This week in Language Arts we are finishing up our author study on Chris Van Allsburg. Students will be working in small groups to analyze his style, characters, illustrations, theme, mood, and settings. We will learn how to borrow authors' styles, not their words, in our own writing. We will have our reading stations Tues through Friday to practice skills we learned last week, as well as to do a shared reading of Explorers in Texas, as it's written above 4th grade reading level. Students will learn to annotate as they read in small groups with me. Because tomorrow is the beginning of November, students will log on to I Station and take the ISIP assessment. This is a way to benchmark their progress as readers. I can easily print out a report if you'd like. Just shoot me an email and I will take care of it as soon as your child completes the assessment. We have completed the final drafts of A Recess Rule. This week we will finish up the final draft of our biographies. In addition, we will be doing some creative writing in and out of class.
In Social Studies, students are finishing up their Native American projects. The last day to work IN CLASS is tomorrow. Then anything left students need to finish will need to go home for completion. All projects are due Thursday.
Now that we are in the second nine weeks, we are picking up the pace a little. It is possible that you will see an increase in homework, but usually that is only going to be due to failure to complete something in the allotted time in class. Using time wisely is a tricky skill that takes many students a long time to master. (I still have a high schooler and a middle schooler at home dealing with this.)
Thank you for all you do to support me at home. I feel the love.