Hi, Sept. 27, 2014
We had another great week! Education Go Get It week was fun! We enjoyed wearing our favorite college hats and shirts, dressing up in clothes for our future jobs, and talking about colleges and careers.
In social studies, we began researching our PBL or Project Based Learning activities. Our driving question is: How can we teach others about the regions of Texas? The children chose projects that they would like to do and regions that they would like to research and teach to others. We began using textbooks and a computer site to gather information about our region while working with other students who are studying the same region. This week we will share our information and each child will decide whether he or she needs to continue researching. The children will give each other feedback and work together to be sure that there is enough information for each region in their group. Then we will begin planning our projects. We will share our plans and give feedback to help each group improve their projects. As you can see, the PBL projects involve a lot of working together cooperatively in groups and offering and accepting feedback, as well as researching the regions of Texas. I am excited to see the children learning from each other. These projects incorporate many different skills such as reading, writing, social studies, and cooperating as a member of a team. All these skills are needed for children to be successful in their future in school and beyond.
In writing, we published our personal narratives! We worked hard to plan, draft, revise, and edit these small moment stories from our lives. We will share these stories with each other on Tuesday and then will begin working on some writing for the Reflections program based on the theme-The World would be a better place if… The children can choose to write a poem, fantasy, realistic fiction, personal narrative, expository, or song about this topic. We will go through the writing process of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. The students will decide if they want to enter their literary work in the PTA Reflections Program. We will then work on expository writing. In expository writing, we will explain and give reasons to support a central idea.
In reading, we worked on finding cause and effect relationships in our books and determining a possible theme for the book with examples and support from the text. We modeled using our read aloud, How to Steal a Dog, we then practiced using individual books. We are continuing to write detailed summaries of our reading and responses that include lots of our deep thinking. Thank you for encouraging your child to read at home each day and to work hard on their summaries and responses. We will begin reading expository text and working on skills to improve comprehension skills. Be sure that your child is studying the vocabulary words each week. This week’s words are a literary terms. They can be a little tricky, so be sure to go on Quizlet.com to study and use the cards that your child made to practice. We will have a test on Friday on the meanings of the words.
In spelling, we worked on some common homophones. We will continue to address the correct spelling and use of homophones (like their, there, they’re) all year. Next week we will work on the spelling of words with double consonants like address and success. Be sure that your child is practicing his/her individual spelling lists and reviewing words previously used on spelling tests because these words may appear in dictation sentences. Thank you for your continued support at home.
Writing Club begins this week on Thursday, October 2 from 2:45-3:45. Come and join us in the library as we free write and share our writing with others. This week we will celebrate National Comic Book Day and talk about graphic novels. The kids can experiment with this form of writing or write in any format they choose. They may choose to work on writing for the Reflections Program during writing club as well and respond to the topic: The world would be a better place if… Anyone in grades 2nd-5th can be part of writing club. We will meet every other Thursday in the library. Come and join the writing fun!
Service Club met last Thursday and will meet again on Thursday, October 9 from 2:45-3:45. We are organizing a toy drive to bring awareness to OMS, a childhood disease that affects a family from our school. We will donate toys to give to the patients at Dell’s Children’s Hospital. Please send in NEW toys and put them in the box by the office. Come to Service Club and help us help others!
Dates to remember:
Monday, Sept. 29-Reading log due, Tutorials after school 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, Sept. 30-Tutorials after school 2:45-3:45, Computer Lab open 2:45-3:45
Wednesday, Oct. 1-Summary and Response due
Thursday, Oct. 2-Writing Club after school 2:45-3:45 in the library, Computer lab open 2:45-3:45
Friday, Oct. 3-Summary and Response Due, Spelling Test, Vocabulary test
Have a wonderful weekend! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
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