Friday, October 4, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
October 1-4
5th and 6th MUR: This week we continued to read Catherine Called Birdy. Students continued to chart the themes of the book as well as character traits and relationships. In literature circles students are functioning independently reading and charting their progress. In discussion groups, students continue to gain independence and leadership skills by running their own "book clubs." Student create discussion questions and then meet once to twice a week to discuss their questions. This week many questions focused on symbolism and character traits. Students share their findings on Fridays with the class.
In grammar, we are working on helping verbs. In WTW we continue to focus on the suffix -ion and the various forms it takes when added to new words.
7th and 8th MUR: This week we are focusing our study on the hero vs. the coward. Students created a line placing characters on the "hero" side or the "coward" side. Text evidence was used to make these decisions. The students also focused on the character traits of a hero or coward and continue to chart these characters as we move through the book.
We began our preparation for the ACT Explore by focusing on language skills. Students are working to find and correct grammatical mistakes in a variety of sentences. In WTW we continue to fucus on the suffix -ion and the various forms it takes when added to new words.
In grammar, we are working on helping verbs. In WTW we continue to focus on the suffix -ion and the various forms it takes when added to new words.
7th and 8th MUR: This week we are focusing our study on the hero vs. the coward. Students created a line placing characters on the "hero" side or the "coward" side. Text evidence was used to make these decisions. The students also focused on the character traits of a hero or coward and continue to chart these characters as we move through the book.
We began our preparation for the ACT Explore by focusing on language skills. Students are working to find and correct grammatical mistakes in a variety of sentences. In WTW we continue to fucus on the suffix -ion and the various forms it takes when added to new words.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
September 16-20
5th and 6th Grade: This week we continued our study of Catherine Called Birdy. We began looking at birds as symbols in literature and the theme of independence. We spent the majority of our time working on written responses. Student's are focusing on writing well thought out topic sentences. Through out the week there was a lot of improvement as we worked together as a class to create and edit sentences.
In WTW students worked with words ending in -tion and -ian. We discussed rules of suffixes as well as worked on finding synonyms.
7th and 8th Grade: This week we continued to read The Kite Runner. The book has offered many insights into the concept of shame. We talked about guilt and shame going hand in hand. Students made connections between their lit books and The Kite Runner noticing similarities in character traits and development.
In WTW students worked with words ending in -tion and -ian. We discussed rules of suffixes as well as worked on finding synonyms.
In WTW students worked with words ending in -tion and -ian. We discussed rules of suffixes as well as worked on finding synonyms.
7th and 8th Grade: This week we continued to read The Kite Runner. The book has offered many insights into the concept of shame. We talked about guilt and shame going hand in hand. Students made connections between their lit books and The Kite Runner noticing similarities in character traits and development.
In WTW students worked with words ending in -tion and -ian. We discussed rules of suffixes as well as worked on finding synonyms.
A Traitor Among Us Webquest
Please Click here for the webquest!http://www.uni.edu/schneidj/webquests/WWIIChildren/wb25/titlepg.html
Friday, September 13, 2013
September 9-13
What a great week! It is always amazing to me how quickly the students are able to jump back into the swing of things and get down to learning.
This week the 5th and 6th Graders began their first novel. We are reading Catherine Called Birdy. Many were surprised at the everyday life of people during the middle ages. One student commented, "I can't imagine taking a bath once a month. People must have smelled really bad." We will be tracking theme and symbolism as well as character relationships. Students will have the opportunity to practice these skills independently while reading their lit circle books. We had our first independent discussion group yesterday and I was blown away by the students ability to lead a meaningful conversation without the help of a teacher.
In 7th and 8th Grade we continued looking at various aspects of war. We read national anthems from Mexico, Japan, Germany and many more. We looked at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations as well as various speeches made by US Presidents.
In spelling we covered the suffix -tion and -sion. Students worked in Words their Way connecting base words to their suffix.
What a GREAT start to the school year!
This week the 5th and 6th Graders began their first novel. We are reading Catherine Called Birdy. Many were surprised at the everyday life of people during the middle ages. One student commented, "I can't imagine taking a bath once a month. People must have smelled really bad." We will be tracking theme and symbolism as well as character relationships. Students will have the opportunity to practice these skills independently while reading their lit circle books. We had our first independent discussion group yesterday and I was blown away by the students ability to lead a meaningful conversation without the help of a teacher.
In 7th and 8th Grade we continued looking at various aspects of war. We read national anthems from Mexico, Japan, Germany and many more. We looked at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations as well as various speeches made by US Presidents.
In spelling we covered the suffix -tion and -sion. Students worked in Words their Way connecting base words to their suffix.
What a GREAT start to the school year!
Friday, May 31, 2013
End of the Year
Dear Parents and Students,
It is hard to believe we are at the end of another school year. Where has the time gone? This has been a wonderful school year and I thank you for the pleasure of working with each one of your children. It is truly a gift to come and work with such bright minds every day and I feel honored to be part of their educational experience.
I am already looking forward to next year and the adventure we will take together!
- Mrs. Gordon
It is hard to believe we are at the end of another school year. Where has the time gone? This has been a wonderful school year and I thank you for the pleasure of working with each one of your children. It is truly a gift to come and work with such bright minds every day and I feel honored to be part of their educational experience.
I am already looking forward to next year and the adventure we will take together!
- Mrs. Gordon
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
May 20-24
This week we are preparing to take our final interim assessment. Students have been working hard to fulfill their SLP goals of one year's growth.
We have talked about fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and editing. All of the students have made tremendous progress with their Language Arts skills.
We will be finishing up our Shakespeare Unit next week!
Happy Memorial Day!
We have talked about fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and editing. All of the students have made tremendous progress with their Language Arts skills.
We will be finishing up our Shakespeare Unit next week!
Happy Memorial Day!
Friday, May 3, 2013
Shakespeare !
http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=588 Click on the link for some fun Shakespeare activities!
Monday, April 15, 2013
April 15-19
Third - Sixth Grade MUR:
This week we will be reading short stories by O.Henry and H.H.Munro. Students will be working with the fundamentals of reading comprehension (everything from alliteration - theme) to prepare for next weeks MCA reading test.
On Monday, 5th and 6th grade students presented their Egypt Game projects. The students did an amazing job. I was very pleased with their final products.
This week we will be reading short stories by O.Henry and H.H.Munro. Students will be working with the fundamentals of reading comprehension (everything from alliteration - theme) to prepare for next weeks MCA reading test.
On Monday, 5th and 6th grade students presented their Egypt Game projects. The students did an amazing job. I was very pleased with their final products.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
March 18-21
5/6 MUR - This week we spent the majority of our time preparing for the third interim assessment. This interim we will be focusing on parts of a play, nonfiction pamphlets, poetry by Langston Hughes and editing. Students read Dragonwings in play form, and studied pamphlets on recycling. We reviewed poetry from our Harlem Renaissance unit and continue to work on editing daily.
3/4 MUR - This week students spent time reviewing for the third interim assessment. This assessment marks a shift in our learning. The third interim will contain higher level reading passages as well as two written responses. The focus of the interim is a reading by Scott O'Deal (to complement our reading of Island of the Blue Dolphins), two non fiction pieces and a play. Student's have spent the week honing their test taking skills and continue to practice written responses to literature.
3/4 MUR - This week students spent time reviewing for the third interim assessment. This assessment marks a shift in our learning. The third interim will contain higher level reading passages as well as two written responses. The focus of the interim is a reading by Scott O'Deal (to complement our reading of Island of the Blue Dolphins), two non fiction pieces and a play. Student's have spent the week honing their test taking skills and continue to practice written responses to literature.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
February 22
5th and 6th Grade MUR: This week we began our mystery unit. For the next few weeks we will be reading the Egypt Game. Students will be working to solve the mystery as well as creating a final Egyptian project.
In writing we are working on research papers. Using three words and symbols we are creating formal outlines, which the students will use to create a final paper. This week we went to the computer lab and worked on formatting in Microsoft word.
In spelling we continue our Words their Way study of prefixes. Our focus was sub- , com-, pro- and en-. The students worked to sort words by prefixes as well as meaning and then created subgroups via meanings.
3rd and 4th Grade MUR: This week began reading Island of the Blue Dolphins. We began the unit with an author study on Scott O'Dell. Our focus for this unit will be written responses to literature. We will continue to review topic sentences and using text evidence to support our topic sentences.
In spelling, we continue our study of classical roots. We had our first set of prefixes in our unit "Lowering". We will continue to work with prefixes throughout the month.
In writing we are working on research papers. Using three words and symbols we are creating formal outlines, which the students will use to create a final paper. This week we went to the computer lab and worked on formatting in Microsoft word.
In spelling we continue our Words their Way study of prefixes. Our focus was sub- , com-, pro- and en-. The students worked to sort words by prefixes as well as meaning and then created subgroups via meanings.
3rd and 4th Grade MUR: This week began reading Island of the Blue Dolphins. We began the unit with an author study on Scott O'Dell. Our focus for this unit will be written responses to literature. We will continue to review topic sentences and using text evidence to support our topic sentences.
In spelling, we continue our study of classical roots. We had our first set of prefixes in our unit "Lowering". We will continue to work with prefixes throughout the month.
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Click here for Island of the Blue Dolphins online activity! http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/dolphin/home2.shtml
Friday, January 4, 2013
January 2-4
Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that we are back in school and the children are hard at work. The past three days have been busy one's!
5th and 6th Grade MUR:
This week we began our writing program; Rockets, Radar, and Robotics. In one short week the student's learned how to write an outline using three key words and symbols, completed an independent retell to me and composed and typed a summary of their reading. Wow!
In literature we completed our activities of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. Students completed a newspaper article interviewing the newly changed Mr.Scrooge and played the Scrooge's Scrapbook game. We have some very clever student's in our class!
3rd and 4th Grade MUR:
This week students began our nonfiction unit. Our first story was about Elizabeth Blackwell the first woman M.D. We talked about the PSCMA technique for nonfiction as well as how nonfiction articles are organized.
Congruently, we worked our finishing up our A Christmas Carol packet. Students completed their drawing of the three ghosts and played the Scrooge's Scrapbook game.
5th and 6th Grade MUR:
This week we began our writing program; Rockets, Radar, and Robotics. In one short week the student's learned how to write an outline using three key words and symbols, completed an independent retell to me and composed and typed a summary of their reading. Wow!
In literature we completed our activities of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. Students completed a newspaper article interviewing the newly changed Mr.Scrooge and played the Scrooge's Scrapbook game. We have some very clever student's in our class!
3rd and 4th Grade MUR:
This week students began our nonfiction unit. Our first story was about Elizabeth Blackwell the first woman M.D. We talked about the PSCMA technique for nonfiction as well as how nonfiction articles are organized.
Congruently, we worked our finishing up our A Christmas Carol packet. Students completed their drawing of the three ghosts and played the Scrooge's Scrapbook game.
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