Updates May 21-25, 2012

The end of the year is coming up fast! We are still working in the textbook and doing nightly reading logs. I am not assigning weekly Spelling or vocabulary words at this point however.  

Reading This week students will practice a reading strategy called QAL, question, answer, learned. We will use the reading textbook story The Golden Lion Tamrin Comes Home along with other text to practice throughout the week. Along with reading in class students will complete their DRA assessment in class this week.

 Language We will continue working on the response to literature standard. Your child should have 2 completed responses: The Paper Boy and Eggbert the Slightly Cracked Egg. This week we will write a response to poetry. These will be new grades reflected on the report card since midterm progress reports. We will also begin a focus on cursive handwriting.

Important dates
May 23..........final early dismissal
May 24..........chickens hatch :-)
May 28..........Holiday No School

Until next time,
R. O'Steen

Updates May 7-11, 2012

Students are coming up on the final weeks of school. The FCAT is finished however, please remind them that school is not out yet...we must continue running to the finish line! We still have some very important end of the year assessments coming up over the next couple of weeks. One is the F.A.I.R. test which is completed on the computer. Students have taken it twice this year. This final assessment will compare their beginning and mid-year scores to their final assessment score. Some students will also complete the DRA reading assessment for the final time. So as you can see we still have a lot going on.

This week on May 10 students will have an opportunity to share the books they published earlier this year. They are very proud and excited to share their stories. They did an outstanding job!!

Students should have also completed their report and turned it in by now. Those grades will be reflected on their progress report going home Wednesday May 9.

Reading

This week we will focus on the genre autobiography. Students will read and share what they learned about a person they read about. They will have vocabulary to study but not spelling words with this focus. They will not have a selection test instead they will complete a book jacket project sharing what they learned about the person they chose.

Writing

We have completed our study of report writing and have moved on the response to literature genre. When students respond to literature they share what they learned from the book along with their thoughts and feelings. Students will have fun reading books together and sharing what they took away from the book.

Important dates
May 9....................Progress reports go home
May 10...................Muffins with Mom and Author's Day
May 15 and 17............F.A.I.R. testing days
May 16...................last day to turn in field trip money
May 18...................Field trip Diamond D Ranch
May 23...................last early dismissal
May 28...................Holiday- Memorial Day

Until next time,
R. O'Steen