Weekly Reminders:*No spelling pretest this week. We will be doing lesson 26 which reviews lesson 19-25.
*Character Counts Assembly - Character Magic on Tuesday at 1:30.
*Family Book Night on Wednesday from 6:30-8:00.
*First Jr. Achievement Lesson with Mr. Shahnasarian.
*Baseball theme day on Friday.
*Spelling lesson 26 review test on Friday.
*Second book club discussion on Friday.
Classroom Happenings:
English - The children took an English pretest on verbs last week. All of the students did very well on this pretest. I am asking the children to look over the sections on the pretest that they did not get correct. They can also look in the book for extra practice. I will be doing mini-lessons during the next couple weeks on the lessons that seemed to be weak areas on the pretest. Throughout the rest of the time, the children will be working on a Verb ABC book. The children should be looking for interesting, unfamiliar verbs to put in their ABC book. We will be working on these books in class for the next few weeks.
Writing - We will continue working on our candy bar persuasives this week. The children have now written their introduction and three body paragraphs. On Monday, we will work on writing our conclusions. Monday night's homework will include having an adult or older sibling edit all 5 of their paragraphs. We will be writing, in cursive, our final drafts in class on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Reading - We will continue our "Battle of the Wits" unit. The children will be reading passages and discussing the problems and solutions. We will also read a story called Farmer Schulz's Ducks. The children will make a problem/solution flip book based on this story.
The children should continue to work on their inventions at home. Please remember these are due to school on Tuesday, April 15. We will write our descriptions in class on Wednesday, April 16. The children will present their invention to the class on Thursday, April 17. All inventions will be on display during the spring open house on Thursday, April 17 from 6:45 to 8:30.
Science - We were unable to begin our Earth Science unit last week. We will begin this week by learning how to classify minerals. Don't forget to have your child reread the chapters from Crystal and the Geologist each night. We will highlight important information and key words in class. This will help focus the children's attention as they reread each night.
Social Studies - Start searching for your costumes and props! The children are finishing their "Just Look" books and will soon be ready to have our Famous Illinoisan Wax Museum. Our Wax Museum will be on Wednesday, April 23 from 12:00-12:40. All are welcome! Please try to visit and show your support. You do not need to attend the whole time. All 24 students will be presenting at the same time. You can walk around to as many "wax figures" as your time allows.
Math - We will continue our unit on fractions. At this time, all children should have their multiplication and division facts mastered. Many do not! PLEASE continue to practice at home even if your child has passed all their target tests. The students who do not have these facts mastered are really struggling on concepts like finding equivalent fractions and simplifying fractions. We will continue working with these concepts this week. The children will also learn about mixed numbers and begin learning how to add and subtract fractions/mixed numbers with like denominators.
Websites of the Week -
Learn more about minerals at...
http://www.sdnhm.org/kids/minerals/index.html
Check out the great Rocks and Minerals Slide Shows at...
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/lessons/Slideshow/Slideindex.html
