Tuesday, 10/18/16

This week will be our seventh week of class, and everyone has really gotten into the groove! I am so impressed with these kids, and I am excited to come out each day and teach them!  The reward system that we began for those who remember to bring all of their materials to class has really helped a lot.  Today was such a smooth and easy day with the students, and I truly appreciate the kids and parents who are making this year an amazing one!

For spelling, the Chicken Group began by reading through each word on list 6, spelling them aloud. We then used the spelling words in sentences, discussing any tricky words along the way. I specifically pointed out for them to be careful with the long "e" sound that is in the words squeal and squeak! We used the letters and sounds test to assess how each student is doing with their special sounds and blends.  Because there are so many special sounds, it is important for us to keep reviewing the old sounds as we learn new ones.  They learned the sounds "y" in baby and "le" in little today.  

The Guinea Group also practiced their spelling list aloud. We then worked as a group on a very difficult word find! As the students look for the words, they have to keep the spelling of the word in mind. Word finds are a great way to study spelling words without realizing that you were studying!

The students worked on handwriting practice, and talked about the new vocabulary list, list four.  To make it fun, the students wrote their own commercials using the vocabulary words in the list. These turned out to be pretty funny!

The class is continuing to study the spread of Islam through the Middle East. At home, they read chapter 12 on the Islamic invasion. Today in class, the students worked on a map activity. Hopefully this will help them better understand the material as they are able to plug in what they have learned onto the map. We will be looking at chapter 6, 7, and 12 as a whole and reviewing all of this material in class on Thursday.

The Cow Group reviewed our lesson on contractions today.  They also continued working on their letters that we began last week.  The students are writing letters to a friend or family member, using the correct letter-writing format.  They even wrote a rough draft and are working on a final copy!  We will finish these letters next week, and the students will be mailing them out.

 

The Horse Group had a review of nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives,and adverbs today.   As we learn more and more, it is important to be sure we have a firm grasp on all past concepts.  Things will get harder in this class, and mastery of the material will help the students to keep up when things get complicated!  

In reading/writing, the students read aloud from their favorite books.  They discussed the passages, working on oral reading skills as well as listening skills.  In the Guinea Group, the students had a lesson on poetry.  They read and discussed a poem in class, and they will be writing their own to share!

Science class was all about weathering and erosion.  The students learned different types of weathering and erosion, and we discussed examples of each.  In order to explain deposition, we had a demonstration where we were the river, carrying sediment (dry erase markers).  As we slowed down, the sediment was deposited (dropped).  The kids thought this was hilarious... which means they will probably remember the lesson on the deposition of sediment!  The class began a poster activity with these terms which we will continue on Thursday.