This week we finished our study on the first American hero, Paul Revere. The children did great showing their knowledge of him and how he expanded our rights and freedoms. They are encouraged to practice the Paul Revere song to keep those main ideas alive in their memory. We have already started learning about Frederick Douglass as an American hero. Your child should bring a graphic organizer home Monday to begin studying facts about him and how he expanded the rights an freedoms for Americans.
We are finishing up our fictional narratives and will begin publishing them using Microsoft Word next week. We look forward to sharing our stories in the hallway. Our next writing study will be on writing a response to literature.
A new strategy for looking for details when reading was introduced this week. It is called UNRAAVELING. This strategy is great to use when reading and answering comprehension questions about what is read. It also helps to get the children in the habit of using good active reading strategies. When your child brings home a reading comprehension page, it should no longer be blank because it should be filled with scratch work that shows them using the unraaveling strategies.
We are beginning to work on our reading fluency through reader's theater skits again. This time you will be invited to see them performed. We plan to perform, December 22nd, around our lunch time. Mark your calendar to save the date!
Since we will begin taking spelling tests at a higher frequency, students are asked to study their spelling lists nightly. Although they are taking tests on paper and using spellingcity.com, the true measure of their spelling ability is looked at in their writing. That is where we can see how well they are applying spelling/editing skills.
We have finished up our unit on geometry and will not be focusing on division. We will also be doing daily practice with counting back change and finding elapsed time. If your child is struggling with any of these skills, you will see a note in the agenda.
Monday-Wednesday this week we will be doing Benchmark testing in Reading/Language Arts, Math and Science. Please help your child be ready to show what they have learned already by having them eat a healthy breakfast, get enough sleep and arrive to school on time.
