11/2/17: Update! Unit 2 Has Begun!
Our new unit for Imagine It! has begun! These next few weeks will be full of discovery and exploration in our weekly stories! So far we have learned about ants and rocks! If your child discovers anything new on their own, encourage them to bring it in! :-)
10/12/17: Curriculum Update
We are working hard to complete our 1st unit of Imagine It! Our current story is based on an Aesop Fable, The Lion and The Mouse. This story is a beautiful example of how ALL of God's creatures take care of each other and show love and kindness to others. We are working on summarizing, sequencing, and determining reality vs fantasy through our stories this week.
Phonics: Our spelling work this week is focusing on the long e sound with sound spelling of e by itself and e_e. These sound spellings are important to building a foundation knowledge for reading and writing correctly.
Phonics: Our spelling work this week is focusing on the long e sound with sound spelling of e by itself and e_e. These sound spellings are important to building a foundation knowledge for reading and writing correctly.
9/18/17: Writing
We are going to be working very hard this year on improving our writing skills. Multiple times a week your children will get a chance to write with the sole purpose of steadily increasing their writing abilities. When they finish their assigned work early, or we have extra time between lessons, they have the chance to work on "Quick Write" prompts. These are written in their writing notebooks. At least once a week I will be checking their notebooks. I have checked them once already and wrote a few pointers in each. These notebooks were sent home after I looked through them so I hope you got to see them! Below are some of the pointers and expectations I have for these notebooks and I would appreciate your help with this by talking to your child about their work and looking at their writings whenever they come home. These expectations will expand to other areas in our academics as well, including homework, so if you are helping them, please watch to make sure they are doing their best.
- Always write in complete sentences unless told otherwise.
- Make sure punctuation is used correctly.
- Pay attention to capitalization.
- Do not skip pages in writing notebooks.
- Finish a quick write before moving on to a new one (even if it takes multiple days).
- Always label your writings with the date you started and the prompt (title too if needed!) so what you are writing about is very clear.
- Read over your work constantly to check for mistakes.
- Make your readers "SEE" what you are writing about by using as much detail as possible.
- Be sure you are answering the prompt completely.
- When writing, always ask yourself Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How to be sure that your writing is clear and as full of detail as possible.
9/14/17: Where are we??
We officially began working on Unit 1 of our Imagine It! curriculum!!!! Spelling homework will begin soon as will weekly spelling tests.
8/29/17: Imagine It!
Students began working with our Imagine It! curriculum this week! We are in the Getting Started section of our work to begin learning our routines. Help us help your student by asking them about their daily readings! :-) **Spelling work will not begin until after they complete the Getting Started Unit**
8/23/17: Let the adventures begin!
This week, students are sharing more about themselves and getting started with their Imagine It curriculum basics. They have their first in class writing projects and their first take home project will go out later this week (don't worry nothing crazy)! The tear is starting out busy, but great!!! :-)
5/17/17: Writing and Reading Galore!
As a wrap up to our year, we have been applying all of our writing skills and practicing with 30 minute writing prompts! I will be sending home some summer prompts at the end of the year with your child, help them help themselves to increasing their vocabulary choice and sentence structures!
In addition to writing practice, we have been doing some extra readings as well! With our novel study in full swing, our Imagine It! stories were set aside .... so students are being given the opportunity to read ones we did not do and create a reading log with the title and a quick summary of what they read to earn some extra classwork and homework grades!
In addition to writing practice, we have been doing some extra readings as well! With our novel study in full swing, our Imagine It! stories were set aside .... so students are being given the opportunity to read ones we did not do and create a reading log with the title and a quick summary of what they read to earn some extra classwork and homework grades!
3/24/17: OUR BOOK IS COMPLETE!
We have officially finished reading all 17 chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling! We are completing some final novel based activities and will soon get to enjoy the wonderful world of Harry Potter on the "Big Screen" (aka our classroom SMARTboard!)!!! As they watch, they will complete an in-depth analysis comparing and contrasting the film vs the novel. SO EXCITED!
3/16/17: We have completed Chapter 16! 1 Chapter to Go!!
3/6/17: Laughing with Limericks!
This week's writing prompt is to get silly with limericks! Students will practice using the entire writing process (1. prewriting 2. drafting 3. editing 4. revising 5. publishing) to create 2 limericks. Please follow the link below to find out all about limericks and how to write one! These should be humorous and can be related to any topic. Have fun!
2/28/17: Writing with the Perfect Structure
This week, we are really focusing on writing formally and with specific detail. Check out our writing "Cheat Sheet" below and you can help your child perfect their writing at home, too!
2/14/17: Annotations and Comprehension
We are continuing to develop our higher level thinking skills, and to do so we are working hard on analyzing what we read through annotations and comprehension activities! Below you can see some of our notes and examples of what we are doing to help better understand what we are reading.
1/26/17: Welcome to Platform Nine & Three Quarters
Students have been doing a fabulous job these past couple weeks and we are making great leaps with our lessons and our travels with Harry Potter! This week we have officially entered the magical world as Harry traveled to Diagon Alley to buy all of his school supplies. Following a few more weeks with the horrible Dursleys, Harry has officially boarded the Hogwarts Express and began his journey to new adventures at school.
Since the start of the book, we have discussed some very crucial higher level methods to novel studies. The first thing we recalled how to do was to use Annotations as we read (marking important and unknown pieces in our story with symbols). We then learned Double Entry Journal Formatting. This is a thorough way of highlighting pieces of the text on one side of the page and attaching emotional or mental responses to it on the other side. We have discovered the power of talking through what we are reading in what we call "House Talks," which are formally called Literature Circles. We have embarked on the influential path of Descriptive Writing and are working diligently on "writing a picture" rather than just reciting words. We have studied Symbolism in literature, highlighted Similes, broadened our Vocabulary, and learned the importance of understanding the Settings of our characters adventures.
Below you can see our developing Concept Board with some key lessons we have worked with so far! Enjoy, and be sure to ask your child all about their reading!! :-)
Since the start of the book, we have discussed some very crucial higher level methods to novel studies. The first thing we recalled how to do was to use Annotations as we read (marking important and unknown pieces in our story with symbols). We then learned Double Entry Journal Formatting. This is a thorough way of highlighting pieces of the text on one side of the page and attaching emotional or mental responses to it on the other side. We have discovered the power of talking through what we are reading in what we call "House Talks," which are formally called Literature Circles. We have embarked on the influential path of Descriptive Writing and are working diligently on "writing a picture" rather than just reciting words. We have studied Symbolism in literature, highlighted Similes, broadened our Vocabulary, and learned the importance of understanding the Settings of our characters adventures.
Below you can see our developing Concept Board with some key lessons we have worked with so far! Enjoy, and be sure to ask your child all about their reading!! :-)
1/2/17: Let the Magic Begin!
This week marks the beginning of our brand new novel study on Harry Potter and the Soceror's Stone! The kids (and I!) have been looking forward to this study all year and it is finally time!! Letters of acceptance went home today and we will begin our journey tomorrow! I cannot wait!!
1/2/17: Bunnicula is Complete! :-)
I am looking over all bunnicula projects tonight, but the work I have seen from every student these past few weeks has been fantastic!!! The discussions were meaningful and really dug deep into the workings of their story. I am proud of how they each stepped up to complete this novel study!
Here, you will find At Home Activities for each story we get to in our year. Just click on the title of the story we are working on to gain access to the activities (in both English and Spanish)!
At Home Resources ---
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NOVEL STUDY TIME!! - BUNNICULA
Current Unit -
We are currently wrapping up
Unit 2: Nature's Delicate Balance
This unit has been very packed and took a little longer than Unit 1 because it had a huge focus on Science as well as Reading. During this unit we focused on our environment and how we play a big role in it no matter how small or large we are! Below you can find links to all of the information we gained from this unit!
Unit 1: RISKS AND CONSEQUENCES