Nonfiction Writing

"Taking notes"

This is the prewriting step of the writing process. After this they will write their draft, then revise, edit, peer edit, final edit and the publish ( typing in power point).

Fun Week

We had a very fun week. The Magic House was a very successful field trip. The students really enjoyed exploring in the "Village". They also enjoyed writing their own nonfiction book during the writing block time. They each chose an animal they already know quite a bit about. I told them that it is easier to write about a topic you already know about. That's how we started fiction writing at the beginning of the year. After they create this book they can choose one of the animals they researched at the zoo with their 5th grade buddy. I hope you enjoy the pictures from this week.

Please remember that it is not too late to sign up to do the Prism Project. This is a wonderful opportunity for the students. We will be working on nonfiction writing in class to support the PRISM project.


We started working on our timelines today. The students enjoyed putting their pictures on their timeline. They are having a little trouble knowing how old they are in their pictures. They might be asking you some questions about their pictures this weekend as far as significant dates in their life. They need to represent the 7 or 8 years of their life while using real photos, copies or drawings. Many of them want to stop after they used up all of their photos and for some that is their first few years of their life. So as you can see, our timelines are still a "work in progress"!

Don't forget:

• Magic house field trip is Wednesday.
• Diversity t- shirt orders due by the 26th.
• Variety Show 1-30-10 7pm

Have a great weekend.

Thank You!

Thank you to all the dads, grandfathers and uncles who attended "Donuts with Dad" last Friday morning. I know it meant so much to the students to read together and eat some yummy donuts. The students are very proud of the books the have written and it meant a lot to them to share those books as well.

We have been talking about the character word Integrity this month. The students filled out some "marbles" for the things they have done that shows Integrity here at school. We have discussed Integrity during our morning meetings each day as well. Here are a few quotes from our meetings.

Teacher:

"When you are at school, how and where do you need to have Integrity on your mind?"

Student quotes:

"In the bathroom by being quite."

"Doing the right thing out at recess."

"Not talking in the hallway when the teacher is not looking."

"Being good on the bus."

"At block."

"In the library and not talking in there."

"If the teacher is talking to another teacher, do not talk to friends."

One More Reminder

Please sign the purple Magic House field trip form as soon as you can. Students can earn 4 "Drops in my Bucket" if they bring the permission form and money tomorrow to school. They will earn 2 "Drops in my Bucket" if they bring just the permission form tomorrow. Thanks for your help!

Families,
We will start a new unit in Social Studies this week. The unit is titled Ways of Living. The students will learn about customs, culture, immigrant, ancestor, creating a timeline, and America's symbols. They will create a timeline of their own life. In order to do this each student will need to bring in a baby picture by Thursday. It can be a copy of the picture or I can make a copy of the original. They will create a timeline starting with their birthdate and continue on through the present date. The baby picture can be an infant picture or a picture within the first year of their life to start off their timeline. I will give the students the choice to use pictures for the rest of their timeline or create illustrations. If your child would like to bring in photos to represent significant events that happend in their life they may do so. Please keep in mind that these photos will be glued or taped to their timeline. If there are any questions or concerns feel free to email me or write me a note in your child's planner.

Don't Forget:

• Early release tomorrow - 1:40 dismissal
• Spelling test tomorrow
• Donuts with Dad Friday morning 7:30-8:15am

What's New?

Hello Families,

Well, I think we are offically in the swing of things after the long break. The students have really enjoyed writing fantasy stories during writing block the past 2 days. They are writing a fantasy story with a buddy. They are all really excited and have done a great job so far. Hopefully we will have some of them ready for Donuts with Dad next Friday.

I think their favorite activity today was decorating their "Pet Rock". The rocks turned out so cute!

FYI: I told the students that they can bring a small toy or small toys that are appropriate for school with them to play with during second recess. We will most likely have indoor recess for several more days and I think they would enjoy playing with some home toys. I reminded them to make sure they are willing to share the toy that they bring to school.

Character Word for January

Integrity: Doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

Stay Warm!

Welcome Back!

I am so happy to welcome the students back to school. It sounds like everyone really enjoyed their winter break. We took some time this morning to share what we wrote about in our journal.
I also want to take a moment to welcome Daria and her family to Truman. Her first day was today and the students did a good job making her feel welcome.

The students enjoyed reading during readers workshop and computer time after lunch. They logged on to www.ikeepbookmarks.com and many chose a spelling website to try. Please remember your child can get to this website at home as well. They know what to put in the account or email box and there is no password.

The spelling words this rotation are homophones- words that sound the same, but have different meanings and are spelled differently. Please remember that the pretest will be on Thursday.

One more reminder: Donuts with Dad is next Friday. Don't forget to return the form if you plan to attend.