Quickly Falling Into Fall....

Fall is here and the students are falling into some "fall" traps as I call them. Some of the students are having some issues recently with effort and personal best. They are comfortable being back to school now after a couple months and effort is starting to slip with some of them. I have spoke to some of the student individually, but overall, I have told the class.....Keep the effort up and stay strong with doing your personal best....in all areas: academic, social, and how you treat others!!

Parent Thought: Ask your child what they do each day to make sure they are prepared for learning? If they do not have an answer....come up with a plan. For example: Eating a healthy breakfast, staying focused on learning, .....

Homework:
LA: Reread story study "Good Bye to the Moon"
Study vocab
Have a least 3 paragraph of your writing complete (many are past this point)
MATH: SL 3.7 (all)

Making Way in Math

Although it is a tough math chapter, I am so pleased that the students are making connections and it is starting to "click" for most of them! Keep it up students I am proud of you!!


HOMEWORK:
Language Arts:
Study for Wed. Spelling Test
Write Sentences for Vocabulary Words


Math: Studylink 3.6

It will be a short week...

Although there is only 4 day this week....we have many skills to cover this week!
I have reminded the students that we are going to make the most of their learning time this week.

Spelling Change....This week the pretest was today and the post test is Wednesday this week.

Homework ...Monday Oct. 26th

LA: study spelling do spelling pgs 34/35

MATH: none

Parent Thought....Ask your child if they would take a trip to the moon? Explain why or why not?

Concerned Students!

Hello Families,
I want to let you know that you students became aware of so tough news today. Mr. Burson and I spoke to the class about one of our students who has been diagnosed with cancer. He is journeying to Riley Hospital today for treatment. The doctors are very optimistic about the approach they are taking. As expected some of the students had heard this news before school today. Mr. Burson and I wanted to speak to them so they knew the truth from us.
Many of the students had some very valid and concerning questions. One of his main concerns was when he could come back to school and be with his friends. I will keep the students updated on how he is doing as I hear. All of us are looking forward to the day when he can come back to school and be with us!

Upcoming:
Just a reminder that there is NO school next Friday...October 30th .....Fall Break!

Is it the weather??

The students were a bit "off" today...I am not sure if it is the weather a change in season??? We had a class meeting regarding it and the need for improvement from today. I will follow up with this at the class meeting tomorrow.

Homework:
Language Arts: Finish 3 topic sentence's (might of already done in class.)
study vocab & spelling, re-read story stars on pg.198
Prepare for assessments by:tomorrow (Friday)

Math: None

***Sign Planners

Books!!!

I wanted to inform all of you that I am not sending home an October Book order form because there is a school book fair here this month. I will be sending the next book order form in November. This will also be the holiday book order and if you are interested in ordering Christmas presents when the time comes, I will keep the books here and you can pick them up so they are a surprise.

Wednesday: This week we are REALLY focusing on writing complete sentences that have details! This seems to be a glaring struggle for many of the students so we are spending quality time on it this week.

HOMEWORK:

Language Arts:
practice book pages 73 and 74
study spelling and vocab

Math:
study link 3.3 #1-5 (use journal pages 90 and 91 fort help)
****Sign planners!!

Algebra ....What??

Math:
It is hard to believe that we are practicing and learning about algebra in this Math Unit! I wanted to point out to all of you that it is about learning the basics of variable and number sentences. The students seem to be doing well with it and they are gaining understanding each day as we journey through the learning!

This week....
****Please return all fundraiser money and forms this week. These items are due Tuesday, but if they are not brought in on Tuesday, please bring them in on Wednesday. Sample cups need to be returned unless the student sold 2 sets of cups.

****Boys basketball camp started, Monday October 20th. If you have not signed up, do so ASAP, and if the $ is an issue let me know and we can make arrangements.


HOMEWORK: Tuesday October 21, 2009
Language Arts: Study spelling and vocab
Complete vocab sentences on vocab sheet

Math: S.L. 3.2 only #1 - 6 Only....use journal pgs. 88-89 for help
Parent Thought: Remind students about getting enough rest at night, not drinking after others, and washing hands often!!! .....Keep them healthy!!

Back In Time

Welcome to a new week! It is supposed to be warming up outside this week and finally going to feel like fall, instead of winter!

This week the students are going to be journeying back to the 1800's! We will be looking at life in this time period and comparing and contrasting the two time periods. I look forward to the students reactions to the 1800's!

Overview of skills this week:
Language Arts:
-Use of graphic sources
- Use of text structures
- Dictionary and Glossary Usage
-Comprehension & Vocabulary Skills
-Research Skills
-Expository Writing

Math:
-Learning about variables and how to use them
-Introduction to Algebraic expressions
-Formulas and Patterns for numbers

Core Value Focus this Week....Personal Best and Making Positive Choices

Hooray! Our class just finished reading "My Side of the Mountain" a story about wilderness survival. Most of the students passed the AR Reading Quiz and earned 6 AR points from this book....Well Done Students!!

HOMEWORK:
Language Arts: Family Times complete spelling pgs 29,30
Math: SL 3.1 take home Math journal for help on 84 & 86

Parent Thought: Ask your child if they would prefer to live in the 1800's or Now???? Why???

The Week in review!

This week the dinosaurs....Ooop! I mean the students studied dinosaurs and topics related to dinosaurs. There were numerous opportunities for enrichment by those students who are mastering the skills for the week. One of the most enjoyable things I find about enrichment opportunities is that the students who are in the groups changes often. Some students are in the groups often while all students get the opportunity to be involved at other times.


Some recent enrichment projects that some of the students have been involved in include:
A solar system project (Integration of Math & Science)
Study of different types of dinosaurs

The some things the class learned about: main idea and supporting details, expository writing, and possessive nouns.

Parent Thought: Ask your child what they learned this week??

Have a wonderful weekend!

Being Prepared....

To be certain that the students are prepared for their weekly Friday assessments:

They need to be sure to do tonight's homework very carefully, they can also need to take their time on the assessments tomorrow.

Homework:
Language Arts:
study spelling and vocab words
reread "Dino Ghost"
complete practice page 64

Math: no math homework


Parent Thought: "Ask your child if its important to use their time wisely and why."

Following the Math Unit 2

Today the student will be bringing home their Unit 2 Math Assessments.... The students are to attempt correcting the ones they missed tonight at home. Some students were given a reteaching opportunity due to poor performance on the assessment. I retaught the skills and they need to re-work the problems they missed and get a parent signature on the paper.



Overall, the class did very well, the class average was in the "B" Range. Well done class!



Parent Thought....Ask you child about the Unit 3 pretest, ask them how they did????



Homework:
Language Arts:
Study Spelling Words
Complete Spelling Page 26
Complete Grammar Page 27&28

Math: Attempt Correcting missed problems on the assessment
Share the assessment and discuss growth with your family

Study Guides & More

I have shared a study guide for this week's story with the students. I look at this as an opportunity to have a more in-depth understanding of the comprehension of the story. This should be a positive compliment to the weekly "Family Times" which offer a great deal to the students. Both of these helpful items should be kept in the student's daily take home folder for the duration of the week.

Parent Thought....Please speak to your child of the importance of keeping items where they need to be so they can be useful and easily found when needed.

Homework:
Language Arts:
*Complete Vocabulary Practice Sheet (This is helpful for vocab. application)
*Finish Dinosaur Ghost Study Guide (Use reading book for help) we started the study guide in class although not all students used their time wisely.
*Study Spelling Words....Pretest on Wednesday

Math: Share Family Letter (Which is Studylink 2.12) with your family

It is going to be a "Dino -amic" week

This week we are reading and learning about dinosaurs. The students will be exploring the extinction of a particular species of dinosaurs. Along with this they will be working to understand different ways that things can occur.

Focus of learning this week is:
Language Arts:
Vocabulary Development
Main Idea and Supporting details
Using prior knowledge to help us learn
Expository Writing

Math:
Review & Assessment of Unit 2
Pretesting Unit 3
Introduction to variables

Parent Thought....Ask your child to explain their language arts vocabulary words to you....

HOMEWORK:
Language Arts:
Share family times letter (this should be in their take home folder)
Complete Vocabulary Sheet (Due Wed.)
Preview Spelling words

Math:
Review for Tues. Assessment (Use review packet we completed in class on Monday)

HAVE PLANNER SIGNED NIGHTLY!!

Report Cards

Here they come....I have sent home the first term report cards. If you have questions regrading your child's grades please let me know. There is also a "Ownership for learning progress report" and a letter attached to the report cards and a portion of it needs to be signed and returned to school ...Thank you!



Parent Thought....Spend some time this evening discussing your child's report card with them. Reflect on progress, goals for next term and how to reach those goals (personal best, effort...etc).



Homework:

LA: Study vocab / spelling use family times!

MATH: NONE !

Science:Extra credit. make a diagram of your home and mark down where all the heating supplies and tell what kind of thermal energy it producess. make sure you mark where all the windows are to and tell which windows are on the south side.

Spelling This Week...

The spelling words for this week are challenging. This week the students took their weekly Wednesday Pre-Test and several students struggled with many of the words. We worked on putting the words into pieces to help them to understand how to spelling them.

Please take some extra time to work with your student this week on spelling. There is an assessment over the words on Friday.

Parent Thought....Report cards go home tomorrow...Ask your child what they have done in the past 6 weeks to demonstrate personal best and ask them if they need to improve in this area.

Homework:
Language Arts:
Vocab sheet (all)
Study spelling
Grammar page 23


Math:
Division sheet (show all work.)

Out of this World Week!

This week the students will be studying the Universe! The story in the reading book is the introduction to this study! When we did an introduction activity the students had a lot of questions. Their excitement continued as Iposed some questions about The Universe to them. I am looking forward to our larning this week!

Skills for this week:
Language Arts:
Main Idea
Spelling Wrods with Multiple Syllabals
Regular & Irregular Nouns....assing -s. -es, ies, goose, deer...etc.

Science: The Universe

Math- Continuing Exponents and Powers of 10


UPCOMING:
Report cards are scheduled to go home on Thursday
New Grading Period started Monday Oct. 5th


HOMEWORK: LA: Vocab sheet due Thursday practice book pg. 54 study spelling

math journal pg. 75


Parent Thought??? Ask your child what they learned in the past two days about the Universe.

Homework Only Today....

The computer is acting up today so I am only posting homework today.....

Thank you student bloggers for typing homework....

Language Arts Homework: Complete activity on pg.51 in our family times book . You will need to take notes on the activity. If your child needs another copy, Mrs.Branham will gladly print you a new one.

Math Math journal pg 70 ,show your work

Thank you and have a nice day !

Assessments

Assessments are going well! The students are moving along, we will finish up on Friday and have some time for some Fun Learning Activities!

HOMEWORK
LANGUAGE ARTS- READ TO SOMEONE FOR 20 MINUTES OR MORE. FOCUS ON READING WITH EXPRESSION.
MATH-NONE

PARENT THOUGHT - Ask your child how they "feel" they did on today's assessments.