Week of Oct. 25

Hello! I trust you all had a restful and fun-filled mini-vacation! The first quarter is in the hopper and we are embarking on round 2. We still have much to accomplish and the time does just fly, so let's get busy!
Remember, awards ceremony is this Friday and reports cards go home too.
We will begin our Edgar Allen Poe and Poetry phase of the year this week. We will read a couple poems , a short story, and complete some writing assignments based on Poe. We will continue on our poetic journey with learning poetic terms, write some haiku, perhaps a sonnet and maybe a ballad, we'll perform some poetry and read and discuss many others. Much of the focus will be on learning figurative language (onomatopoeia, alliteration, simile and metaphor, personification, etc...)as well as mood and tone in writing. Next month, all classes will read Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse aloud in class and learn about the dust bowl and the depression.
We continue with phonics in class this week. We will focus on the -tion and -sion endings of words and the varies ways to pluralize words. We will word sort in class and play phonics games. I am also hoping to pay some attention to the -ar -ir and-er sounds within words. Many students are struggling with the diffERences;)

We will probably wrap up Secret Garden and have a unit test next week. This will cover the book, elements of a fairytale and tall tale and review some of the phonics we've focused on. Wee Free Men will probably finish next week and then, 5C will have a unit test the following week. Both tests will have a variety of question types: true and false, identify the quote, matching, essay etc... More on that when I write the test:)

No vocab this week. I will introduce poetry terms to know (spelling won't count, just definition) and phonics work in class. There will be a test on the poetry terms, so students should begin learning them.

I will send your child's grade home in their agenda this week, (I already have for two classes). Please check with them.
Remember, e-mail with any questions and thanks for the opportunity to teach your children.