Language Arts, weekly update, week of 2/6/17
I hope this note finds everyone healthy and well. Strep throat and a very nasty stomach bug have been sweeping through our classrooms. I have posted a separate health note that is being sent district wide. If nothing else, perhaps this note will remind everyone of the simple things one can do to stay well. Take care and stay healthy my friends!
Need to know:
- Has everyone had a chance to look at the separately posted note for the upcoming registration process? The note from the Tison principal actually relates to both fifth and sixth grade students. The Tison counselors will have an informational meeting on February 15th and the following week is when the actual registration takes place.
- Candy grams – sweets for your sweetie! $1.00 per treat – sold before and after school in front of the music room. Secret admirer time??
- Spring pictures – class and individual – Thursday, February 9th.
Spelling and vocabulary:
- “Texas dinosaurs”
As noted in an earlier newsletter, during our second semester we will use a variety of resources for learning vocabulary. For this and the following week we will return to the “packet” format.
All students should complete the following assignments for the vocabulary work:
- Word maps – all listed words for the second semester (word structure, educated prediction, dictionary definition, synonym or antonym)
- Exercise two and three portions of the packet.
Spelling – use the same words from “Texas Dinosaurs” – create an individual sentence for each word showing a complete understanding of the word and the correct procedure for creating a grammatically correct sentence.
**If you do not have access to a computer, just write the sentences in pencil. I would like to see part of the work in cursive just to make sure there is some practice.
Think quality and think about being prepared for your future. We will return to the library book activities very soon.
Class activities:
- Continued focus - reading/analyzing informational text. We are half way through our academic vocabulary work and this week should see part one coming to a finish. As students finish the sharing portion of this assignment, the next step will involve a teacher or student created assignment that shows mastery of the target words.
- Pompeii connection – close reading and main idea notes, Cornell style, in-class.
- Mini-research project. Phase one, research and Cornell style main idea notes have started. Wednesday, February 01, 2017, all students received a note detailing the particulars and due date for each phase. I hope this note made it home but to play it safe, I have also posted the information on-line. **Students have also been instructed to bring all resources, books, articles …, to class as we will also use these sources to practice our note-taking skills.
- Grammar- continued daily/weekly practice in everyday grammar skills. We finished our first preposition quiz on February 2nd. I am not sure if all students took advantage of the window of time to prepare for this quiz. The next quizwill happen in @ two weeks and as noted earlier, the easiest way to learn prepositions and other parts of speech is to simply memorize them.