Homework: Sentence of the week, Lit circle packets Day 1 questions
We started class today with DEAR time and then read from our read aloud book Girl Stolen, for a little bit since it had been so long since we were able to read it! After reading we reviewed our sight word cards and learned a new Sentence of the Week skill. We learned our final rules for writing with dialogue this week. Remember to review where the commas and periods go, as well as where things need to be capitalized!
Our second half of class was spent working on Touching Spirit Bear. Students broke up into their lit circles and began reading chapter 3. I handed out their lit circle packets today. Really really really really try not to lose these!!! We will use these packets daily, along with our reading so the loss of them will be devastating!
Your homework tonight will be to write your three new sentences for sentence of the week, and to finish your day one questions in your lit circle packets. Have a great night!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Jan 9, 2013: Touching Spirit Bear
Welcome back! Three days off has left us rejuvenated and ready to learn! Right? Right???
We started class out with DEAR time and then reviewed sight words. After that we moved right back into reading from Touching Spirit Bear. We finished chapter one and completed the question sheet. Before beginning chapter two we went over some book long projects that we will be working on. We discussed theme and reviewed the themes of some common books and movies. Touching Spirit Bear has many themes and some are unfamiliar topics. Student pairs chose a theme and they will research the topic and present to the class. This will provide them with a deeper understanding of the meaning of the book.
We will continue reading the book in lit circles tomorrow and will begin discussing figures of speech.
We started class out with DEAR time and then reviewed sight words. After that we moved right back into reading from Touching Spirit Bear. We finished chapter one and completed the question sheet. Before beginning chapter two we went over some book long projects that we will be working on. We discussed theme and reviewed the themes of some common books and movies. Touching Spirit Bear has many themes and some are unfamiliar topics. Student pairs chose a theme and they will research the topic and present to the class. This will provide them with a deeper understanding of the meaning of the book.
We will continue reading the book in lit circles tomorrow and will begin discussing figures of speech.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Dec 10, 2013: Scarology
More editing of our scarology papers today! Students worked on beefing up their paragraphs. We also studied our sight words and worked on sentence of the week skills.
Tomorrow we will look at adding dialogue to our paragraphs which will go along with our sentence of the week work.
Tomorrow we will look at adding dialogue to our paragraphs which will go along with our sentence of the week work.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Dec 9, 2013: Scarology
Homework: Sentence of the Week
We started class out with some DEAR time and then practiced our sight words. We learned a new skill during sentence of the week. We learned how to use front-end dialogue, or how to write sentences with the spoken part written first. We will continue to practice this throughout the week.
We spent the second half of class reviewing what goes into every good paragraph, and what the difference is between narrative and expository writing. We then jumped on the computers to do some editing to our scarology stories. Everyone had to go through their paragraphs to make sure they had all of the elements of a good paragraph. They are....
- Topic sentence: Tells your reader what they will be reading about
- Supporting Details: 3-5 per paragraph that support the topic
- Concluding or transition sentence: Wraps up your idea/moves your reader onto what is happening next
- Transition words: Next, later, after, then....etc.
We will continue working on this tomorrow and will work on adding dialogue to our stories!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Scarology Cont: Nov 13, 2013
We began a new read aloud today in class! The book we started is called Girl Stolen, by April Henry. So far it has us hooked! We left off on a cliffhanger so we might have to pick it right back up tomorrow! While reading today we jotted down notes about the characters we met, the setting, and some other important details. To sum it up, Cheyenne is a 16 year old blind girl that is accidentally kidnapped when Griffin, a confessed career criminal, steals her parents Escalade from a parking lot. At this point Griffin is freaking out about having Cheyenne and is very worried about what "Roy" (a character we don't know anything about yet) is going to do to him for messing up.....
After read aloud everyone practiced their sight words and then we worked on Sentence of the Week. What I found when looking at everyone's homework was that we need to remember that when using conjunctions you need to have a complete sentence on either side of the comma! We'll continue working on that tomorrow!
We finished up class by continuing to discuss scarology. We used this doc (not sure if you'll be able to open it or not). We talked about how a personal narrative is a TRUE story about the author! Some of you were wondering if you could embellish your scar stories but they need to be TRUE! We also talked about creating a good introduction that would suck your reader in. We'll keep working on this tomorrow as well and talk more about personal narratives.
No homework! Have a good night!
After read aloud everyone practiced their sight words and then we worked on Sentence of the Week. What I found when looking at everyone's homework was that we need to remember that when using conjunctions you need to have a complete sentence on either side of the comma! We'll continue working on that tomorrow!
We finished up class by continuing to discuss scarology. We used this doc (not sure if you'll be able to open it or not). We talked about how a personal narrative is a TRUE story about the author! Some of you were wondering if you could embellish your scar stories but they need to be TRUE! We also talked about creating a good introduction that would suck your reader in. We'll keep working on this tomorrow as well and talk more about personal narratives.
No homework! Have a good night!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Scarology: Nov 12, 2013
We started class with DEAR today....
After DEAR we worked on our sight words and then got into sentence of the week! Our rule for this week was about conjunctions! What they are, when to use them, what punctuation to use with them, etc. Remember FANBOYS. (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)
We also watched the School House Rock "Conjunction Junction" song, because it's awesome!
We finished up class by introducing our next big project, scarology! Scarology will be a personal narrative that students will write based on a scar that they have. We went through what a personal narrative is (a story about yourself) and the project rubric. Tomorrow when you get to class have listed what scar you would like to write about!
After DEAR we worked on our sight words and then got into sentence of the week! Our rule for this week was about conjunctions! What they are, when to use them, what punctuation to use with them, etc. Remember FANBOYS. (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)
We also watched the School House Rock "Conjunction Junction" song, because it's awesome!
We finished up class by introducing our next big project, scarology! Scarology will be a personal narrative that students will write based on a scar that they have. We went through what a personal narrative is (a story about yourself) and the project rubric. Tomorrow when you get to class have listed what scar you would like to write about!
Monday, November 4, 2013
Sentence of the Week: Nov 4, 2013
Homework: Sentence of the Week, Reading Strategies Bookmark
After sight words we had our new sentence of the week skill. This week we are learning that for a sentence to be considered complete, it MUST have a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and a verb (what the subject is doing). Your homework for tomorrow is to create three new complete sentences and to label the subject and the verb.
We scored our last Boggle round from Friday, you guys are crazy good at this game! You found words that I hadn't come up with yet!
Finally, we finished up class by reviewing our reading strategies bookmark. Since a number of you had lost yours, if you do not have one your homework is also to complete one of these. You need to create a bookmark with the 6 reading strategies (3 on each side), with the name of the strategy and a picture to represent it.
WKCE testing tomorrow!
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