January 26 - 30

We hope to get a full week of school in this week! Wouldn't that be amazing!?!

Our spelling words this week are homophones, which means there are pairs of words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. So, students really need to know the meanings of words in addition to being able to spell them because they'll need to rely on context clues in the sentences I give during the test to know which word to use.

Fitness 5 will be on Wednesday. Tomorrow, permission forms will come home. This takes place in our gym and consists of 5 stations for students to check their fitness. There will be lots of movement to have your students wear comfortable clothes and tennis shoes.

Scholastic Book orders are due Wednesday. If your order is at least $10, you earn a FREE BOOK! Let me know which free book (up to a $5 value) you'd like.

Patricia Polacco Author Study

We have been study the fabulously talented Patricia Polacco the past several weeks. We've used several of her books as read alouds to analyze the craft of her writing. We have especially enjoyed the figurative language she uses, how her illustrations capture the mood of the text, and how she is able to bring to life so many personal moments from her life.

As a culminating project, students have access to about 20 different Patricia Polacco books to further examine her author's craft and practice several reading skills:

• compare and contrast
• describing plot
• analyzing characters
• describing mood
• making text connections
• sequencing

Students will complete 3 activities for this project, DUE AT THE END OF CLASS ON FRIDAY. Everyone must do a reading response letter (click HERE see the example below that was crafted in class as an example) and then may choose the other two activities from 4 options. Please see the documents below.

Students have been given copies of the project sheet and checklist for the response letter. In class, the text message has been demonstrated as well as how to craft the reading response letter. We are spending time each day working on these activities, but students may also do them at home. On students' Edmodo account, they have been given the link to this blog post so they can access it at any time.

         Edmodo Login: First name, middle initial, last name   (ex: janeqdoe)
         Password: 10 digit code

MLK Week (Jan. 20-23)

I hope you enjoyed your 3-day weekend! It was nice to get a taste of Spring in the middle of Winter. We are thrilled to be able to finally have outdoor recess this week!!!!!!

Almost the entire class started off this week on the right foot by turning in their Friday Journal and signed Discipline Report. I love seeing this responsibility.

Below are the Faulkner Flash and TEAM homework for this week.

January 12 - 16 Information

Below you will find the Faulkner Flash, spelling words for the week, and TEAM homework. Please remember that spelling contracts and TEAM homework are due on Fridays. Sadly, we didn't have enough TEAM homework stars to even eat lunch in the room last week, but are hopeful that will be different this week.

Last week, students signed up for an Edmodo account. This allows them to contact me, take online quizzes (Snapshots), play games, and even have online class discussions. Students know they are not to use this as a way to chat to each other unless I have assigned them to do so. Also, I am able to monitor all of their activity. I have added some fraction games that students may play to earn stars for TEAM homework this week.

RED List Unit 4, Week 2	BLUE List Unit 4, Week 2	GREEN List Unit 4, Week 2
Name:	Name:	Name:
years foxes lunches flies cities ponies bunches alleys cherries libraries Bonus: preparations exhausted guarantee inference division	princesses monkeys bananas butterflies pumpkins daisies melodies sandboxes supplies eyelashes Bonus: preparations exhausted guarantee inference division	communities vacations families libraries vacancies dictionaries resources sandwiches doorways generations Bonus: preparations exhausted guarantee inference division

Welcome to 2015!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas break! We are back in the groove at school now. MAP testing has wrapped up and now students are working on the diagnostic assessment in iReady to see how they have progressed through the year. This test will determine the level of lessons they have in the future. Once it is complete, students will be able to start working on lessons again and earning more t-shirts!!

FRIDAY
- Progress reports will come home in the binder letting you know how your child is working through different standards in math, reading, and language arts.

- TEAM homework is due (see below).

- Spelling test & spelling contract due (many students have already completed their spelling contract during the classtime that has been provided)

RED List Unit 4, Week 1	BLUE List Unit 4, Week 1	GREEN List Unit 4, Week 1
Name:	Name:	Name:
found town shout owl couch bow scout round plow crowd Bonus: quotient numerator denominator compare contrast	county outside counter hounded downstairs flower ourselves thousand amount doubtful Bonus: quotient numerator denominator compare contrast	allowance accountant surroundings announcement accountable counselor dumbfounded pronounce powerful doubted Bonus: quotient numerator denominator compare contrast

The bonus words this week deal with current math and reading terms.