Week #5: September 8 - September 12
Teacher's CornerOpen House
A belated thanks and appreciation to all those families who were present at our Open House way back on Wednesday, September 3rd. We appreciate your support and involvement. Please continue to contact us with any questions or concerns.
Language Arts
On Tuesday, we had our first Spelling and Vocabulary Test of the year, and everyone did very well. Once all of the students who are out ill have taken the test, I will return the tests to everyone. The new Vocabulary and Spelling word list will be going home today. The next test will not be until next week Friday. This gives the students approximately one week to study for the test. Remember, this is a student-generated word list. Students should be maintaining their Vocabulary Journal. They should be finding new words to add to their Journal each week. These new words should be coming from their weekly Language Arts Packets, their monthly required reading books, and any additional books that they might be reading. Please also remind your child that when they complete any books or novels, they should record them immediately in their Reading Logs. We have some very prolific readers and if they do not get into the habit of recording their book information into their log, it is very easy to get backed up. Additional Reading Logs are available in the classroom.
In Writing Workshop, we are continuing our work in writing in a variety of different modes and for a variety of different purposes. Yesterday, we reviewed all of the different writing assignments that we have already completed and the modes of writing that we have already experienced. The students were surprised to see that they had already engaged in writing assignments that were representative of all four of the main modes of writing - Expository, Persuasive, Narrative, and Creative/Imaginative. We also continue to review the six writing assessment traits or categories - Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions.
Historical Fiction Book Reports are due on September 29th. Please remember to check the bottom of the Book Report Form for the detailed explanation of all of the assignments the students need to complete for their Book Report. They need to complete the Book Report Form, plan the presentation of their Book Talk, and plan and create a visual aid or literature response to present during their Book Talk. All of the presentations will take place on Monday, September 29th, during their regularly scheduled Language Arts and Social Studies periods. (Being increasingly able to plan and organize these long-term assignments will help to prepare them for the rigors and demands of Middle School.)
Social Studies
We completed our note-taking assignment for the first four chapters of A History of US. We are now working on a guided-writing of how to format and answer the comprehension questions for the Chapter Check-Up Comprehension Resource Guide. For Book #1 - The First Americans - 1600 - all of the reading and Chapter Check-Up Resource Guides will be done in class so that I can monitor their progress. Once we get to Book #2, the reading and Chapter Check-Up Resource Guides will become homework.
Student Newsletter
The Student Newsletter is composed, written, and sometimes actually typed by the students themselves. Each week, the students select different jobs that they want to do for the week. One of the job choices is Newsletter Writer. Normally two students share the job and plan and write the Student Newsletter together. We will be continually trying to improve the Student Newsletter as the students gain more skill, knowledge, and confidence as writers. To this end, I try to maintain the integrity of the students' own words in their own voice. As any editor of a publication will tell you, there is a fine balance between writer's voice and acceptable conventions. Some weeks, there may be more voice and fewer acceptable conventions - like spelling and grammar! We hope that you are patient and understanding and willing to overlook some of the obvious mistakes in spelling and grammar as our fledgling writers continue to gain skill and knowledge in their craft. (Either Mrs. Jacobson or Mrs. Hussey also edits each blog before it is posted. Mrs. Jacobson felt that last week's Student Newsletter spoke for itself and was absolutely charming, so it was published "as is." No edits.) Once again, thank you for your patience and understanding regarding our Student Newsletter.
Student Newsletter - 9/8/08 - 9/12/08 - written by MSt because KY was sick
Monday - 9/8/08 -
In Chapel, Reverend Koyama talked about how respect is like a candle and if you disrespect someone you blow their light out of the candle. We sang, "This Little Light of Mine". DM was sick and then SC got a fever and went home and then KY also got sick and went home.
Tuesday - 9/9/08 -
IB, SC, DMP, KM, TO and CS all all sick from Mr. Black's class and from our class KY, SC, KR, RY and DM are all sick so please wash our hands and don't get sick. We already have 11 people missing from both classes. Also, the class pets are doing just fine. Idioms for today - Add fuel to the fire - it means to cause trouble. All ears - means to listen to somebody. These are 3 centuries old.
Wednesday - 9/10/08 -
Today, we are going to a Cambodian Dance at Mid-pacific Auditorium. It was very cool because they did stuff we can't do. Also, a drum player came to see us and Mrs. Koshi. He is Rolando Sanchez.
Thursday - 9/11/08 -
Today we are going to Kinder Buddies and do activities with them. They helped us finish writing our expository essay of Introductions of us and our buddy to the seniors or the pre-schoolers. Black gets pre-school and Hoddick gets seniors. Some Kinder Buddies came back to our classroom to help us publish on our computers. Also the class pets are doing just fine and Oreo is still healthy being healthy and Snickers is doing good too. We also still need to keep cleaning the cage and pet area.
Friday - 9/12/08 -
This morning MM and BM found that Coco had babies! Coco had about 11 babies. Yeah and they are soooo small.
Interview of MSh who is the God Mother and Grandmother - "BM was very happy and confused when he saw Coco's babies. He was confused because he did not know Coco was pregnant. When he saw them Coco was nursing her new babies." Then MSh went on Wikkipedia to do research about baby mice. MSh - "The average litter size is 10 to 12 mice babies. The younger ones are called pups. They are hairless. They have closed eyes and ears. They have to stay with their mother for 3 weeks and nurse them for 3 weeks. We also can't sell any of them because they have no fur. We do not know who the mother is so no one can hold them and especially the babies."
Observations of the mice during the day -
- Misty and Coco are both nursing the babies??
- Misty made a huge pile of bedding around the purple plastic castle we think she may have her own babies under there but we don't want to move anything.
- NP is taking them home this weekend so he can check.
We celebrated BK's birthday and the new mice babies birthday.
Upcoming Events
- Next week, musician and percussionist Michael Wall from Playful Percussion will be returning to Mid-Pacific Institute to work with the 5th-grade students on team building.
- Welcome Back BBQ on Saturday, September 20th, 2:00 - 5:00 pm.
- Check the Classroom 5H Photo Gallery for all those pictures from the first month of school! Including brand new photos of the baby mice!
Posted on September 12, 2008 12:40 PM | Permalink