Spelling
Over the past several weeks, we have been working on spelling. Spelling in our class consists of two main parts: 1) Spelling Workshop and 2) spelling lists. Spelling Workshop takes place once a week in conjunction with our Writing Workshop time. Each week students go through their various writing pieces and search for misspelled words. Soon they will also be searching their reading journals and vocabulary stories for misspelled words. After finding 5 - 8 misspelled words from their own work, they then "have - a - go" at the words. When students "have - a - go" at a misspelled word, they try spelling the word three different ways. After they "have - a - go," each student signs up with me so that I can check their work and make sure that they have the correct spelling. Once they have the correct spelling of each word, they then go on to a multi-step process to help them remember the spelling of the word. First they look at the word and say it out loud. They then cover it up and try to visualize how the word is spelled. After visualizing the word in their mind, the write the word down. They check their work and rewrite the word one final time. Once they complete this work, they add the word to their own personal spelling dictionary. All of the Spelling Workshop work is located in the spelling section of their language arts folder.The second part of spelling is our weekly spelling lists. Each week, after examining student work during Spelling Workshop, I choose a spelling pattern that many students are struggling with. We discuss the pattern in class, and I give them a spelling list based on this pattern. They have the choice to study the words in any way that they wish. At the end of the week, I give them a quiz on the words and they add the words to their spelling dictionaries. For our first list, students will be given the quiz next Wednesday, September 26. After that, spelling lists will be given every Friday, and the students will be quizzed the following Friday.
In math, the fourth graders are moving on to data collection. This week we collected data on how many raisins come in a 1.5-oz. box. After collecting our data, we discussed different ways we could present our findings. We decided that a line plot was an efficient way to display our information because we could see the numbers that came up frequently. Next we will compare the heights of fourth grade students with those of first grade students. Yesterday we spent some time measuring each other's heights in inches. On Friday we will measure the heights of first grade students. We will spend some time next week creating line plots to display our information and will discuss making generalizations about the heights of fourth graders compared with those of first graders.
Here is this week's newsletter from our student reporters:
Posted on September 20, 2007 10:22 AM | Permalink