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Lessons for Week of October 15-19, 2013

Grades 3-5 Friday Tests:
Shurley English Chapter 3 and Spelling List 9

Shurley English this week will continue to include the following skills: Write a paragraph with a topic sentence and at least three detail sentences describing and telling about a picture Label Nouns as singular or plural, common or proper.

Classify all sentences with these parts of speech: subject, predicate verb, adjective, article adjective, adverbs, prepostional phrases Identify sentences as: declarative, imperatuve, interrogative, or exclamatory and add appropriate sentence end punctuation.

Correct grammar and mechanics of capitalization, punctuation and subject verb agreement in sentences with errors. Reading: instruct students on the methods needed to find answers in comprehension passages. Practice these skills on highlighting and reading for comprehension.

Reminders: The next book project is Book Character Dress-up Day October 26 on the current book they are reading on their own at home.
I will check on Monday to see that they have approval on their books and suggest that they bring their books to class so that I can see the books. I will also give them some time in class these next two weeks to read. Students must have a written summary about their book on October 26 to be presented to the class. The summary needs to be at least 8-10 sentences long giving the summary of events in the beginning, middle and end of the book. The students will dress in costume all day. This will be a regular music day so there will be no need for p.e. considerations.

Wednesday: Writing Thank You notes each week to our chapel speakers. This always is due on Friday as a language grade and handed in to Mr. Smith to be distributed to the guest speaker from our school. You can see this week's lesson plans by clicking here and going to the bottom of the page after it loads.
posted 10/14/2012 3:12 PM




Week of Oct. 8 Lessons
Student Slideshows and Spelling:
Spelling Test 8 will be tested on Thursday. Please study every night. There will be two classmate names from the 4th grade class list as challenge words. These are not bonus and are counted wrong if not spelled correctly.

Language: We have been learning to identify kinds of sentences: imperative ( a command ending in a period), declarative ( a statement ending in a period), interrogative ( asking a question and ending with a question mark), and exclamatory ( showing strong feeling and ending in an exclamation mark).

This week we will learn to write complex sentences starting with a prepositional phrase and longer paragraphs with a topic sentence and detail sentences. We will be writing long three paragraph essays in November and five paragraph essays after Christmas.

Reading: All classes will continue to read at home and prepare for the next book project. Students should be reading nightly 1-2 chapters from their own selected chapter books. The next personal book project is due at the end of October, and we will also have a Book Character Day on Friday, October 26. Students will bring their book and discuss their book in character dress. Please check with your child about what book they are reading and start finding or making a costume for this special date. We will take a group picture, and this will count as a graded project.

Technology: Last week we will be wrote fall haiku poetry and began making Animoto and Smilebox slideshows. Click here to see the link for some of these great fall slideshows. We will finish these up this week.

Wednesday: Writing Thank You notes each week to our chapel speakers. This always is due on Friday as a language grade and handed in to Mr. Smith to be distributed to the guest speaker from our school. You can see this week's lesson plans by clicking here
and going to the bottom of the page after it loads.
posted 10/7/2012 3:41 PM

Sept. 22: Lessons and Tests for This Week

Spelling: Spelling Test 6 will be a multiple choice test on Friday. Students need to review all spelling lists 1-5 in the Warrior binder. We will be reviewing these words through worksheets during the week.

Language: We are learning to identify nouns, action verbs, preposititions, adjectives and adverbs through Shurley English Practice Exercises 7-10. Prepositions ( 1-51) test is Friday, but students may take this test any day this week. Preposition list is found in the student's language spiral or in the textbook in the back.

Reading: All classes will finish their grade level novels and take a test on Friday. A passing test grade will give the student credit as a book report. We will review in class. Students cannot take their books home for this. The next personal book project is due the following week on Oct. 3.

Technology: This week we will be writing fall poetry and making a slideshow as well as writing on Mrs. Yollis' blog about fall and the changes and signs of autumn. See her blog challenge here. Mrs. Yollis' Fall Blog Post.

Extra Activities:
See You at the Pole Prayer for Our Nation on Wednesday morning at 8:00 am

Students will be drawing Brazoria County Fair Art. Students must be passing all subjects to enter this contest at the fair.

Writing Thank You notes each week to our chapel speakers. This always is due on Friday as a language grade and handed in to Mr. Smith to be distributed to the guest speaker from our school. You can see this week's lesson plans by clicking here and going to the bottom of the page after it loads.
posted 9/23/2012 8:30 PM

Sept. 21: 5th Grade Animoto Slideshow

Students in 5th grade began a class slideshow project using www.Animoto.com.
I have a teacher subscription that my students can use to make their slideshows. Students can also get their own free subscription if they wish and their parents can set it up for them. Our God's Creation project will include nature photos, music and Bible scriptures. What an awesome God we have! When we started looking for nature photos, it reminded us once again that our Lord is so creative and so intelligent. He made each animal with such unique features. Technology skills included: Using Google to find photos Saving photos to a desktop picture folder Inserting and uploading photos into Animoto Choosing appropriate music Saving and publishing the Animoto.

Next week, students will add scripture passages into the slideshow and finish up their creations. When we finish with this project, we will share it on our blog or class website
posted 9/22/2012 1:19 PM

Sept. 20: Technology Lessons

Today Blogging is a great way to introduce writing into the real world. There are safety factors that some may have a concern about, but there are also ways to make sure our students are safe while blogging. Here are the safe blogging rules we use in our blogging activities. 1. Be anonymous or use just your first name or initials. 2. Do not give out any personal information 3. Go to trusted blog sites such as reliable teachers' blogs.

This week we learned about what a blog is and how it can be used for educational purposes. Students made a comment on Mrs. Yollis' class blog by going to her class website: www.yollisclassblog.blogspot.com

Mrs. Yollis has won many awards for her personal and teacher blogs. Her class brings in photos and ideas to be used in the class blog on a daily basis. Our students enjoyed writing original sentences and showing that they know what a subject and a predicate are by blogging and making a comment on her Super Sentence and Predicate Blog entry. You can see some of our blog entries which are near the bottom of the blog posts. Super Sentences Post Students in my fourth grade class also commented on other blog entries from last year on Mrs. Yollis' class.

Another technology skill learned today through this lesson was how to highlight, copy and paste words or sentences so that the students did not have to type as much on their entries. It was a great lesson and everyone enjoyed learning more about blogging while integrating language and technology skills.
posted 9/20/2012 1:42 PM

Sept. 18: Language Arts Update

We had a great field trip today to the Museum of Natural Science in Houston. I know that I learned new things today, and I hope the kids did too. Thank you parents for going with us.

Wednesday, Sept. 19: Prepositions quiz over 1-38. That means letters A-P prepositions that can be found in your child's language spiral or in the Shurley English book in the chapter or in the back where the jingles are listed. We have had this quiz date posted on the classroom board since last week, and the students were told to write it in their planners last Friday and last night on Monday.

In reading we are learning to identify the types of books ( genre) and the author's purpose in writing the book, such as to persuade, inform, or entertain ( P.I.E.)

Thursday, Sept. 20: We will start studying all 51 prepositions and have a test on all 51 next Friday, Sept. 28. We will also have time to read our novels each day and have a reading novel quiz almost every day in class. This is a listening or reading quiz of 5 questions. It is usually True or False or short answer.

Friday, Sept. 21: Spelling Test 5 Please study nightly if your child wants to make an "A" on the test. The challenge classmate names should be written in their planner or circled in their classmate list in their binders.These names are not bonus. They are included as part of the list. These spelling tests count to help bring up their language grade. Oct. 3 is the third book project. Book projects count as test grades. Those giving devotionals this week may choose to use the extra 100 as an extra credit quiz grade in Bible or language arts. I consider their preparation and presentation as an oral presentation skill. Let us know where you want the 100 to go.
posted 9/18/2012 5:49 PM

Monday, Sept. 10, 2012 Spelling:

We are studying List 4 this week. Spelling Test Friday. Shurley English: Today we started learning our prepositions. There are a total of 51 prepositions in the book to learn. We will learn the first 20 and have a quiz over these on Thursday. Students must write they and spell them correctly. They do not have to be in order, but these 20 prepositions all start with the letter A or B. Reading: The third book project is due Oct. 3. Please refer to the book project list in the student's Warrior Binder or on our website. We are reading grade level novels in our classes. See these below. We will take several weekly quizzes on these books and have a final test when we finish the book. Each novel will count as a book project.
3rd Gr. Novel: Charlotte's Web
4th Grade Novel: Pippi Longstocking
5th Gr. Novel: The Whipping Boy
posted 9/10/2012 10:07 PM 8.

Sept. 6: Computer Lab Lessons Today
Today, the students learned how to log in and out using their ACS login system. They were also taught how to make a desktop background change, a desktop folder and a desktop icon. For our last activity, they had fun discovering the world of Avatars using www.Voki.com. I have set up a safe classroom site for educators and their students so that students can create amazing avatars to use during their book projects. Students can type in their summary after reading the book and the avatar will speak it over the website. Wow! The excitement was evident in their learning time in the lab today. I wouldn't be surprised if the next book projects the students choose would be using the Voki for audible podcasts.
posted 9/6/2012 4:04 PM

Sept. 3: Third Book Project
All the due dates for the projects have been written in the reading composition notebook on the Book Projects chart which I gave the students the first of last week. The first project was the summary on the book we read in class together to get them started and give them an idea of what a summary should contain. That book was called Ima and the Great Texas Ostrich Race. When it was finished it should have been glued into the reading composition book page 1. Page 2 will be for the second project summary to be glued into the notebook. For many of the students, the second book project which is due on Sept. 7 was their summer reading project. The notebook will be a place for documentation of their book projects. If the student makes a summary for their projects (as they should) this will be glued into the notebook. I will try to get a photo of each project, and we can add that to the page. I will use some of the projects in their memory book that I always make for the students at the end of the year. The memory book will be in a three ring binder with clear sheet protector pages containing photos taken during the year, projects, creative writing, and other memory items. It will include their science drawings, math and Bible items, etc. I showed some of the students the pages from last year's scrapbook so they could see how amazing them look.

Project 3 is due Oct. 3. I am suggesting that the students go ahead and get them turned in before the due dates and keep moving on to the next project if they want to try for the contests and rewards. Twelve book projects are required on the due dates listed in their notebooks. If they want to do additional books and finish their twelve before the end of the year they will be rewarded with two different award parties. Completing 16 projects will be an at school party or reward, and completing 20 projects will be an away from school event such as going off campus for lunch, a trip to go bowling, etc. I talked to Mr. Smith this summer, and he gave me permission for their rewards which will have to be completed by the first or second week of May so that we have time to reward the students. I have told the students about the rewards.

The students all received a complete typed list of all the book projects and descriptions ( which is also on the website) on Friday and that is in the Warrior binder. I suggested that they number each project that they turn in on that list as well as write it in the reading composition notebook.
posted 9/3/2012 5:27 PM

August 26, 2012:Differentiation In My Class

Differentiating is not a new concept; the concept has been around for at least 20 years for gifted and talented students. I taught GT students as a group for five years. In fact, both Mrs. Vandaveer and her older sister, Pam, were some of my GT students. Differentiation is now recognized to be an important tool for engaging students and addressing the individual needs of all students. Differentiating instruction is also an essential tool for integrating technology into classroom activities. We will have our weekly computer lab times, but we also have two computers in our room and students may use those computers to work on contracted book projects and other technology learning activities including blogging.

What is important is to recognize that there are many differentiation strategies. These are some we will be using in our classroom this year.

  • Computer projects: blogging, creating writing and reading technology projects, word processing and research

  • Center activities: learning games, skill development worksheets, challenging higher order thinking skills tasks.

  • Reading Buddies: reading to younger students at our school.

  • Hands-on creative novel and book projects

  • Writing personal letters, stories, journals, and essays, oral presentations to strenghten speaking skills

  • Leadership and community service projects

  • Interactive reading and language notebooks which accomodate reflection, foldables, and creativity.
posted 8/26/2012 8:48 PM .

First and Second Book Projects
Many of the students who completed their summer reading made their book presentations today. Wow! They were amazing! See a few here. Students have until Sept. 7 to get their second book project completed. We read a book in class this week and that book report summary counted as the first project. The summer projects counted as the second project. I would like them to always bring me the book they are reading to get approval for it and also keep the book until they give their presentation so they can show the class. This helps to encourage other kids to read the book also. Twleve book projects are required and the due dates are in their reading notebook. The sooner they get the 12 projects done then the sooner they can work towards the special reward parties for completing 16 books and 20 books which will be in May.

The students are encouraged to constantly have a book to read and a reading log has been provided to them in their binder today. They can bring their book to class and read whenever they have time in any teacher's class. Our rooms are always open for quiet reading or study at 7:15 am before we start our devotionals at 7:45 am. Thanks for a great first week.
posted 8/24/2012 10:06 PM

August 23, 2012: Spelling Lists

I have given your child a spelling list for him/her to carry in their Warrior Binder. You may also use the printable lists on our Spelling Page here on our website which contains the first 6 lists all on one list. Your child WILL have their first spelling test this Friday, Aug. 24. There will be no dictation sentences for a few weeks. I will let you know when we will start the dictation sentences, but just for your understanding I usually give two dictation sentences for third graders, 3 dictation sentences for fourth graders and 4 dictation for 5th graders. There will be no challenge words the first week. The next week and each week thereafter, we will add a few of the classmate names to the list as Challenge Words. The students already have a list of their classmates in their Warrior binder. Spelling lists for the entire year are online on our Subjects page. Please look on the left navigation bar for the links. posted 8/23/2012 11:36 PM

August 23, 2012 Book Project Update

I will send the list home on Friday hopefully if I can get to the copier to make the copies. The list of projects is always on our class website reading projects page. Click on the Grade 3-5 link on my signature on my emails and that will take you to the class website and teacher blogs. Once into the site, click on reading on the subjects page and look to the left navigation bar to find the page for the reading book projects. The first project is being done right now this week in class and the kids will finish their final copy tomorrow at school. The first book project is being done as a class so the new students can see what I want in the way of a book summary and the returning students can get review about my expectations. The summer book project will count as their second book project, and they have until Sept. 7 to get that done and presented. This also gives brand new students time to get caught up with the rest of the class. Tomorrow,on Friday I will be putting a reading log in their binders and giving them a book project list and a book project check off sheet in their reading composition notebooks that we decorated and started today.

Many of the students were very excited about decorating their front cover of the reading notebook with pictures and stickers they had at home. Spelling test is tomorrow on Friday. All students have a spelling list in the binder in a plastic sleeve.
posted 8/23/2012 8:53 PM

August 17, 2012: Homework Procedures

Please check the student's homework planner for the most up to date information about homework, tests and projects. Our team of teachers tries to keep a weekly schedule of tests, so that we do not overload the students with more than two tests in one day. Spelling Lists for each grade are on the spelling page under the Subjects Page link on the left navigation bar on our website. Spelling Tests: Fridays Language or Reading: Fridays Students may have quizzes without notice. In our gradebook, Headmaster, the following percentages will apply. 30% classwork and homework 30% quizzes 40% tests 20% semester exams.
posted 8/17/2012 10:17 PM

August 16, 2012: Keep Connected to Our Website

I am looking forward to a great new year with the incoming classes. A Classroom Newsletter will be here on this blog. This page will contain a copy of the current newsletter and archives of past newsletters from the school year. Most information will also be posted on the classroom calendar which you can find on our website. In order to be able to see our blogs and class website follow these instructions. Open the class website on your computer and then right click with your mouse. Choose create a short cut and this will give you an internet icon on your computer's desktop so that you can easily go right to our website.
posted 8/17/2012 7:02 PM

August 14, 2012: Welcome Welcome to my blog.

We are going to have a great year in Language Arts and Reading. One of the exciting skills we will be doing is using blogs with the students in our classes. Students will enjoy reading what their classmates have written and then responding to each other's blogs. I enjoyed meeting some of you at the Meet the Teacher Night if you are new to ACS and others who are returning to our school for another amazing year ahead of us. I look forward to seeing God work in many wonderful ways. posted 8/14/2012 11:12 PM