lenny's Red Letter Day. Students have prepared a response to the question: Why does Prakash try to be friends with Lenny? We will continue with Junior Great Books this week by reading a third and final story. Word Study also continues this week. Students will bring home a new list of words this week. The activities are the same as last week!
Monday - S.A.W. Wks (directions and blank copies of the worksheet can be found on ANGEL)
Tuesday - Word Hunt - Students should find 8 new words that follow the pattern they are learning and sort them into the correct category
Wednesday - Star Sentences (5); Students should also finish their re-reading of Barbie and take notes in their Reading Spiral. Some students may have finished in class.
Thursday - Choice Activity
Friday - Word Study Test.

This week in Math... we will begin our Graphing Unit! We will explore components of a good and useful graph, reading and interpreting bar graphs, line graphs, and stem and leaf plots.
HOMEWORK:
Monday -
Measurement WKS
Tuesday -
Wks: Bar Graphs
Wednesday -
Collect 25 pieces of data for survey
Thursday -
Friday -

This week in Science
... we are beginning our new unit on Matter! What is matter? What is an atom? How small is an atom? What makes up an atom? We'll try to answer all of this and more!!

Monday, September 28, 2009

September 28 - October 2

Announcements this week:
Thanks to the parents who helped us out on our field trip last week! We really appreciate it. It was also great to see so many parents at Back to School Night. We really had a great turn out!

This week in Language Arts... We will start reading another story from our Junior Great Books text, re-read it and take notes, and have a discussion about an open-ended quested related to the text. Students can expect to work on most of this in class, and some at home. We are starting Word Study this week. The nightly assignments are posted on ANGEL but here they are as well:
Monday - SAW Wks -- students sort their words again, alphabetize them, and write them down. Students have their words in a ziploc bag attached to their agendas. This is done on a wks because they will leave their Word Study notebooks with me Monday night.
Tuesday - Word Hunt -- students will look through print materials to find new/different words that follow the pattern they are studying for the week. This is done in the WS notebook.
Wednesday - Star Sentences -- as we begin the writing process, students will work on brainstorming components of a good sentence using a star, then compose that sentence (draft). Students will use their WS words in the sentences. This is done in the WS notebook.
Thursday - Choice Activity -- See pink sheet in the front of WS notebooks.
Friday - Word Study Assessment in class; Week's assignments due today.

Lastly, students will begin Daily Grammar Practice this week. Each morning students will analyze a different part of the same sentence. This week's sentence: we will learn about the civil war in social studies
Monday's task -- correct the capitalization and punctuation
Tuesday's task -- identify the sentence type and purpose
Wednesday's task -- Identify the part of speech of each word in the sentence
Thursday's task-- Identify the parts of the sentence (subject, predicate, objects, etc.)
Friday's task -- diagram the sentence!

Reading --
Wednesday Night - Students should finish re-reading Lenny's Red Letter Day and taking notes on it. Students are expected to have at least 3 notes per page of reading. Notes can include questions, comments, inferences, new vocabulary, or connections. I am looking for understanding/comprehension and active reading skills!

This week in math -- we will wrap up our measurement unit by continuing to explore different things we measure: temperature, elapsed time. We will have a quiz this week as well to assess the students' mastery of the content.
HOMEWORK:
Monday - No Homework
Tuesday - No Homework
Wednesday - No Homework
Thursday -
Friday -

This week in Science
... we will finish our Water-in-Apples lab and turn it in for our first science grade. We'll also start a new lab: Using the process of Chromatography we will try to solve a mystery -- which pen wrote the note?!?

Sunday, September 20, 2009

September 21-25

Announcements:
  • Back to School Night this Thursday! 7pm, see you there!
  • Field Trip this Friday! Don't forget to pack a lunch unless you checked off that you would be purchasing a bagged lunch from the school.

This week in Language Arts... we will finish re-reading the short story, "Charles" and learn how to have an accountable talk about interpretive questions relating to the story. Students will also practice Word Study procedures in class. This week we will also begin keeping a reading log. Students will be expected to read 30 minutes each night and record what and how much they read. The reading log will be due at the end of each month. If students misplace the log, a new one can be downloaded from Angel.
HOMEWORK:
Monday
- Students should finish taking notes on their re-reading of "Charles" (if not already done in class) to be prepared for class on Tuesday.
READ 30 minutes and fill out log.
Tuesday - Students should be sure to have finished their response to the question -- Why don't Laurie's parents figure out that Laurie has invented Charles? Students should include evidence from the text to support their opinions and be ready to have an accountable talk on Wednesday.
READ 30 minutes and fill out log.
Wednesday - READ 30 minutes and fill out log
Thursday - READ 30 minutes and fill out log
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - READ 30 minutes and fill out log

This week in Math... we are continuing our exploration of measurement. We'll practice measuring mass and volume and well as continue to choose reasonable units of measurement and appropriate tools.
HOMEWORK:
Monday
- Practice 3-8 Metric Linear Measurement (students have rulers in the back of their agendas)
Tuesday - No Homework
Wednesday - No Homework
Thursday -
Friday - no class, no homework :)

Check out our pictures of the METRIC OLYMPICS!








































This week in Science
... we are exploring scientific inquiry. What are the steps of a good science experiment. We'll practice with two labs -- We'll explore how much water apples lose over the course of a week in three different states; We'll also use the process of chromatography to solve a mystery!

Check out our apples experiment: