Sunday, October 2, 2011

October 3, 2011

Volunteer opportunities! 
I could use some help in the classroom this Friday morning with the challenge tests. It would involve reading lists out loud to small groups of students. (8:30 - 9:00)

The 4/5 Blend is in need of a PTO rep to attend PTO meetings  on the third Tuesday of the  month at 6:30 pm. The rep is an interface between our class and the PTO:  bringing any  issues to PTO and relaying information to our 4/5class. The biggest (one time) chore is to make an email list of 4/5 parents (teachers can't share theirs) so that any information can  be conveyed in a simple group email. 

Please let me know if you are interested in either of these opportunities. 

Oregon Battle of the Books

Sign up has begun for this year's OBOB. Students in grades 4 and 5 need to turn in a signed permission slip to me or Mme Reeve with a list of team members by the end of this week. The battles will happen mid January.  



4th Grade Language Arts

Last week in review
      Most students finished their essays, we had a quiz on Carry on, Mr. Bowditch, had our spelling test on Friday and continued working on subjects and predicates. We also began working on cursive writing.

This week
Spelling
      After three weekly scores of 85% or higher, students may take a challenge spelling test, which covers their entire master list. Many students fall into that category this week, so I hope you will be able to find time to help them practice! Last week's test will come home Monday, and I have indicated on the test if the student will be taking the challenge test.

Writing
     Almost everyone has finished the first essay, and I expect to send those home later this week. I am including a scoring guide so that parents and the students understand what I was looking for in this particular assignment. (The students have gone over it with me already.) If you notice an "error" that I didn't correct on your child's paper, it probably isn't an oversight.  The focus of this assignment is primarily "organization."

Conventions
     We are continuing with subjects and predicates this week in order to build a conceptual foundation for our year-long work on sentence structure.

Reading
      Carry on, Mr. Bowditch will shift to an in-class activity. We will be learning about sailing ships, including terminology and even knot tying!

Homework
      Mme Jana and I have decided to assign language arts and math homework M - W nights because collecting on Friday is problematic- we don't see all of those students- only our homerooms. Instead, we will each give a French, social studies or science homework assignment on Thursday, which will be due Friday.

4/5 BLEND

Last week in review
       In French, we focused on contractions, which are confusing to students particularly when they involve the subject pronoun je. The e is dropped when je is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, and many of the students use j'ai (I have) when they mean je. This may seem small, but it's impossible for a student to move into an understanding of conjugation when they aren't clear about the subject pronouns, or pronouns in general! The students also wrote an autobiographical poem.
      The students made time lines to use as reference during our reading and discussions of events and battles of the American Revolution.  
      Bargello is a style of Italian needlework that became popular in Elizabethan England and was used by Colonial Americans to create upholstery. Students designed a small pattern on paper and have begun stitching their designs on a plastic canvas. 

This week
French
     We will finish the biographical poems, continue working on reading and spelling using a dictee handout. Writing will include conjugation and contractions. We will also do some pre-reading/vocabulary activities prior to watching and discussing "L'appartement de Joanna"  on the Yabla website.

Social Studies
       We will continue with the time and begin looking at the lives of important political, military and social figures of the Revolutionary Period. In addition to several biographies and historical fiction, we will also read George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen From Both Sides. We will continue with Avi's historical novel, The Fighting Ground.

Art
      Students will be finishing their bargello projects. The next project will be working with burlap and thinner wool. (Note that the article in Wikipedia comments on precision and mathematical counting!)

Homework
      Fifth graders will have a homework assignment Thursday, due Friday. They are to read and make one entry in their reading log/journal. Fourth graders will begin a reading journal in November.

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Charlemagne 4th and 5th Grade

This is an informational blog for parents of students in my 4th and 5th grades classes at Charlemagne French Immersion School. Enjoy!