Unit 3 Week 4 Preview

We will be discussing how we can be creative and resourceful and likewise how the characters in our selections exhibit these characteristics and what it is that inspires them. Our vocabulary words for this week are: create, hobby, inspire, resourceful, structure. Among our selections this week is a fantasy by Harry Horse called A Friend for Little Bear, in which a resourceful toy bear learns the importance of friends over collecting possessions. Another selection is Karen Lynn Williams' story Galimoto about a resourceful child in Africa who has to make his own toys from found objects.

Our comprehension strategy will be making inferences in order to draw conclusions, our comprehension skill. Our sight words will be: after done, find, old, new, work.

We will continue with final silent 'e' long vowel spellings for the remaining vowels along with open syllable long vowels as well as the remaining stanzas of our vowel poem.

Everyone should have brought home a world map at this point labeled correctly from which to study for our next social studies test. We will also discuss the concepts of reusing, repurposing, and recycling.

We will also be taking a look at and finding symmetry in a variety of shapes and using the idea for a few art projects.

We have to cover some difficult math concepts in this topic. Please check to be sure your child has completed all classroom assignments as well as homework assignments in order to reinforce concepts presented in class.

Reminder: reading logs are due Jan. 31.

Eighty-Second Day

We took our topic 11 test with some very good results. Twenty-one passing scores of 15 (scaled score) or greater were achieved: 5 students earned a perfect score.

In spite of so many students passing I was disappointed to see so many unfinished classroom work assignments in students' homework folders. With the handful of students not passing, it seems to make sense to me that parents should see that their child finishes classwork which is sent home daily with homework.

We did not have time for a new math lesson today so there was no homework.

Unsatisfactory Notices

Notices of unsatisfactory performance (unsat) will be going home shortly. They will not include notice of science or social studies grades not meeting standards as we have yet to have had significant assessment this reporting period in these subjects. Information on these subjects will be available at parent conferences. With regard to writing, several students may receive an unsat despite passing our last writing assessment due to an initial struggle with the assignment.

Eighty-First Day

The following coming instructional week's preview will be forthcoming; we have slowed to a snail's pace in order to fit in assessments.

We will hopefully take Topic 11 math test tomorrow.

At the end of the week, we will be taking home our world maps to be studied for our social studies test.

Seventy-Seventh Day

We took a writing assessment today. Exactly 50% of the students passed. After some follow-up instruction, those students not passing will be allowed to retake the exam before second reporting period unsatisfactory notices go home.

We have also begun testing fluency and comprehension for this reporting period. Students must read 45 wpm and pass a comprehension test, and read 108 sight words fluently in order to get a 3 on the next progress report.

Seventy-Sixth Day

If you are still holding on to a DonorsChoose gift certificate, please return it with your child so that it may be passed on to someone who will use it. The deadline is approaching. The teachers at Caroldale would like to make sure that all of the money that was offered to our school will go to our school. Again, thank you to those families who acted quickly and put the certificates to use.

Starting January 23, select Starbucks stores in the city of Los Angeles will hand out $10 DonorsChooseLA.org gift cards to customers. These cards will enable a wider audience of Angelenos to support you and your students. Cards will be in stores while supplies last and are limited to one per donor. (Give them to friends.)

Unit 3 Week 3 Preview

This week our literature focus will be different types of art. We will take a brief look at art from other nations. Our vocabulary words are: astonishing, complicated, continue, original, and talented. Our high-frequency words will be: every, from, into, people, soon, and your.

Our ability to write persuasive and descriptive sentences will be evaluated.

We will spell with the digraphs: ch, -tch, wh, and ph.

In social studies we will again compare the past with the present and examine the flag as a national symbol.

Seventy-First Day

In order to add interest to blending lines we were introduced to two new words today: smite (and hense smote, but not smitten), and vile.

We struggled with our math lesson today. We may need to go back and revisit the concept in today's math homework. Today's lesson was cut short due to time constraints.

Our social studies book mentions 5 oceans. In years past we have only taught 4 oceans while some sources claim there to be 3. The oceans we will designate for testing/standard purposes will be: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic.

Thank you to those who have already taken advantage of the DonorsChoose.org gift cards or who have already returned them. Your timeliness is appreciated as the funds will only be available for a limited time.

Seventieth Day

Welcome back to everyone.

Almost all students went home today with a gift certificate to spend at DonorsChoose.org. Each certificate includes a unique redemption code for real money as a gift to the parents of LAUSD from the Wasserman Foundation. If you choose not to or are unable to use the gift certificate, please return the card to me so it may be given to another family who did not receive one. Room 11 does have a project listed on the site (please ignore the typographical error in the title-don't know how that got there). The project can be found under LAUSD, Caroldale, math and science, grades PreK-2.

Unit 3 Week 2 Preview

This week we ask the question: What do family members do with one another to have fun? Our comprehension skill focus will be to make and confirm predictions using the strategy of analyzing story structure. We will take a brief look at alliteration (consonance). We will continue our exploration with long vowel spellings in particular: long vowel-i spelled i_e (like, nice) or 'i at the end of a syllable' (pilot, riding). In grammar we will examine present-tense verbs. We will be using the skill of persuasion in our writing over the next 2 weeks.

Our oral vocabulary words are: typical, possessions, connections, relief, and support. Our high-frequency words are: call, funny, how, more, so, there.

As you read with your child at home, please continue to predict and confirm as you read (What do you think will happen? Do you think Goldilocks will get caught?). When finishing a fiction selection or chapter, ask your child to confirm predictions and summarize what happened. When reading a nonfiction selection, have your child state the main idea and details.

Please continue to have your child collect family jokes, anecdotes, and riddles for the next few weeks in order for us to complete our Unit Project.

In social studies we will continue to compare the past and the present. We will also work towards understanding our location in the world while learning the continents and the oceans (tested). We will compare globes and maps.

In science we will continue our exploration of the forms of matter, in particular small particle solids. We may even get a bit messy again. No worries, everything will wash out.