Fall is Officially Here!

The temperature may have turned cooler, but things are certainly heating up at OCS.  Clubs and activities have begun!  It promises to be an exciting year.

Thank you to all the parents that attended Back-to-School nights.  It was good to see familiar and new faces.  Please remember I welcome your emails and phone calls.  We need to keep the lines of communication open.  I will respond asap.  Please let me know if you have any questions about any material we are covering or questions about homework.

In ELA we are working with homophones.  Students are recognizing how challenging word choice can be. 

We've learned that homophones....

• are words that sound the same
• are words that sound the same and are spelled differently
• are words that sound the same but have different meanings

We will have a homophone quiz on Friday.  We will also have a spelling test of review words.

This week will find us continuing homophones (to, too, two, they're, their, there).

September Continues!

As the weather gets colder, things are heating up at the Oxford Central School! 

     This week in ELA we are reading the selection "A Visit to Grandpa" and exploring supporting details and main idea. Everyone is enjoying this story. We are learning about African American cowboys. As Justin, our main character, visits his grandfather he learns by example some valuable life-lessons. 

     Along with our reading selection, we discussed the reasons that authors write. A good way to remember how to identify author's purpose is to think about the letters in the word PIE.... 

P= to persuade 

I= to inform 

E= to entertain 

     Grammar lessons have included reviewing sentence types and writing complete sentences. Don't forget each sentence type has its own punctuation! 

     Our spelling preview showed our class what good spellers they really are. We previewed the Rebecca Sitton "B" list and added some additional words to practice. Each student brought home the entire list with words highlighted that they found challenging. We will continue to practice with our new gel boards and our round-robin spelling. 

Our "test" will be Monday. 

List #2 words include: because, before, being, better, between, brought, by, but, be, began, body, black, below, began, body, change, children, city, called, could, first, from, right, said, something, saw, there, their, and thought. 

Hope to see the 5th grade parents at Back-to-School night! 

It was great to see the 4th grade parents this week!

September is Sparkling with Lots of Excitement!

The 2013-14 School Year Has Begun!

Welcome back everyone!  Welcome September, welcome Fall, and welcome to another wonderful year of learning at the Oxford Central School.

Mrs. Carr's English Language Arts Class has begun the year with many "Getting to Know You" activities.  Our class promises to work hard, do our best, and always to remember to be CORRECT in all that we do at OCS.

Focus activity of the week:  Spelling
This year we will be taking a new approach to our spelling.  We will be focusing on everyday core words that we use with our writing.  We will not just work from a spelling list, but through dictation and recognizing word structure.  These research-based strategies are sure to help us with both our reading and writing.  We need to be able to carry-over our spelling into our writing.

Week #1 =  also, almost, always, along, any, add, away, around, again, against, asked, another, animal, answer, American, while, small, with, because, would, sound, been, next, great, might

Bonus homophones (know when to use them:)) one, there,