Race to the finish!

As we near the end of the school year there is still lots of learning left in MUR!

G & T MUR:
  This week we began our final unit biographies and autobiographies.  Students are working with the concepts of change and theme within life. On Monday, we read the Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown and wrote poems about our "most important" characteristics (these could be physical, emotional or a trait.) Throughout the rest of the week we read a few key chapters from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.  We are discussing why this book has had a lasting impact on readers, how it is significant to our own lives and what themes are represented.  We will use these two works as a guideline to create our own photobiographies which will be due the last week of school.  Students will be choosing a theme in their life and then representing this theme through pictures and captions.  We will share our biographies June 5th and 6th.

Advanced MUR:
  We continue to read the Scarlet Pimpernel and discuss traits of each character.  Students are working to develop their own questions about the reading as well as reading responses.
   In writing we are working on the rough draft of our persuasive essay.  Students have all chosen a topic and have had one to two writing conferences with me.  We will continue to use the tablets for research purposes this week.  Each student must have three experts in their field of study to back up their point of view.  These quotes will be inserted into the paper and we will learn how to create footnotes and a bibliography for our work.

Word Study:
  Both MUR groups are working with Wordly Wise to develop their spelling and vocabulary skills.

Scarlet Pimpernel Part 2

When you have completed the reading through chapter 12 please feel free to view this section of the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qXuFhc9i84

Please note as you watch the differences between the book and the movie.

Midweek update

This week our G & T class is taking the math MCA test.  We will resume normal class schedule beginning Thursday, May 17, 2012.  Please make sure your child is working on their spelling packet at home.  We will have our normally scheduled spelling test this Friday.

Advanced MUR - Students are beginning their final writing project this week.  We will be working on a persuasive writing piece that will last until the end of the month.  We will use this opportunity to hone our editing and expository skills through peer and teacher lead conferencing.

***Reminder: Please make sure you are signing your child's reading log each month.  Many students have not turned in their reading log for April and this missing assignment will reflect in your child's overall grade.

Infinite Campus is up and running. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding your child's progress.

The week in Review

G and T MUR:
  Reading: This week in reading we began our independent book study.  Students were able to chose between A Murder for her Majesty and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  Students read chapters one through eight independently and are working on filling out their independent reading packets which will aid in their comprehension of the story.  Next week we will be meeting in small literacy groups to have book discussions.  It is amazing to see students gain this independence and work by themselves, manage their classroom time as well as their work!

   Writing: Currently, we are in the throws of our expository essay writing.  This week students met one on one with me to conference on their writing. Our focus is writing quality topic and closing sentences.  Congruently, we worked on organizing our thoughts in rough draft form.  Students should have completed their introduction, and first two body paragraphs.
   Formally the research phase has concluded, though we will have the tablets on hand to
   

  Spelling: In spelling we continue our study of Greek and Latin roots.  This week our focus was Red Hot Root Words lesson 34.

Advanced MUR:
    Reading: The week we began reading The Scarlet Pimpernel. We read chapters one through four.  To help aid in student's understanding of this difficult text we will be using the tablets to watch the movie version of this novel.  Our focus this week is character development.  As we move through the introduction phase of the novel we will be keeping track of the numerous characters and their traits.

   Spelling: We continue of study of words using the Wordly Wise curriculum.  This week we completed Lesson 8 and focused our attention on the analogies.

Scarlet Pimpernel Part 1

Advanced MUR:
  After you have completed your required reading for the day please click on the link below and watch Part 1 of the Scarlet Pimpernel.  Then, answer your independent reading questions for this section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU2RLwEsxT4

Scarlet Pimpernel Part 1

Advanced MUR students:
  Please click on the link below to watch the first part of the Scarlet Pimpernel!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU2RLwEsxT4


Please be prepared to discuss the differences between the movie and the novel.