Article of the Week 10/31/13

Leaving the Driving to a Computer Has Big Benefits

Article is due Tuesday, 11/5/13

Student Sample Work

At the top of this page you will see a tab for student sample work.  These students should be very proud of the work they are doing in my class.  In addition to advertising their successes, students who might be struggling can take a look at some model work as a way to see how they might improve.

Our New Book Shelf on Shelfari

My students have been logging the books they read on our class Shelfari page.  Check it out on the right hand side of this blog.  This is a great way for them to practice writing reviews and a great way for students who are looking for a book to see what other students in our class are reading and what they think of the books.

Article of the Week 10/24/13

Zimbabwe Poachers Poison 91 Elephants

Article is due Tuesday, October 29th

Our first read aloud: The One and Only Ivan

The first book we are reading is this years Newbery Medal winner, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.  We will be focusing a lot on figurative language within this book.  Students will be asked to identify alliteration, imagery, idioms, hyperboles, metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, and personification.  In addition we will focus on literary elements such as setting, characterization, plot, etc.  To begin the unit, students wrote words the author used to describe our main character Ivan the gorilla at the beginning of the book.  With these words, we created a Tagxedo.  The larger words are words that were used the most by students.  Here is what they came up with:

Article of the Week 10/17/13

Malala Yousafzai: Accolades, applause and a grim milestone

Article is due Tuesday, October 22nd

Article of the Week 10/10/13

Texas Passes Law to Keep Junk Food in Schools

Assignment is due Tuesday, October 15th

Scholastic Book Fair

This is one of my favorite weeks all year. It's time to shop at the scholastic book fair.  Not only do I repeatedly make an appearance at the book fair in our library, but I also shop online.  This is a great option for grand parents who would love to buy books but aren't close enough to attend the fair.  I have my kids each make a wish list and then we email their wish lists to extended family.  Their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and great aunts and uncles can shop until 10/22 and the books will be delivered to the school free of shipping charges.  I encourage you to check this out.

Another great tool Scholastic offers is Teacher Picks. The first day the Scholastic book fair opened I jumped online and picked books I have read and recommend for students. You can see my list here.  I have also created a teacher wish list if any parents would like to buy a book for my classroom book shelf.  I would really appreciate whatever help I can get to stock that shelf!

To shop the scholastic book fair in our middle school library stop by
Monday 11:30-1 and 2-4
Tuesday 11:30-1 and 3-5
Wednesday 11:30-1 and 3-4
Thursday 11:30-1 and 3-4

Article of the week 10/3/13

Father and son have been hiding in Vietnam jungle since 1972

This assignment is due Tuesday, 10/8/13