By now, everyone should have developed a successful routine for them to make great use of their time. Some of us still haven’t established our routines yet. We are down to three basic issues. One we need to put our complete name (first and last) on our papers. Two, We need to get into school and settle right into getting our morning work done. Many children have 20 minutes a day to complete two fairly simple task. And finally, the third piece, Many of us still are not using our classroom time to finish or even begin our work. I am still waiting for 7 children to finish typing a paragraph on Akiak. They have been given ample time to do this. We have also begun our first project. Many children have already printed out their information and have begun filling in a basic fact sheet that I have given them. Some are still not focused and this week I am ready to buckle down and get moving. I hope all are as eager as I am to begin a new week and set the stage for total commitment to doing our best.
Here is my contact information:
[email protected] = email
geocities.com/mrl413 = website

Spelling: We will be working on the pages in our workbook that correspond to the "Titanic" The 4 pages are due on Friday. They also have 5 sentences to write on lined paper, using the spelling words. The sentences are also due on Friday. (The sentences need to be done in cursive.)

Reading: We will begin our next story in our anthology, “Titanic”, obviously, it is on the R.M.S TITANIC and the disaster that followed on that fateful evening in April of 1912.

We will also begin our first novel this week, There’s an Owl in the Shower”. It is an environmental story about a families conflict with being a logger family and the dilemma of the impact on the environment. Answering questions completely will be my major focus this week.

Written Language: We will continue to work through answering questions and expanding our answers. We will also work on the different types of sentences and writing a response to “Why I am proud to be an American. We still have a bit more work to finish from last week on our paragraphs on “Akiak”. I have confidence that everything will start falling into place, with everyone on board doing their absolute best.
The steps to answer a question are:
1. Restate the question
2. Answer the question
3. Support you answer with evidence from the story

We will be spending a great deal of time working on answering questions. This skill is of great importance in my classroom.

Math: I still have some work to do with place value and rounding of numbers. Last week we began multiplication and worked on the 4 properties of multiplication. We also started preliminary discussions on factors, products, multiples and prime and composite numbers. I realize that is a lot to cover. They will not be taught in isolation. Everything in math builds on the previous day or concept. That is why it is imperative to stay focused and participate.

DCR UPDATE: This is an independent math packet that reviews all the concepts and skills we will be using throughout the year. The children should be pacing themselves, 3-5 pages per week. I give them a weekly check on the board and they should be on pages 12 - 16 as of Friday 9/26/08. There are 3 packets, one for each term. They need to try to finish one packet each term. They do not need to go ahead. It is not a race.

Application of facts and terminology is key to success in math.

Science: We will be continuing our mini unit on Animal Studies this week. This is a simple way to get started in science and we will be organizing information that we learn to help us create a simple project with a report. The simple book report/research on will be done mostly in class, while the project will be done at home. Again, we will do one together as a class so, everyone knows what is expected of them.

Social Studies: We have finished our flag packets, for the most part. We will be tying in what we have learned into a writing piece, mentioned above. We have filled in our map of the world and we will have a quiz later this week on the map.