April Showers?

   Happy April Fools Day?  Is Spring finally here?  I sure hope we're not being fooled.  It's certainly time for some warm spring weather complete with flowers and all things GREEN!


In ELA this week we will be working in Storyworks!  Some of what we will be covering includes:
1.  Reading- 39 Clues (the play); Leghorn (literature); Freedom or Death, The Story of Robert Smalls (informational text)
2.  Writing- "Would You Want to be One of the First Children"  (children of the President)
3.  Grammar- contraction and verb usage 


Spelling words for week of March 31, 2014


himself, seen, however, usually try, kind, money, number, example, there, it's, seconds, would, paper, huge, excuse, confuse, few, nephew, curfew, usual, cool, menu, mood, bruise


Bonus:   abolish, feinting, perilous, strutting, wharf


Spelling dictation sentences:


1.  You can have fun when you play with a map and learn something, too.


2.  On your map, first point out the city in which you live.


3.  Next, please look toward the top part of the map.


4.  What is the name of the country pictured there in the far north?

March Comes in like a LION!!!

  Can you believe it?  There is snow in the forecast!!!  This winter reminds me years gone by.  I bet I'm one of the few that truly loves the snow.  Our world has changed from winter gray many times this year to a snowy-white winter wonderland.


  Our classroom has been all heated up despite the cold temperatures outdoors.  We have been reading adventure stories with the tall tale "John Henry" and this week's "Marvin of the Great Woods".  In addition to our reading we have been discussing our recent Winter Olympics.  The boys have been working on a bulletin board that sums up this year's event.  We're making newspaper front pages packed full of Olympic information.  In addition we have read about the history of the Olympics, Olympic symbols, our USA athletes, and even the mascots.  Our athletes certainly did a fine job in Sochi.  The class favorites are snowboarding, luge, skeleton, and bobsledding.  Shaun White is still their favorite athlete, even though he did not come home with a medal this year.


  Our grammar class has been busy working on plural and possessive nouns.  Next week we will be on to verbs!


  Spelling Words for the week of March 3rd include:  there, said, about, would, little, through, don't important, picture, since, across, however, knew, young sun, thing, whole, hear, happened, opened, stopped, slipping, brand, bridles, calves, corral, herd, initials, manes, and reins


This week's list includes fourteen new words and the rest we have covered many times.


Have a great week!  Remember this week is also OPTIMISM week!  Remember to say to yourself when things get challenging "I can do it!"

The Snow Continues....... Go Team USA

This week brings more cold weather and more snow!  Winter has certainly made its presence known this year!  Our class keeps warm with a flurry of reading and writing.  We have lots to learn and lots to do!


This week's spelling words include: 
what, were, your, their, through, think, because, place, something, don't, until, without, paper, hard, near, sentence, better, cells, contorted, digest, immigrants. 
The boys all did very well with these words during Monday's "Spelling Preview". 


We are reading the selection "John Henry" from our Scott Foresman anthology.  The class is enjoying the exaggerations the author uses to illustrate his point.  It is important to go past the literal meaning of individual words to infer the message the author works to get across.


Vocabulary words with this selection include:  boulder, hollered, shivered, horizon, glimpse, tunnel, and rhythm.


We have been working hard on our language skills using "Study Island".  Students may log on to this program from home and continue working to obtain those blue ribbons.  Every blue ribbon they earn with having completed a minimum of 20-30 questions translates to one of our orange reward tickets.  The amount you earn is up to you:)  As the snow days keep coming, remember you can always continue working on Study Island from home.  Its a great way to spend some time at home keeping your skills fresh and ready!


Our class will begin their research reports on the Olympics next week.  We will work on these both in school and at home.  Students will choose from a list of topics to include in this project.  All will write on the history of the Olympics, and then choose from additional topics adding creativity to what they research and write.  More information to follow.


January's book project was an extra credit project.  The February/March project will be due March 28th.  The book must be a biography.  There are many interesting people we can read about during this our "Presidents' Month".


Stay Warm!  Happy Valentine's Day!!!

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!

Happy Holidays!!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Happy holidays to all!  What a special time of the year for spending time with friends and family.  May we all have a happy, healthy, holiday season!!!

This week we are going to focus all our ELA activities around this special time of the year.  Since the students are so excited about the season, we are going to use that energy for our lessons.

This week's spelling words are all holiday words!

elf, elves, snowman, reindeer, Santa Claus, Christmas, celebrating, mistletoe, sleigh, sledding, turkey, present, chimney, sweater, coal, ornaments, star, caroling, Grinch, snowflake, wreath, icicle, December, twenty-fifth, holiday

We will be reading "T'was the Night Before Christmas" this week and writing letters to Santa.

Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!!  Happy New Year!!!  to all.....

Mrs. Carr