January certainly has been a busy month, but quite a packed full learning month for us! We hope that you can join us for Westgate's Open House on Thursday, February 2nd. The main doors will open up at 6:30 pm so that you can purchase books from the Book Fair. Also, be sure to stop by the Commons to sign-up for Spring Conferences with me. Our classroom will be open at 7:00 pm to share all that we have been learning since we've been back from Winter Break.
In the meantime, here's what was been happening in our classroom throughout the month of January:
Reading:
Throughout the conclusion of Unit 3 of Treasures, the students have been working on the comprehension strategies of discovering the plot and setting of a story. We also have been reading non-fiction stories to determine the cause/effect of situations and events. Throughout vocabulary time, the students have been working with multiple-meaning words and determining the correct definition to go with each word.This month, all students started a new novel and are having fun participating in Literature Circles. During Lit. Circle time, each student put into a novel group suitable to their guided reading level. Independently, your child is assigned a chapter to read in their novel. Afterwards, each member of the group is assigned a particular job to perform that goes along with their reading. Our Lit. Circle jobs entail either being the Imaginative Illustrator, Story Summarizer, Bridge Builder, Word Watcher, or Question Creator. After their job is complete, the group gathers together to discuss the chapter they have read and their findings. Each day, the job role rotates so that you do not have the same one to perform as the day before.
Simultaneously, I am pulling individuals and groups to the back table to work on comprehension and test taking skills in preparation for our ISAT Test in March. In addition, I am going to be working with small groups working on extended responses to small passages that we read so that they will be ready and comfortable with this portion of the ISAT exam.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have also been assessing your students with their fluency (CBM Testing). From the results of my screening, I will be setting a new goal in their fluency folders for how many words per minute I would like them to read. We will continue to work on fluency and test each other with our fluency partners throughout the rest of the year.
Our class had a blast sharing their Cereal Box Book report! Wow! They were so impressive! The kids really worked hard on their boxes and we had so much fun listening to their cereal commercial too. I was able to videotape their commercials and the students are going to try and edit them in iMovie next week. We will be showing off our boxes and commercials next week to you at Open House. So much fun!
In February, the students will be taking a field trip the Metropolis Theatre to see "Frindle". Together, we have been having fun reading the book during read aloud time to get ready for the show!
Grammar:
Over the past month, the students have continued to work and review how to properly utilize action, present-tense, past-tense, and future tense verbs. We also have been practicing how to use commas correctly in a list or series of events.
During Daily 5 time, the students had fun practicing these skills with the following web pages. Click on these links to view and play the web site games at home:
Writing:
The students are really enjoying Unit 2 in our WEX Writing Program entitled "Response to Literature". At the beginning of the unit, together we read the book called Stuart Little. Now we are taking excerpts from the book and learning how to describe and write about the character traits of the main characters. We are also having fun writing about particular moments in time that the characters have had to endure and comparing them to our own personal lives and situations. Throughout the lessons, the students continue to learn how to utilize the concepts of focus, details, and sentence mechanics to enhance their journal entries.
Math:
Our class will be completing Unit 5 in math this week. Throughout the unit, the students have been working hard learning about place value in whole numbers and decimals. Together, we learned about place value through the ten-thousands, millions, tenths, and hundredths place. We also have been working with data to determine and learn how to read place value in decimal notation and with money.
Social Studies:
Last week our class was able to conclude our unit of Maps and Landmarks. Throughout the unit, the students learned about directions, how to read a map key, the equator, the Prime Meridian, all of the hemispheres, the finding the continents and oceans on a map.
We will continue to have the students memorize the placement of the 50 states on the map. Every two weeks the students will bring home a sheet and asked to memorize where the states are located for a specific region of the USA. Our next quiz is over the Western States on Feb. 2nd. The students should have brought home their study sheet on Tuesday to practice.
Science:
The students are excited to start a new Space Unit for Science. Throughout the next couple of weeks we will be discussing the moon and its cycle. We will also be exploring the sun and discussing the causes of daytime, nighttime, and the seasons. Additionally, we will be discussing about the Earth and it's rotation over the next few weeks.
A BIG THANK YOU goes to all of our parent classroom volunteers:
We certainly appreciate Mrs. Klapprodt for conducting a wondering Art Appreciation Lesson on Roman Architecture. The students had fun making Roman aquaducts. We would like to thank Mr. Nesbitt, Mrs. Moran, Mrs. Bolithon, Mrs. Grant O'Hara, and Mrs. Jones for coming in to assist with our Reader's Theater groups in January!
I certainly appreciate Mr. Nesbitt, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Collins, and Mrs. Lennon for coming in to make copies for our class too. We greatly appreciate your time!
Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you next Thursday at Open House!
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