Root flash cards: Sept 30, 2013

We started out class working on our sight words and then had DEAR time!  After that we learned a new sentence of the week skill.  Our skill this week was learning the difference between to, too, and two! As we learned in class....

• Two = number
• To = to show location or as part of a verb
• Too = also, as well, or in excess, a lot of something.

Your homework tonight will be to create your 5 new sentences mimicking the ones we worked on in class.  Here is a link to the sentence of the week.  

We also worked on finishing up our root flashcards.  These are due tomorrow as well so make sure you have your pictures filled out!

Sentence of the Week and roots: Sept 23, 2013

Happy Monday!  We started class by working on our sight words and then followed that up with DEAR time.  After DEAR we spent more time working on our sentence of the week skill from last week, they're vs. their vs. their.  We still have some work to do on this but we'll review the worksheet we worked on today in class tomorrow and hopefully that will help clear up any confusion!

We finished up class by continuing to learn more root words.  We are almost done with our list, you guys are doing a great job of staying focused on this!  When we are done I will put together a master list with all of the prefixes, suffixes, and roots that we have learned.

Don't forget to bring your reading strategies bookmarks with you to class tomorrow!

Root words: Sept 20, 2013

We started class by reviewing our sight words and then journaled for a bit.  After journaling we practiced our sentence of the week skill (their vs they're vs there).  Here is our sentence of the week practice.

After correcting these sentences we kept working on our prefixes and suffixes.  Today we worked on root words.  You guys were super creative in coming up with words!  We will continue working on these on Monday!

MAPS Testing: Sept 19, 2013

Today we took our math MAPS test!  Tomorrow we will continue with comm arts as usual.  We'll work on our sentence of the week skill and prefixes and suffixes.

No homework!

MAPS Testing: Sept 18, 2013

Reading MAPS test today!!  Tomorrow we will complete the math portion of the MAPS test.

Library Orientation: Sept 17, 2013

Today we had library orientation!  We spent comm arts learning about the library, meaning how to use it, the different resources they have, and had a book talk!  The book talk with Mr. D and Ms. Barszcz highlighted some of the new and most popular books they have in the library.

So make sure to hop onto your Destiny Quest in the next couple of days and fill up your "Want to read" lists!  Don't forget about those ebooks!

Tomorrow we have MAPS testing!

S.O.W and more prefixes! Sept 16, 2013

We started class by working on our sight words!  We then moved onto our new sentence of the week.  After analyzing the sentences we realized that they all had either they're, their, or there in them, that they were all spelled differently, and had different meaning!  So as discussed in class....

• They're = They are 
• Their = Shows possession, someone owns something
• There = Show location and existence

We will work on this skill this week and next week since this week is disrupted with MAPS testing and library orientation.  

We continued to work on prefixes!  Today students were given prefixes, had to come up with words that they knew started with that prefix, and then try to decipher the meaning based on what they knew about that prefix.  Great job with this everyone!

Tomorrow we have library orientation!  

Prefixes: Sept 12, 2013

We started class by continuing to work on our sight words.  Everyone is making awesome progress with these so keep up the good work!  After our sight word practice we spent some time journaling....

We followed that up by working on learning some prefixes.  By learning the prefixes it will help us decipher the meaning of words that we come across that we may not initially know the meaning of.  Here we are using dictionaries and group effort to figure these words out!

We have our sentence of the week quiz tomorrow so make sure to bring your notes with you!

Predicting Practice: September 11, 2013

Today in class we practiced our reading strategy predicting!  Before making predictions we talked about what we use when reading to help up make predictions.  We decided that we use pictures, the front and back covers, and the text itself, to find clues that help us make predictions.  If we didn't use these things we would just be randomly guessing about what might happen and probably would not often be right!

We read a childrens book to practice this skill.  We looked at the cover before reading it and made predictions about what we thought the book might be about.  Then as we read we stopped every so often and made new predictions and talked about how our original predictions changed as we continued to get new information.  When we finished we also discovered that we often used our background or prior knowledge to help us interpret the clues in the book and make predictions as well.  This is a great skill to have when reading to keep looking for those clues!!

We practiced our sentence of week skills as well, with these practice sentences.  Students had to write the sentences incorrectly in their notebook and then use a correcting pen/pencil/highlighter to make corrections.  You all did fabulous with this!

No homework tonight!  Don't forget your DEAR books!

P.S. Try reading this for fun!

Reading Strategies: Sept 10, 2013

Today in class we drilled through our sight words again!  Everyone did fantastic!  I was really please with the progress you all are making in just one day!!  Awesome job!

After working through our sight words we started discussing reading strategies.  As discussed in class these are strategies used when reading to help you become a better reader and to help you better understand what you are reading.  Just like athletes do during sports games we all use strategies to help us get better at something, so why not with reading!

We put these bookmarks in the back of our notebooks so we will be able to use them as a reference.  Then we went through all of the different strategies on them.  Most of these we do as readers but by jotting down the text codes you force yourself to think about what you just read a couple of extra times which helps reinforce the concept.

We will focus on different strategies throughout the year and this week we are focusing on predicting.  We talked about using text clues, or information the author presents us with to come up with predictions about what is going to happen next.  So if the author tells us that the character is clumsy and falls down a lot, and we read that the character is walking over a patch of ice, based on the clues presented about the character we can predict that they will likely fall.

We'll keep working on this strategy throughout the week so keep making those predictions!

Sentence of the Week & Sight Words: Sept 9, 2013

Homework: Sentence of the Week

We started today's class with something we will now be doing every Monday, Sentence of the Week.  Three sentences are presented to students.  After writing them in their notebook students have to analyze the sentences and try to discover what the new grammar rule is, or what all of the sentences have in common.  What that may be is the rule for writing that we will be focusing on that week.  Homework for Tuesday will then be to replicate the rule discussed in class by writing their own three sentences.  So the sentences should be different than the ones we worked on in class but they should be following the new rule discussed in class.  So as an example the rules we learned in class today are that every sentence starts with a capital letter and that every sentence ends with some sort of punctuation.  So our first sentence in class was....

• I went to school today.  

So your new sentence could be....

• I love ice cream. 

Easy, right?

We will practice working on this skill in class throughout the week and then will have a quiz on it on Friday.  You can use your notes on the quiz so take good notes!

After sentence of the week, we worked on creating sight card flashcards.  On Friday, we read aloud commonly used words and students had to write them down as they believed they are spelled.  Today, we gave the lists back and had kids re-write all of the words they spelled incorrectly into their sight words list.  This list will be used to help everyone read, spell, and recognize these commonly used words that they may not yet know.  We also put up a list of 100 words every 6th grader should know and added some of those to the list.  We'll work through that list throughout the year.  We'll practice these words a little bit everyday and you'll be a pro before you know it!  

Don't forget to complete your three sentences for tomorrow!  Have a great night!

Journaling and DEAR Books: Sept 5, 2013

We started class today by writing in our journals briefly.  We then spent a little time creating a "Writing Territories" list in the back of our journals.  This is a list of topics that the owner of the journal knows a lot about, so that on days when you are suffering from writers block, you can just flip back to that list and have a ton of ideas just waiting for you!  

After finishing that up, I checked to make sure everyone had a DEAR book with them.  If you didn't have one today make sure you have one with you tomorrow!  We then had DEAR for the remainder of the hour.  

During 8th hour we headed down to the library to change our passwords and finish our "Getting to know you" forms.

There is no homework, unless you forgot to bring a DEAR book!  Have a good night!

End of Day 2 September 4th, 2013

Homework Bring a DEAR book

We covered a lot of information in class today!  We talked about the class blog, your different notebooks, practiced getting on the computer, and DEAR books.

We spent the most time discussing journaling today.  We will journal briefly almost every day.  It's a great way for kids to channel their thoughts, and get some writing practice in every day.  It's also a great memento to have at the end of the year!  Today we wrote in our journals about what you thought about middle school so far.  When our time was up, everyone begged for more!  So of course we kept on writing!

When we finished journaling we discussed writing territories.  Writing territories is a list that you keep in the back of your journal of things or topics that you know a lot about (family, pets, vacations, hobbies, sports, etc) so that on days when you have writers block you can just flip back there and have something to write about!  In class tomorrow we will complete our writing territories list.  (You do not have to complete this for homework)

We also began working on our "Getting to know you" form.  Since getting on the computers took longer than expected, we will also finish this up tomorrow.  (Also not homework)

The only homework for tomorrow is to bring a DEAR book with you to class!  Have a great night!  

Getting to Know You Form

Here is the link to the "Getting to know you form" that we will be working on in class.

Fill it out completely and with your best effort!

Welcome to 6th Grade! Sept 3rd

Welcome to 6th grade!  I promise I will do my best to make this class the best learning experience I can for you.  When it comes to teaching I really strive to get the students as involved in planning their learning experience as I can.  If I can teach in a way that is based on how they want to learn I feel that the students are more engaged and take more ownership for their learning.  I respect their views and opinions and want that to come across when planning units.  

Now some of you may be wondering what the deal is with this blog....

Obviously technology is a huge part of our everyday lives.  Blogs are rampant all over the internet and it seems there are hundreds of blogs for almost any topic you can imagine.  It is really important for me to make it easy for students parents/guardians to be able to connect with my classroom.  On this blog throughout the year you will be able to find out what we are doing in class throughout a week, if there is homework/what it is, when tests are coming up, etc.  I will also post links to important forms, worksheets, and project instructions.  

Now a little about myself....

My  name is Mrs. Challe and this is my second year teaching.  I have a Bachelor's degree from UWGB in Business Administration and received my teaching license from Concordia University through their Masters of Education program.  I live in Green Bay (Go Pack!).  I got married this summer so this is my first year as Mrs. Challe!  So if I don't respond when you call me, don't be offended.....

I have two dogs, a big, smelly, lazy bloodhound named George.....

And a not so smelly, not so lazy border collie named Samson....

I promise not all of my posts will be this long!  Now that you know some more about me I cannot wait to get to know all of you and your families throughout this school year!  So hopefully this blog will be a super helpful tool for you to use this year and enjoy 6th grade!