Hola amigos! Happy Tuesday to you! We have had a busy day filled with learning up in the room 105.
READING:
We are continuing our study upon informational text structures with emphasis on the Cause & Effect structure. Students are learning to identify what happened and why something happened using evidence and happenings in texts. In groups, students are completing an endangered animal project to discover the causes of their endangerment and the effects of these causes. Students are also writing a "If you Give..." books, just like the If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, or If you Give a Moose a Muffin, or If you Give a Pig a Pancake, or If you Give a Cat a Cupcake books by Laura Numeroff. While they are basic level books, they are great in showing cause and effect and the students are having an absolute blast constructing ones of their own!!! I am making one entitled, If you Give Ms. Schrader a New Kitten.
HOMEWORK: complete the front AND back of the Vocabulary page sent home containing Exercises 2, 3, and 4.
ALSO, complete the Cause and Effect reading passages and questions (the front and back stapled pages) entitled "The Greatest Gift" and "The Giant Wave". BOTH sides of these pages are to be completed.
MATH:
We are working on creating and comparing and ordering fractions. First, the students were given a 'fun-size' bag of skittles and instructed to create fractions of each color and then order the colors by fractions from least to greatest. Next, students were given math manipulatives entitled, "Fraction Burgers" where you can build "burgers" out of fractions designed to look like burger toppings. They were given a coinciding sheet and were instructed to label fractions.
HOMEWORK: Fractions Number Line worksheet
SCIENCE:
Students worked on convection, conduction, and radiation which various ways to transfer heat. They cut up different pieces of paper and worked on classifying it into the three ways of transferring heat listed above.
HOMEWORK: none
WRITING:
Students were given 5 prompts to choose from and begin drafting and creating a piece of writing centered around those topics.
HOMEWORK: none
Have a terrific Tuesday night!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
1.30.12
Welcome back after a nice weekend, folks! It sure was beautiful and I hope you had some time to enjoy it :)
READING:
We are still studying informational text structures, but this week, we are learning about the "Cause & Effect" structure which looks at what happens and why it happens and we also look to identify signal words in a passage that may clue us in to this specific structure...kind of like a cheat sheet! To introduce the concept, we first watched a very funny video (click HERE). The students were guided in identifying the following things from the video and then from an example text:
Clue Words: why, cause, because, therefore, as a result, effect, so, so that, since, reason
Example: If you accidentally drop a glass and it falls to the floor, the glass will break.
Cause: dropping the glass
Effect: the glass breaking
Next, we looked at a Science article because Science texts often use cause and effect to explain why things happen in nature, so we read a paragraph about Isaac Newton and his discovery as to why the oceans have tides. Then, we determined:
Clue Word: causes
Next, we played a "Cause & Effect" game and read an article about The Boston Tea Party, identifying the cause of probably the most famous "tea party" ever. Finally, the students got into groups and were able to begin their activities and projects for the week. Since we are studying the skill of "Cause and Effect", they were be researching an endangered animal, identifying the cause(s) of the animal's endangerment and creating a brochure to show these findings.
HOMEWORK: Vocabulary words were passed out! This week, our words are from LESSON 8. Click the link to go to the Wordly Wise website (these are for Mr. Harman and my reading classes - Ms. Schrader and Ms. Frederick have THESE WORDS from Book 2, Lesson 4).
Thus, students MUST finish Exercise 1 vocabulary practice.
ALSO, students MUST finish the "cause & effect" reading and question practice pages (2 pages, front and back, stapled).
MATH:
We used the Hershey's Fraction book (by Jerry Palotta) to learn about parts of a whole and equivalent fractions. Students even got to eat their delicious manipulatives at the end of the book!
HOMEWORK: for Ms. Frederick's class, you MUST complete the questions on the coinciding fractions sheet!
SCIENCE:
Ms. Frederick worked with the students on identifying ways that heat is produced and describing how it travels.
HOMEWORK: none
WRITING:
We are moving past the prewriting stage and using our 4-square organizers to draft rough drafts of the topics at hand. Today, I modeled using this prewriting and turning it into paragraphs. The topic I modeled was "4H camp is the best field trip!".
HOMEWORK: none.
Have a terrific night and Happy Birthday, Chloe (from Ms. Schrader's class) and Tristan (from Ms. Frederick's class!). We love you both and hope you had special days!!!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
READING:
We are still studying informational text structures, but this week, we are learning about the "Cause & Effect" structure which looks at what happens and why it happens and we also look to identify signal words in a passage that may clue us in to this specific structure...kind of like a cheat sheet! To introduce the concept, we first watched a very funny video (click HERE). The students were guided in identifying the following things from the video and then from an example text:
Cause- why something happens
Effect- what happens as a result of a causeClue Words: why, cause, because, therefore, as a result, effect, so, so that, since, reason
Example: If you accidentally drop a glass and it falls to the floor, the glass will break.
Cause: dropping the glass
Effect: the glass breaking
Next, we looked at a Science article because Science texts often use cause and effect to explain why things happen in nature, so we read a paragraph about Isaac Newton and his discovery as to why the oceans have tides. Then, we determined:
Cause: The gravitational pull of the moon
Effect: The ocean bulges out toward the moon Clue Word: causes
Next, we played a "Cause & Effect" game and read an article about The Boston Tea Party, identifying the cause of probably the most famous "tea party" ever. Finally, the students got into groups and were able to begin their activities and projects for the week. Since we are studying the skill of "Cause and Effect", they were be researching an endangered animal, identifying the cause(s) of the animal's endangerment and creating a brochure to show these findings.
HOMEWORK: Vocabulary words were passed out! This week, our words are from LESSON 8. Click the link to go to the Wordly Wise website (these are for Mr. Harman and my reading classes - Ms. Schrader and Ms. Frederick have THESE WORDS from Book 2, Lesson 4).
Thus, students MUST finish Exercise 1 vocabulary practice.
ALSO, students MUST finish the "cause & effect" reading and question practice pages (2 pages, front and back, stapled).
our WOW! Words for this week (1.30.12 - 2.3.12) are:
indispensable
diplomatic
quintessential
pandemonium
fastidious
NOTE: MY class has recently started their Literature Circle Roles. I assigned the roles LAST Monday and had them due Thursday, but extended the due date to today to ensure whole class completion, but had over TEN (yes...10...YIKES!) STILL NOT do their roles! Ahhhh!!! A group CANNOT function without equal effort from all group members. I talked with the students about responsibility and accountability and my expectations for such smart students to have their work completed...this Thursday, I will accept NO excuses and expect ALL to have their work done. MATH:
We used the Hershey's Fraction book (by Jerry Palotta) to learn about parts of a whole and equivalent fractions. Students even got to eat their delicious manipulatives at the end of the book!
HOMEWORK: for Ms. Frederick's class, you MUST complete the questions on the coinciding fractions sheet!
SCIENCE:
Ms. Frederick worked with the students on identifying ways that heat is produced and describing how it travels.
HOMEWORK: none
WRITING:
We are moving past the prewriting stage and using our 4-square organizers to draft rough drafts of the topics at hand. Today, I modeled using this prewriting and turning it into paragraphs. The topic I modeled was "4H camp is the best field trip!".
HOMEWORK: none.
Have a terrific night and Happy Birthday, Chloe (from Ms. Schrader's class) and Tristan (from Ms. Frederick's class!). We love you both and hope you had special days!!!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
Thursday, January 26, 2012
1.26.12
Happy Thursday all!
READING:
It is our work, work, work day because of orchestra and QUEST, so we completed all group projects and finished some independent practice activities as well! I love, love, love how responsible and dependable all of my friends are in our reading class!
HOMEWORK: complete reading of articles, "The Jackson Purchase" and "The Pennyroyal Region" and complete a top-hat compare/ contrast organizer, AND complete essay describing the two using comparison and contrasting signal (clue words).
ALSO, VOCABULARY and SPELLING tests are TOMORROW for ALL CLASSES! Please study word spellings and definitions!
MATH:
We worked on creating fraction strips for thirds, sixths, and twelfths and finding equivalent fractions among our new manipulatives and models.
HOMEWORK: none
SCIENCE:
Students worked on insulators and conductors with Ms. Frederick.
HOMEWORK: none.
WRITING:
We are working on using our 4-square organizers to create a descriptive, organized, and detailed writing piece. Thus, we must focus on turning our prewriting into actual writing!
HOMEWORK: complete first paragraph for "4H is the best Field Trip" by classtime tomorrow.
Have a thrilling Thursday evening!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
READING:
It is our work, work, work day because of orchestra and QUEST, so we completed all group projects and finished some independent practice activities as well! I love, love, love how responsible and dependable all of my friends are in our reading class!
HOMEWORK: complete reading of articles, "The Jackson Purchase" and "The Pennyroyal Region" and complete a top-hat compare/ contrast organizer, AND complete essay describing the two using comparison and contrasting signal (clue words).
ALSO, VOCABULARY and SPELLING tests are TOMORROW for ALL CLASSES! Please study word spellings and definitions!
MATH:
We worked on creating fraction strips for thirds, sixths, and twelfths and finding equivalent fractions among our new manipulatives and models.
HOMEWORK: none
SCIENCE:
Students worked on insulators and conductors with Ms. Frederick.
HOMEWORK: none.
WRITING:
We are working on using our 4-square organizers to create a descriptive, organized, and detailed writing piece. Thus, we must focus on turning our prewriting into actual writing!
HOMEWORK: complete first paragraph for "4H is the best Field Trip" by classtime tomorrow.
Have a thrilling Thursday evening!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
1.25.12
Hello all! We are halfway through this week...hard to believe, yes?!?
READING:
We are continuing our focus upon the informational text structure of compare and contrast. When you are comparing and contrasting, you are looking for how something in a text is alike or different from another subject. Students have been examining articles containing this structure and identifying clue words that signal them into a comparison of similarities or a contrast of differences. Not only must they learn how to decipher these texts, they must also read these texts and write essays of their own. We learned about the different formats of constructing essays and began writing some of our own.
HOMEWORK: "Abracadabra" vocab sheet (Mrs. Thomas's class). In Mr. Harman's reading class, students must finish center work. In Ms. Frederick's and Ms. Schrader's classes, students need to complete the next vocabulary assignment. All classes must study to prepare for Vocabulary assessments THIS FRIDAY.
MATH:
We began our new unit on FRACTIONS!!! We watched THIS VIDEO and then created fractions strips of our own to begin studying equivalencies. Equivalent fractions are fractions that are equal.
HOMEWORK: none.
SCIENCE:
Students learned about heat and temperature and how heat is transferred from one object to another.
HOMEWORK: none
WRITING:
We completed our math activities from this morning!
Have a terrific night!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
READING:
We are continuing our focus upon the informational text structure of compare and contrast. When you are comparing and contrasting, you are looking for how something in a text is alike or different from another subject. Students have been examining articles containing this structure and identifying clue words that signal them into a comparison of similarities or a contrast of differences. Not only must they learn how to decipher these texts, they must also read these texts and write essays of their own. We learned about the different formats of constructing essays and began writing some of our own.
HOMEWORK: "Abracadabra" vocab sheet (Mrs. Thomas's class). In Mr. Harman's reading class, students must finish center work. In Ms. Frederick's and Ms. Schrader's classes, students need to complete the next vocabulary assignment. All classes must study to prepare for Vocabulary assessments THIS FRIDAY.
MATH:
We began our new unit on FRACTIONS!!! We watched THIS VIDEO and then created fractions strips of our own to begin studying equivalencies. Equivalent fractions are fractions that are equal.
HOMEWORK: none.
SCIENCE:
Students learned about heat and temperature and how heat is transferred from one object to another.
HOMEWORK: none
WRITING:
We completed our math activities from this morning!
Have a terrific night!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
1.24.12
Hello friends! Just wanted to check in and let you know that I'm thinking about you! We teachers were at our monthly meeting that we must attend, but I sure was thinking about you all day! I do want you to know that I checked in several times and snuck in real quick after school to read Ms. Gordon's notes and all was good! So yay for everyone...I'm super pumped and super proud to get such awesome notes about our friends!
A few reminders:
any work incomplete from reading centers is homework that is due tomorrow. Also, Exercise 3 and the Hidden Message crossword activity is due tomorrow for my reading class.
ALL READING CLASSES have vocabulary tests THIS FRIDAY!
I can't wait to see you tomorrow and give you big hugs because I missed you so much and am so grateful for you representing our school well in our classroom learning today!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
A few reminders:
any work incomplete from reading centers is homework that is due tomorrow. Also, Exercise 3 and the Hidden Message crossword activity is due tomorrow for my reading class.
ALL READING CLASSES have vocabulary tests THIS FRIDAY!
I can't wait to see you tomorrow and give you big hugs because I missed you so much and am so grateful for you representing our school well in our classroom learning today!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
Monday, January 23, 2012
1.23.12
Happy Science Fair day, everyone! I hope you had a tremendous weekend and are having a great start to your week!
READING:
Science Fair had students in and out all morning through our reading class time so we were only able to get to a small fraction of our activities that I had planned for us...booooo! However, it was nice seeing the students so enthused and so proud of their work on their Science projects!
This week, we are continuing our focus upon nonfiction text structures but this week, our emphasis is on Comparing and Contrasting within an informational piece. We first watched THIS VIDEO for students to think about the state in which they live (it was pretty sad when NONE...yes, NONE could identify the song playing the background...ahhhh! But, that's a differet story, different day). Next, they had to brainstorm how our state is different and similar to Florida. Then, we learned about the different regions within our state (Kentucky has 5) and we live in the Bluegrass Region. They read an article about our region and one about the Eastern Coalfields region and then had to compare and contrast the two regions. I was also able to assign students to their reading groups that they'll be in for the next several weeks as they read their assigned chapter books.
HOMEWORK: Vocab words were passed out -> complete sheet with Exercises 1 & 2 (spelling and Vocab quizzes are THIS FRIDAY, Jan. 27th! - this is for MY class AND Mr. Harman's reading class!) In Ms. Frederick's and Ms. Schrader's reading classes, please complete Exercise 1 for vocab words (YOUR TEST is ALSO this Friday, Jan. 27th!). Bring word lists back to school each day!
**ALSO, read the "Matter" article and complete the organizer on the back which is comparing and contrasting the 3 states of matter.
**NOTE: each group member (Mrs. Thomas's reading) was given his/ her chapter book and a specific assignment for a role in the group. These are due by Thursday and most students just have to read the first two chapters of their books and complete ONE role sheet.
Our WOW! Words for this week (1.23.12 - 1.27.12) are:
MATH:
Many students were in and out or gone for math too so we were unable to begin our new unit on Fractions...double boo. We were supposed to go over tests but all of our class got a proficient or distinguished on the last assessment so I had them make up 5 division problems and 5 multiplication problems, solve them, and then pass to a neighbor to see if their neighbor can solve them. They had a tremendous time!
HOMEWORK: make a list of things around the house containing fractions.
PM activities:
I took Ms. Frederick's class and our class down to the Science Fair for the students to take a tour of everyone's awesome projects. They were to look for their favorites and explain reasons as to why.
CONGRATULATIONS to this year's project winners that will be going on to District at Bryan Station High School!!!!
Have an excellent night!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
READING:
Science Fair had students in and out all morning through our reading class time so we were only able to get to a small fraction of our activities that I had planned for us...booooo! However, it was nice seeing the students so enthused and so proud of their work on their Science projects!
This week, we are continuing our focus upon nonfiction text structures but this week, our emphasis is on Comparing and Contrasting within an informational piece. We first watched THIS VIDEO for students to think about the state in which they live (it was pretty sad when NONE...yes, NONE could identify the song playing the background...ahhhh! But, that's a differet story, different day). Next, they had to brainstorm how our state is different and similar to Florida. Then, we learned about the different regions within our state (Kentucky has 5) and we live in the Bluegrass Region. They read an article about our region and one about the Eastern Coalfields region and then had to compare and contrast the two regions. I was also able to assign students to their reading groups that they'll be in for the next several weeks as they read their assigned chapter books.
HOMEWORK: Vocab words were passed out -> complete sheet with Exercises 1 & 2 (spelling and Vocab quizzes are THIS FRIDAY, Jan. 27th! - this is for MY class AND Mr. Harman's reading class!) In Ms. Frederick's and Ms. Schrader's reading classes, please complete Exercise 1 for vocab words (YOUR TEST is ALSO this Friday, Jan. 27th!). Bring word lists back to school each day!
**ALSO, read the "Matter" article and complete the organizer on the back which is comparing and contrasting the 3 states of matter.
**NOTE: each group member (Mrs. Thomas's reading) was given his/ her chapter book and a specific assignment for a role in the group. These are due by Thursday and most students just have to read the first two chapters of their books and complete ONE role sheet.
Our WOW! Words for this week (1.23.12 - 1.27.12) are:
chronological
hypothesis
microbiology
sequential
hypotenuse
MATH:
Many students were in and out or gone for math too so we were unable to begin our new unit on Fractions...double boo. We were supposed to go over tests but all of our class got a proficient or distinguished on the last assessment so I had them make up 5 division problems and 5 multiplication problems, solve them, and then pass to a neighbor to see if their neighbor can solve them. They had a tremendous time!
HOMEWORK: make a list of things around the house containing fractions.
PM activities:
I took Ms. Frederick's class and our class down to the Science Fair for the students to take a tour of everyone's awesome projects. They were to look for their favorites and explain reasons as to why.
CONGRATULATIONS to this year's project winners that will be going on to District at Bryan Station High School!!!!
These winners are:
Chloe Land-Schrader’s class
Blake Brooks-Thomas’s class
Jaelyn Maloney-Schrader’s class
Brystal Hickey-Harman’s class
Raegan Redmon-Schrader’s class
Jeremiah Stokley-Thomas’s class
Nevaeh Belcher-Harman’s class
Melinda Lemons-McQuown’s class
Have an excellent night!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
Featured Author - TAVIS!
A haunted house looks like a dark scary....BOO! AHHH! Everybody goes. It taste so dry like a desert a about to collapse on you. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM stomping everywhere. It sounds like big scary demons coming after you. Smells like blood sucking vampires and zombies. Feels so rough as you step on the scary demons faces.
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