Happy New Year! The semester is almost over and first semester report cards will be coming out around the first week of February. During the second week of January there will be a lot of midyear reading and math testing going on which we'll use to help show improvement from fall scores on the report cards, so please try to send your child every day! Specifically, we'll be taking the midyear math District Course Assessment, math Computation Test, and the Gates McGinite comprehension and vocabulary tests. Reading - Read aloud - This month in reading, we are working our way into an epic fantasy novel called Sword of Shannara. Each week there is a different daily assignment to work on to help build advanced reading skills such as: sequencing, predicting, inferencing, symbolism, etc. Vocabulary - Additionally, we are now around 35 Greek and Latin root words, with roughly two new ones being added every week, so ongoing review is very important. This is because every Friday we take a quiz over all of the derivative definitions of words we have covered during the entire year. Independent reading - Students are also still working in class every day to read a book that is about 1/2 to a whole grade level above their current reading level, do one of an assortment of reading sheets on the reading, and take an AR test to earn points for the book. 3rd graders should be earning 2+ points a week. 4th graders should earn 2.5+ points per week. 5th graders should earn 3+ points per week. As we are now into the 15th week of school, 3rd graders should be at 30 AR points or higher, 4th should be above 37, and 5th should be at or over 45 AR points. If you don't know how many AR points your child has, please ask them or ask me for a report! The half and half sheet can still be found HERE.
Writing - This month we are practicing for the 4th grade Writing MSP by having students write a paper on a goal that they have and the character qualities they think they'll need which will support them reaching this goal. To help them with this, I have given them a template which uses color-coded paragraphs to help them organize their paper with transitions, statements, and detail sentences. 3rd and 4th and new 5th graders especially may require help with this process at home. Math - Math continues on much as it has these last few months. We cover a skill on Monday, homework goes home that night. We correct it Tuesday and then take a quiz. Wednesday we cover a second skill, homework goes home that night. On Thursday we correct it and then take a quiz. On Fridays we sometimes have time for a game or art project based on the math we learned that week. Additionally, every day we do a mixed math journal which covers an assortment of around ten skills that we have learned this year, composed primarily from trouble areas that the class had so we can build up our weaker skills. The process for these mixed math journals is: Monday I work through all the problems with the class, Tuesday they can ask anyone in class for support or work solo, Wednesday they work just with their small group, Thursday they work solo, and Friday we quiz and it's worth considerably more. This process is designed to help them build towards self-mastery and to give them a variety of viewpoints and techniques taught not only by the teacher but also by peers. Students are highly encouraged to take home their math skill homework on Monday and Wednesday evenings and get support at home. The same goes for the mixed math journals. If students are struggling with a particular skill, it benefits them greatly to get help on it at home on Monday and Tuesday night so they know how to do it by Friday when they have to do it solo and it's worth a lot. Social Studies - This month we are covering Industrialization, which is chapter 17 in the social studies book. Science - This month we are covering Changes in Matter, which is chapter 12 in the science book. Remember students can re-read this at home online. There are links on the left hand side of the page to get to the science book online. Again, happy New Year! Peace, Mr. Smalley |