Thursday, August 29th

Students continued to work on their informational essays in class and I introduced the Reading Response   Guidelines.  For parent reference, students are required to take an AR test on a book at or above their reading level at least every two weeks.   Additionally, students will write a bimonthly reading response.  

Curriculum Night*

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at tonight's Curriculum Night.  It begins at 6:00pm with the PTO meeting and afterwards parents will be excused to their children's classrooms.  Ms. McFaddin and I will be presenting together in her room and students will have their notebooks set up for parent review in my room. 

For your reference, we will going over the same information that we have been discussing during parent meetings.  So, if you have already had a parent meeting with me and Ms. McFaddin, you will not be missing anything if you are unable to come tonight.



*Curriculum Night... also known as ParkingPocalypse... or Parkarmageddon ; )  If you are coming, walking or riding your bike is highly advisable.

Wednesday, August 28th

I gave students a short quiz on prepositional phrases and perfect verb tenses.  I'll conduct an in-class review and reassess them one more time on those grammar concepts before the end of the term.  We read an informational excerpt about the building of the Panama Canal and students practiced finding facts, summarizing, and quoting text.  My homeroom  had time to work on their writing and Ms. McFaddin's homeroom will have extra time tomorrow to work on their writing.

The informational essay is due Friday; however, I'll allow students who need a little extra time to finalize their essay over the weekend.  I advise against this though...who wants to do homework over a holiday weekend?

Yesterday I was in UOI/Term 2 planning all day and students had a short introduction on the economic concepts of supply and demand.  Additionally, they worked on their essays and completed a grammar worksheet that covered prepositional phrases and perfect verb tenses.

A note about parent visits

A parent visited to help out during a lesson today and it was great!  The students greatly benefit and I think it reinforces the great sense of community we have at F.AVE.  If you would like to pop in for a visit, help with one of my lessons, or teach your own lesson please let me know.  

Update -- Parent Teacher Conferences

Ms. McFaddin and I have set up conference times on Tuesdays for the remainder of the school year.  Please click on the following link or on the button to the right to book a conference date.  As a reminder, please make sure you type your full name and your child's name when you reserve a time.  Thanks!

http://vols.pt/AaPR8q

Monday, August 26th

Social Studies -- We read a passage that described the U.S. Amendment change process and took notes.    I discussed note-taking strategies with students (leaving space, writing as few words as possible, etc...) and I gave a brief background on some key amendments (13, 14, 15, 19, 24 & 26).

ELA -- We discussed how to revise our topic sentences and students had time to write.  As a reminder, the final draft is due THIS Friday and students will have class time each day to work on their revisions.  

Thursday, August 22nd

I gave the Bill of Rights Assessment today.  They have been graded and during the last week of school I'll give a short essay assessment for students who want to bring up their grade and/or earn a 4.  Students spent the rest of our time together working on their essays.  Students who finished their rough drafts did peer review with a classmate.  Once students went through peer review I looked over their essays.

Tomorrow I'm going to teach a lesson about writing introductions and conclusions.

Wednesday, August 21st

Today I taught a lesson about verb tenses.  Students watched a short video and worked with their table partners to figure out the action going on in the scene.  During round two students were challenged to choose more descriptive verbs so they could move beyond using simple words.  After the verb lesson students continued working on their informational essay.

Indoor Recess... again.

Tuesday, August 20th

During Social Studies I conducted a two-part Bill of Rights review.  While I facilitated bingo with half of the class, the other half used their iPads and class laptops to access specific Bill of Rights websites (they're listed below).  The assessment is on Thursday and if students study at home using their review sheet and the quizlet flashcards they should do well.  

During ELA we continued to work on our informational essays.  The outlines were due today and many students began working on their rough drafts.  The rough draft is due this Friday and the final draft is due NEXT Friday (August 30th).  For your reference, we will spend class time next week going over the revision process.

Bill of Rights Study Links

http://quizlet.com/25077617/bill-of-rights-flash-cards/

http://www.quia.com/mc/67717.html

http://www.texaslre.org/bor/billofrights.html

http://prezi.com/rn_jr9ibbfr5/the-bill-of-rights/

Monday, August 19th

ELA - We had our makeup library visit and many students used their time wisely to find more sources for their informational essay.  Once we returned to class students continued researching their topics and more than half started and/or completed their outlines.  Here are the upcoming due dates for the informational essay:

Tuesday, August 20th -- Outline Due

Friday, August 23rd -- Rough Draft Due

Friday, August 30th -- Final Draft Due

Social Studies - We concluded our Bill of Rights Article analysis and students completed an IB reflection.

**A note about copies**

When I make copies I make just enough for the class and I expect students to be responsible enough to keep track of their school papers.  I'll post important documents on the blog so students can access and print them at home if they lose the copy I gave them in class.

Friday, August 16th

Today we....

reviewed the Informational Essay Rubric,

analyzed various articles and political cartoons to determine what amendments they were associated with, 

 and took the Conjunctions & Prepositions Assessment.

Have a great weekend!

**Parents, If you want your own copy of the Informational Summative Essay it's listed in the document links on the right side of the blog. --->

Thursday, August 15th

 ELA - We reviewed conjunctions and prepositions.  I also had the students take notes on how conjunctions connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.  Students then learned about why I'm teaching them how to make outlines and I let each class pick a topic for me to create an outline example.  Students in both classes spent the remainder of the time working on their own research and outlines.

words, phrases, clauses, and sentences in both classes

Wednesday, August 14th

ELA - Students took the Reading MAP test today.  During class students had time to continue the research for their informational essay and we reviewed conjunctions and prepositions.  Students who did not finish the worksheet in class will complete it tonight for homework.  I also returned the "Their, There, and They're" assessment.  Students who earned 2s and 1s will be reassessed on Friday so they should study.

Social Studies - I'm planning a large Bill of Rights activity for Friday so we didn't do Social Social Studies today.

Homework --> Read for 30 minutes, finish the conjunctions & prepositions worksheet

Tuesday, August 13th

ELA - I taught a brief lesson on prepositions and conjunctions which we will continue tomorrow.  Students spent the remainder of class gathering research for their informational essays.  Additionally, Ms. McFaddin's class took notes on the components of a 5-paragraph essay.

We had the Math MAP test today; the Reading MAP test is tomorrow.  Please send a sweater or jacket with your child; the temperature varies in the multi-purpose room.

Monday, August 12th

ELA - I taught a very quick lesson about taking notes and students practiced by identifying and highlighting the main idea in a text (origin of the Bill of Rights).  Ms. McFaddin's group began pre-writing and they will have time tomorrow to select their topic.  My homeroom is slightly ahead and we took notes on the components of a 5-paragraph essay.  I will teach a few more writing mini-lessons before I distribute the rubric for the summative informational essay.

SS - I combined a notes taking lesson with learning some background information about the origin of the U.S. Constitutional Amendments.  Students then sorted Amendments 1-10, 13, 14, 15, 19 & 26 into three categories:  individual rights, rights of people accused of crimes, and rights that protect people from government power.  Some of the amendments fit in more than one category and I gave students time to talk with their group mates about those specific amendments.

Tomorrow we will have the Math MAP test at noon.  Students should bring a sweater or jacket; the temperature in the testing room is quite variable.

Homework:  Read for 30 minutes, study the Bill of Rights (the assessment is on Friday)

Friday, August 9th

We had a great end to our first full week of school.  I'm very excited about the progress both classes have made in such a short period of time and I know this will be an excellent year.

ELA - We continued working on our informational writing and students started collecting sources and organizing facts.  Next week I'll begin teaching the writing process and then students will begin working on their summative informational essay.  We concluded ELA with the assessment on "their, they're, and there."  With the exception of absent students, the grades were uploaded in the portal.

Homework:  Study the Bill of Rights worksheet (students should study the key words so they can remember the main idea of each amendment), read for 45 minutes over the weekend.

Thursday, August 8th

ELA - We began discussing informational writing and students did a review of the three types of writing we will cover during the school year (informational, narrative & opinion).  My homeroom took notes and then brainstormed possible topics for an informational essay.  Ms. McFaddin's homeroom will go through the same process tomorrow before we go to the media center for our weekly visit.

Social Studies -- We finished the Bill of Rights worksheet and continued talking about which amendments apply to certain scenarios.

Wednesday, August 7th

ELA - We finished reading John Brown and students worked collaboratively to identify the main idea and supporting details in key paragraphs.   

Social Studies - We continued to work on creating our own key words for the Bill of Rights and tomorrow we'll analyze various situations to see what amendments they are linked to.

Homework: Read for 30 minutes & study for Friday's grammar quiz (there, their & they're)

Tuesday, August 6th

ELA -- We corrected the "There, They're and Their" worksheet and we did a small group, parts of speech review.  I will use this review to tailor instruction over the next few weeks before I begin teaching about perfect verb tenses.

Social Studies -- We began to analyze the Bill of Rights by reading and discussing Amendments I-V.  We read the actual amendments along with student-friendly interpretations of each amendment.  I also provided some historical context for each amendment and students had many interesting questions.  We will continue talking about the remaining amendments tomorrow.

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, study for the "There, They're, and Their" quiz on Friday

Class Schedule

Ms. Black’s Homeroom	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
745-845	Spanish (800-845)	PE/Music	Art	PE/Music	Spanish (830-915)
855-930	SCI	SCI	SCI	SCI	SCI
930-1100	Math	Spanish (930-1015) Math (1015-1100)	Math	Math	Math
1100-1130	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
1130-1145	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess
1145-1230	SS	SS	SS	SS	SS Library 1215-1245
1230-200	ELA	ELA	ELA	ELA	ELA
200-230	Homeroom	Homeroom	Homeroom	Homeroom	Homeroom

==========          ++++++++++          ==========          ++++++++++

Ms. McFaddin’s Homeroom	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
745-845	Art	Spanish (800-845)	PE/Music	Spanish (800-845)	PE/Music
855-930	SS	SS	Spanish (845-930)	SS	SS Library 900-930
930-1100	ELA	ELA	ELA	ELA	ELA
1100-1130	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
1130-1145	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess
1145-1230	SCI	SCI	SCI	SCI	SCI
1230-200	Math	Math	Math	Math	Math
200-230	Homeroom	Homeroom	Homeroom	Homeroom	Homeroom