Stokes Notes October 15, 2010

Good morning!

The best part of my day is at 7:50 am. As students are coming in, the room is filled with greetings of, "Good morning, Miss Stokes!" The loud exaggerated greeting as become just another part of our morning procedures. It's a small gesture, but my days always start with a smile. I am so lucky to be greeted by such awesome kids every morning.

Here's what's happening in class:

WRITING – We started this week by taking a test over unit one in our grammar handbook. Students created raps, products and alliterations to help remember the word study definitions this week. In Writer's Workshop we addressed skills to use when beginning an essay. NEXT WEEK: We will begin our second unit in our grammar handbook- nouns.

READING – Our spotlight this week was on the skill of inferencing. Students read selections about the Declaration of Independence focusing on the important ideas in that great document.

SCIENCE – This week we said goodbye to the animal kingdom. We had an introduction to plants, learning the two main divisions – vascular and nonvascular. We finished the week by watching a short movie. NEXT WEEK: Students will discover the magic of transpiration and photosynthesis.

MATH – We reviewed solving algebraic equations with variables and then solving equations with an understanding of the 4 major properties – commutative, associative, identity, and distributive. We ended our week with a look at ordering benchmark fractions. NEXT WEEK: We’ll be reviewing for our test which will be Wednesday (give or take a day!).

DATES TO REMEMBER:

10-22 (Fri) – No School
10-26 (Tue) – Picture Retakes
11-15 & 11-17 (Mon & Wed) – Parent Teacher Conferences
Information will be sent at the
end of the month.