September 25

Spelling
Some estimates are that 75% of the English language is derived from Greek and Latin roots. They truly are the building blocks of English and present an extremely powerful framework to nurture students' vocabulary development. All of our spelling words focus on Greek and Latin roots and affixes. On Mondays,  I teach the vocabulary to help familiarize the students with the words' meanings and spelling. Vocabulary is an important component of reading comprehension. Readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what most of the words mean. As children learn to read more advanced texts, they must learn the meaning of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary. It's imperative to your child's vocabulary development and reading comprehension that you take the time each week to help your child learn the spelling and meaning of their weekly Greek and Latin affixes and root words. This week's words have the trans- prefix (meaning across).

Conferences
Because we have a low class size of 22 students, I was able to schedule 20 minute conferences (many classrooms only have time for 15 minute time slots). Please help me keep on schedule by entering the classroom at your scheduled start time. I could talk about your kids for longer than 20 minutes, but I want to honor your child's conference by not running over on time. If you have yet to sign up, here's the link again to the sign-up sheet.

Portfolios
When you get a moment this weekend, please have your child show you his/her portfolio, which now has the Animoto and Voice Thread projects that we completed this week.
Alisa
Amber
Ashlyn
Bailey
Caden
Chase
Chauncy
Cole
Colin
Haleigh
Isabella
Keaton
Lauren
Lucy
Maddy
Natalie
Nathan
Reese
Sam
Siena
Spencer
Trystan

Week at a Glance

• Literacy
• Read Aloud of The Hundred Dresses- focusing on applying the reading strategies that we've learned and responding to reading in writing using evidence from the text
• Planning and drafting animal reports in writing groups
• Writing a paragraph to a prompt independently
• Writing similes and metaphors
• Read Aloud of The Good Dog- discussing characterization, plot development, and inferences
• Shared reading of "Escape from Alcatraz"- using evidence from a nonfiction text 
• Science
• Food Webs and Adaptations
• Math
• Test on chapter two on Wednesday (estimating, factors, and multiples)
• Beginning chapter three on Thursday (multi-digit multiplication and long division)
• Specials: Art

Book Fair

*Be a MONSTER Reader and come to the Scholastic Book Fair!

October 5-October 8 in the PCE Library
Book Fair Hours:
Monday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Tuesday: 8:00 am - 7:00 pm
Wednesday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm 
Thursday: 8:00 am - 7:00 pm
Join us for the Monster Photo Booth, Monster Cookies, and Monster Fun!

Click here if you would like to Volunteer for this Fun event.