Thursday, October 28, 2010

November 1-5

Important Dates:

*Teacher Institute Tuesday 11/2

*Analogies test Friday 11/5


Classroom Chatter:

Don't forget Tuesday is no school for Teachers' Institute.



We had a SPOOKTACULAR time at our Halloween Party. Thank to Mrs. Berg and Mrs. Drazenovic for our party! It was ghoulish!















Happy Halloween! Hope your day is ghoulish! Click HERE to carve your own pumpkin!





Spelling: This week the students will focus on solving part/whole analogies. We will work on this skill every day. A packet will be given to the students on Monday. We will work on the packet in class and some pages will be homework. This packet can be studied and reviewed for Friday's graded review on part/whole analogies.

English
We will continue with verbs this week.

Reading
We will be focusing on the following skills and strategies as we begin a novel study this week: identifying character traits, setting, and problem/solution, summarizing, predicting, and making inferences.

Science
We will study the phases of the moon this week.

Social Studies
We will begin learning about present day Downers Grove.

Math
We will be taking a mad minute in x4. We will begin chapter 6 on measurement and time.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Week of October 25-29

Important Dates:
*MAPS testing Monday 10/25
*Downers Grove Quiz Wednesday 10/27
*Halloween parade and parties Friday 10/29

Classroom Chatter
Students have been doing a great job with the MAPS tests. Our last test will be Monday.

Don't forget the Downers Grove permission slip is due Friday 10/29. If your child wants pizza, send in $7 to cover the cost of lunch. They are welcome to bring a sack lunch that day too.

Our Halloween parade will begin at 1:00 on Friday, 10/29. Classroom parties will begin at 1:30. Students not to wear costumes to school. They will change into them in the afternoon. Please send costume in a bag with their name on it. Thank you! Any questions, send me an email!


Spelling
This week we will work on Halloween words. There will be a homework packet given to the students on Monday. The homework is due Friday. There will not be a pretest nor a spelling test this week.

Reading
We will be focusing on predicting, making inferences, and cause and effect as we continue with Cliff Hanger and other stories. The students will be applying the above comprehension strategies as they read.

English
We will finish up our Haunted House descriptive writing papers. We will begin Unit 3 verbs this week.

Science
We will begin Space.

Social Studies
We will be finishing up the history of Downers Grove. We are building our background knowledge of this great community to prepare us for our upcoming field trip to DG on 11/12!
We will be taking a quiz on the history of Downers Grove Wednesday 10/27. A study guide went home on Thursday in the HOMEWORK pocket of the binder. It is a blue half sheet of paper. Have you seen it? Use it a a guide as your child studies.

Math
We will be taking a mad minute in x3's this week. Students will be working on subtraction with regrouping and across zeros. There will be a Check Your Progress for lessons 6-9 on Thursday for a grade. The following week will be the chapter test. Date TBA!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Week of October 18-22

Important Dates:
*Early Dismissal Wednesday 10/20
*Spelling Test Friday 10/22
*Happy Bus Driver Day Friday 10/22

Classroom Chatter:
Please note there was a typo in the permission slip for Downers Grove on the portion that is returned to me. It says at the bottom of the slip we are going Tuesday, 11/9. Please note that date is incorrect. My class is going FRIDAY, 11/12. I also only have 2 parents who are joining us as chaperones. If you're interested in being a chaperone, please send me an email at jcsorba@ccsd66.org

We will be having MAPS testing on Tuesday of this week and Monday of next week. A letter regarding this test came home with your child explaining this test. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Don't forget we have 11 am dismissal on Wednesday, 10/20!


Spelling:
We will work on list 8 this week. The rule for this week is three letter clusters and unexpected consonant patterns. The pretest will be Monday. The test will be Friday. Homework will come home Monday and due on Friday.

Reading
We will continue to work on cause and effect, as well as making predictions and inferences as we read, Cliff Hanger.

English
This week we will do some descriptive writing with haunted houses!

Science
This week we will continue with chapter 9, the water cycle. We will finish the chapter with a cloud activity and water cycle activity. We will not be having a chapter test.

Social Studies
We will finish up the history of Downers Grove. A study guide will come home this week to help prepare for a quiz. The quiz is scheduled for Wednesday 10/27.

Math
This week we will take a mad minute on x2's. This week we will adding large numbers, adding 3 addends, and a graded assignment (Check Your Progress) on Friday for lessons 1-5.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Week of October 11-15

Important Dates:

*No school Monday 10/11 Columbus Day

*English Test Thursday 10/14

*Spelling Test Friday 10/15





Classroom Chatter

Don't forget there is no school Monday for Columbus Day! Enjoy the long weekend!




Spelling

We are on list 7 this week: the long o sound. We will take a pretest on Tuesday. The homework will go home on Tuesday and will be due Friday. The test will be Friday.



Reading

We will learn about cause and effect. We will begin reading the story, Cliff Hanger.



English

We will finish up Unit 2 Nouns. The study guide went home last Thursday. The Unit 2 test on Nouns is scheduled for Thursday 10/14.



Science

We will continue with Chapter 9. Students will be learning about



Social Studies

We will continue to learn about the history of Downers Grove.



Math

We will begin chapter 3 this week with Addition and Subtraction. We also will be taking a mad minute on x0 and x1's. Students must complete 16 problems in 90 seconds.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Week of October 4-8

Important Dates:
Book orders due Friday 10/8
Spelling Test Friday 10/8

Classroom Chatter

October Scholastic book orders went home on Friday. The deadline to order will be Friday 10/8. I encourage anyone who is interested in purchasing books to try ordering online. It is very simple and safe! I attached the directions to the book orders. Thanks!


Spelling:
We are on list 6 this week: more long vowel words. We will take a pretest on Monday. Homework will be sent home on Monday and due Friday. The test will be Friday.

English:
We will continue with Unit 2, Nouns. This week,we will learn about plural nouns, plural possessive nouns, and special plural nouns. Student will also be sharing their Me Bag essays. Their essays will then be placed into their writing portfolios. You will see these portfolios at conferences. They are not going to be graded.

Reading:
We will continue to work on the comprehension strategy of making inferences this week.

Science
We finished chapter 4 on Ecosystems. There will not be a chapter test. We began Chapter 9 this week. Chapter 9 teaches us about weather.

Social Studies
This week we will begin learning all about the history of Downers Grove.

Math
This week we will finish up chapter 2 with a check your progress on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will play a review game. Friday will be chapter 2's test. Students in the "Challenge Group" that received -1 or -2 can take the test to improve their grade. The better of the two grades will be recorded. A multiplication packet went home this week. Start studying multiplication facts! The week of 10/11, we will begin multiplication mad minutes. Students will only have 16 problems to answer in 90 seconds. The first test will be on x0 and x1. The following week, we'll start x2 and continue a new fact each week. Students have 3 chances to earn 5 points for each fact. Every day after that, a point is lost.