Frozen!

What a cold month January has been.  With snow days and weather related issues, it is time to get back on track.  Our class just finished reading the informational piece "Komodo Dragons".  The boys enjoyed reading about these monster lizards and completed a three tiered foldable comparing/contrasting the Horned Lizard, Glass Lizard, and the Komodo Dragon.


Next week we will be working in the December 2013 Storyworks magazine.  Students will sharpen their skills connecting texts of "Orphan Train" and "Magnificent Michaela".  We will also work on opinion writing "Should Trampolines Be Banned?" Our class will debate pros and cons. 


In grammar we will be working with verbs and understand the importance in using descriptive verbs to make our sentences more interesting.


Our work with Study Island in the tech lab will also help us reinforce skills covered.  We will be spending two periods this week working in this format.


Please remember that all make-up/missing work must be turned in by the 28th so that it can be recorded on this marking period (grades will be submitted on the 29th). 


Spelling words for the week of January 27-31 include:

there, first, people, new, around, off, house, don’t, world, without, almost, earth, light, night, picture, being, study, second, anywhere, really, Bonus:  magnificent, orphanage, biography, envelope, boarded

January Brrrrr!

Our month of January may have gotten off to a cold start, but things are sure cookin' inside here at OCS!!

Our ELA spent a busy week last week working in stations that included phonics and word skills, reading both non-fiction/informational text and literature.  Additional stations included grammar and writing.  The "boys" worked very well in this format.  Next week we will expand our teamwork with stations that include a personal narrative on "My 2014 New Year's Resolutions", and practice reading a sure to-be entertaining children's play.

Our CORRECT character education program will kick off the new year with fun, character building activities as well.  We all enjoy those "Total Character Workouts."

Spelling Words Week of:          January 13-17, 2014

there, their, they’re, know, write, too, place, while, next, something, together, food, once, mother, light, country, father, let, allergy, trampoline, associate.  Bonus:  noxious, arachnid

Happy New Year!

     A new year is a perfect time to reflect on what we have accomplished and set goals for the future!  We will be working hard in the upcoming winter months to accomplish these goals. 
     Our grammar studies will continue to explore nouns; proper nouns, common nouns, possessive and plural nouns.  Our goal is to become noun experts!  In addition we will explore verbs and the proper use of verb tenses.
     Our book projects are moving to a different level.  Students now must have their projects books approved for appropriate grade/reading level.  A key to comprehension growth is reading a book that challenges the reader to use the skills they have been taught.  Our class will have additional time (6 weeks) to complete their book projects.  A schedule of dates will be provided.  Projects must be submitted in a neat, orderly format.  Rough drafts will not be accepted.  All projects will continue to include four parts; the project itself, the 5-4-3-2-1 organizer, the summary, and class presentation.
     We will continue our Level 3 Core spelling words after this week.  This week 1/6-10, we will revisit the holiday word list that we covered before our holiday break.  Homework this week will include reinforcement activities to assist students with mastery of these words.  Since they are words that we have already covered, we will have 1/2 our list assessed on Wednesday and 1/2 on Friday. 
     Scholastic Storyworks (September 2010) articles will provide us with reading material to practice our compare/contrast skills.  The Yesterday and Today sequence will compare/contrast popular music of today (Taylor Swift) to popular must of yesterday (Stevie Wonder). Our nonfiction (informational text) article for the week is entitled "Cheetah Daddy" and our fiction articles will be "The Great Hodgi" and the fable "The Hunter and the Doves".

Happy New Year!