Classroom Updates

News From the Writing Corner

Most students have finished their informational writing.  The students also had to give constructive feedback to a fellow author using the peer review sheet shown below.  My hope was, that then the original author would use their partner's suggestions to make improvements to their writing.

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One important footnote- The students always have the opportunity to make corrections to their writing pieces and resubmit to improve their grade.  I'm proud that many students did take advantage of this learning opportunity this past week.  

Mr. Searle joined our class to teach a lesson on how to make a google slide show.  We plan to take some information from our informational writing piece to build a google slide show.  Then Mr. Searle will be back to provide tips on how to deliver an engaging presentation!  Check out the time lapse video of his visit with my PM class as we listened to a lesson and then practiced making our on slides.

Spotlight Musician!!

All the way from South Korea, lets give a SHOUT OUT to Heejun!!

Trimester 2 Highlights

     I apologize for the lapse in blogs, I have experienced some technical difficulty.  Before I send out an update on our writing status  I wanted to share a few highlights.

Spotlight Musician

All the way from South Korea we present our very own very talented Heejun!

Another great big shout out to our two fourth grade classmates that represented our classes in the school wide Spelling Bee. We are so proud of both of you!

Creative Minds at Work

The students came out with this wonderful design to represent our class at the Jump Rope for Heart Fundraiser.  Way to support a good cause!

WRITING CORNER

Writing Update

This trimester our writing focus will be informational writing.  At this point we have looked at informational books and discussed the different text structures.  Students have been prewriting about topics they know about and have and interest in.  We have introduced and practiced writing in the following structures: topic & sub-topic, description, and question and answer.  After exploring a variety of books, topics, and writing styles we are beginning are writing process.

Informational Books

Step 1.  Select Topic ( My hope is that all students have an appropriate topic)
We have discussed their topic should be of interest to the audience,
as this will be presented to other students and teachers.  Also the topic must not be too broad or too narrow in order to facilitate research.

Step 2 Research - Students have been taught appropriate internet/research guidelines along with  efficient note taking strategies.  My hope is that students will have enough research to begin their first draft next week. Students have been working in class on research. They may do additional research at home and should bring that information to school.

Step 3 Begin Rough Draft ( Hopefully next week)

   

Even More Helpful Hints

Each week a new grammar skill is introduced.  A grammar worksheet is sent home, labeled by the students "Study Guide".  This worksheet defines the concept and provides examples and practice.  Students should review this in preparation for the Weekly Test.

We encourage the students to save this sheet for the entire Unit, as it will be helpful in preparing for the Unit Test, as well as the End of the Year test.

Helpful Hints

During parent conferences I realized that many families are not aware of what a valuable tool the Reading Street Family Times is.  I want to take a some time to review the various sections of this letter to show you how you and your student can  maximize the use of this resource.

The Family Times is sent home on the first day that a new story is introduced.  It gives an overview of what we will be working on in class for the next week or so.  At the top of the front page is a short summary of the story that we will be reading in class.

                               

At the bottom is an explanation of the Reading Comprehension Skill that we will be working on for the week.  Several of the questions on the Weekly Test will be on how students apply this skill to comprehend a short story that the students read.  You can review this skill with your child over the course of the week to be sure they understand it in preparation for the test.

On the back of the page is the Lesson Vocabulary.  These are the words which will be on the Weekly test.  It includes the definitions that students should know and understand.

In addition the article gives a synopsis of the Grammar Skill of the week.

At the bottom of the page you will find another copy of the Spelling Words for the week.