Mrs. Villastrigo Language Arts

We are finishing up peer editing this week and will make final changes to stories by Thursday and Friday. Students will begin presenting stories as early as Friday, on a volunteer basis. We will sneak a few in each day to allow everyone to share. We are wrapping up irregular verbs in the next couple of days and reviewing for an upcoming verbs test. Fitting spelling in each day in a period shorter than an hour is difficult as we focus more on writing, so our spelling tests will continue to be spaced a bit longer than week and typically about two. Our practice test is scheduled for Monday and the final test on Tuesday, but dates are subject to change.

Unit 4 -- Double Consonants

1. hurricane
2. annual
3. vanilla
4. alligator
5. dissolve
6. pudding
7. antenna
8. commercial
9. hammock
10. innocent
11. bulletin
12. channel
13. gorilla
14. commuter
15. alley
Challenge:
parallel
immediate
corridor
exaggerate
immense

Mrs. Villastrigo Reading

Students did an excellent job on the Walk Two Moons final book and vocabulary tests! It is great news that the class average ranged beetween an A and B in all classes. I would attribute this to how interesting the novel was, most students said they enjoyed it very much. Way to go studying in class and at home!

On the flip side, we did a study guide in class and I am concerned about students who forgot to turn it in because it caused grades for students with a zero to plummet. I know all students completed them, so let's get them in. We have so few assignments at this early point that one zero can make a big difference! I appreciate that families check on student progress on Family Access and encourage him or her to stay organized. I have about ten packets without names, as well.

We will begin pre-reading activities for Jaguar tomorrow and dive into the story this week. We are going to have such a great time reading this novel. Thanks for keeping up on your half hour of reading every night, I am loving seeing so many students taking AR tests each day.

Mr. Seidenschwarz Language Arts Class

Second Trimester Major Projects are just around the corner. We have just under three weeks before holiday break and only a week when we get back. Many students find it is important to break the project into manageable portions over several weeks. Cramming it in at the end may result in stress and a poorly prepared project. Here are the choices and guidelines that were handed out in class:



Book report alternatives
2nd Trimester major project
Due on Jan 19th

1. Write a missing chapter (about 3-4 pages typed, includes explanation) that could have happened in the book you read but didn’t. After you have written the scene, explain how it would have changed the outcome of the book.

2. Create a board game based on events and characters in the book you read. By playing your game, members of the class should learn what happened in the book. (Students will play your game, and must be able to explain your story in class) Your game must include the following: a game board, a rule sheet and clear directions, events and characters form the story on cards or on a game board. (Share)

3. Create models of five objects which were important in the book you read. Use five different mediums, don’t use paper. On a 4X6 index card attached to each model, tell why the object was important to the story line of the book. Fill out the entire card. (Share short oral summary in class)

4. Complete a series of five different styles of drawings that show five of the major events in the plot of the book you read. Fill out 4X6 cards with a summary for each drawing so that someone who did not read the book can understand the illustrations. Must use at least 8X10 sketch paper. (Creative Artists only)

5. Type a test for the book you read. Include ten true false, ten multiple choice, and five long paragraph essay questions, about ½ a page each. After writing the test, provide the answers for your questions.

6. Imagine that you are about to make a feature length film of the novel you read. You have been instructed to select your cast from members of your Language Arts class. Cast all the major characters in your novel from your Language Arts classmates and tell why you selected each person for a given part. You should compare and contrast several personality traits with examples, so I know enough about the characters to agree with your choices. Consider both appearance and personality. Approximately four character descriptions per type written page. (Minimum 10 or more characters)

7. You are a prosecuting attorney putting the book you read and its author on trial for interest, logic, plot, climax, ending etc. Prepare your case/script on paper and videotape it (CD-R/RW or VCR) giving all your arguments showing details of character traits and examples from your book. This would appear like a court drama from T.V. (5 minute minimum-good acting required)


8. Make an architect’s model or big box of a scene from the book you read. Type a two page paper giving a summary of the story and also explaining the importance of the specific scene. Attach it to the project. (Creative Artists Only-Limit 5 per class, by drawing.) (Share)

9. Pretend that you are one of the characters in the book you read. Tape an audio or video monologue (one person talking) of that character telling of his or her experiences. (CD-R/RW or VCR) Be sure to write out a script before taping. (5 min w/o commercials-Good acting required)

10. Make a television box show of seven scenes in the order that they occur in the book you read. Cut a square from the bottom of a box to serve as a T.V. screen and make two slits in opposite sides of the box. Slide a butcher paper roll on which you have drawn the scenes through the two side slits. Make an audio narration tape to go with your television show. Be sure to write out a script before taping. (5 min w/o commercials-Share)

11. Tape an audio or video interview with one of the characters in the book you read. (CD-R/RW or VCR) Pretend that a magazine or a newspaper reporter is interviewing this character. You may do this project with a family member or friend, but be sure to write a script before taping. (5 min w/o commercials-Good acting required)

12. Imagine that you have been given the task of conducting a tour of the town in which the book you read is set. Make a videotape (CD-R/RW or VCR) describing the homes of the characters and the places where important events in the book took place. You should use a musical background for your tape. (5 min w/o commercials-Share)

13. Make a list of at least 15 proverbs or familiar sayings. Write short paragraphs describing which characters in the book you read should have followed the suggestions in the proverbs and why. Here are some proverbs to get you started: He who hesitates is lost. All’s fair in love and war. The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine.

14. Write the copy for the first few pages of a newspaper, this should look as much like a real newspaper page as possible. The articles should be tied in to events and characters in the book. Small pictures, headlines, captions, advertisements etc. are part of this.

15. Make a “science fair-trifold” collage that represents major characters and events in the book you read. Use pictures and words cut from magazines as well as short summary paragraphs you write in your collage. (Some artistic ability-Share)

16. Make a paper doll likeness of five of the characters in the book you read. Design at least two costumes for each character. Next, type one good paragraph for each outfit; tell what the clothing reflects about the character, the historical period, and important events in the book. (Creative Artists Only-Share)

17. Pick a national issue. Compose a 2-3 page speech to be given on that topic by one of the major characters in the book you read. Be sure the contents of the speech reflect the character’s personality and beliefs. (Good for biographies)

18. Let’s make a deal after school or during free time. (See me by Dec 15th)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just want to thank all the parents of our students for contributing to our fantastic potato bar to celebrate the end of our unit. A big thank you to the social studies teachers, Mrs. Liberty and Mrs. Bosch-Wilson for coordinating it all and managing all the paperwork and goodies.

As we head off to Thanksgiving break I am so thankful for the wonderful team of students we have. I wish I could keep you every year, every one of you!

We have so much to look forward to after our short break. We have three weeks packed full of great learning activities before the longer holiday break. I know students will enjoy each class:

• Social Studies will begin learning about the Maya (my personal favorite unit)


• Science will learn about the rain forest


• Reading will wrap up Walk Two Moons (you are in for some surprises) and begin an edge-of-your-seat novel called Jaguar by Roland Smith, it is set in the rain forest and is always a student favorite


• Language Arts students will wrap up narrative stories and begin developing expository skills, including valuable persuasive writing

Students created academic goals and also gave their teachers some feedback on how they can be better supported in learning, what they are enjoying, and what they find frustrating or difficult. All of us are working to being our absolute best and I think this will be our best trimester yet.

Tests This Week

We will have our final tests over our Inca Unit in Social Studies and our Earth Unit in Science on Tuesday. Here are the completed study guides to help if your child missed some of the answers.

Science Final Study Guide
Social Studies Final Study Guide

Villastrigo Language Arts

We are working on our final narrative story project. Students have detailed notes about the aspects included in the rubric for the story. Please take a moment to read your child's narrative and provide encouragement and any feedback.

We worked very hard on setting and character descriptions and this is a strength for many. One aspect students are struggling with is including a problem or interesting turning point. We are headed to the computer lab to type the stories up this week.

We are also digging in to spelling to make this unit a little faster. We will need to test before we leave for break so I plan to do the practice test Monday night and students will bring home the words they missed that night. This is a difficult list, so some studying will be important for all students.

Unit 3:

faulty

awning

haughty

waltz

launch

yawned

almanac

fraud

applaud

vault

awkward

haunch

author

daughter

laundry

Challenge

somersault

laundromat

sauna

auditorium

inaugurate

Villastrigo Reading Classes

It's time to celebrate the end of the first trimester and get excited about making a fresh start. Tomorrow we will present reading awards: book it awards, top readers (words read), 100% AR goal tickets to attend a celebration at lunch, and the fluency contest awards. It will truly be a time to celebrate reading! We will spend time in the library after and I hope provide help to those students who are struggling to finish books. It would be excellent to help them find one they are interested in.

On that note, I've talked to many parents this year about nightly reading and some share it is difficult. Here are a few tips that parents have shared:

• Agree upon a set reading (homework) time that fits with your child's schedule and insist they stick to it. Some provide incentive for successful homework completion for the night or week.
• Avoid reading in bed for reluctant readers, as it may cause sleepiness.
• DO ask your child about what they read that day to ensure it is a book they understand.
• DO insist your child finish books they start--this may seem counter intuitive, but many reluctant readers start many books and fail to reach the climax or most exciting part of the book.
• For very reluctant/struggling readers, some parents have requested audio CDs of popular books and allowed the child to follow along in the book.
• Some parents take turns reading aloud with their children
• Other tips? Please share and I will be sure to pass them along to other parents.

If you would like to get an early start on studying vocabulary, below is the list from the last half of our novel, Walk Two Moons. My goal is to finish the book before Thanksgiving, but because we do not assign our class novel as homework, this is subject to change. We will continue to review our words weekly and our book test will include this list and the prior one.

optimistic- expecting everything to turn out alright; looking on the bright side

straggle-to wander from a course or away; to stray

unadulterated- pure; unmixed

sympathetic- sharing in suffering or grief; feeling sorry for oneself

besieging- bombarding; crowding around

fortunate- lucky

careening- to sway violently from side to side

somber- dark and gloomy; serious

(to be introduced later in the week)

omnipotent- Great or unlimited power

Potato Bar

As a celebration of the end of our unit we will be holding a potato bar for lunch on Tuesday, November 22nd. All of the 6th grade students are invited to attend this feast, we just ask that they bring something to share. There will be a form to sign up for an item going home on Wednesday. We would like to have all the forms returned by Friday the 18th so we can plan for what is still needed.

We will also be looking for parent volunteers to help us set up, serve and clean up on the 22nd. If you are interested in volunteering please contact your child's Social Studies teacher or make sure to check the box on the form.

This has been a great celebration for us in past years and we are looking forward to it again!

Mrs. Liberty & Mrs. B-W Social Studies 11/14 - 11/18

This week in Social Studies we are wrapping up the Inca Unit. We will be covering Inca Religion, medicine, and the Conquest of the Inca. Please use the following links to help reference information we cover in class. There will also be homework this week to read about messengers, trade, and engineering.

Temples of the Sun-  Outline
Priests & Doctors-  Outline
The Conquest Part 1
The Conquest Part 2

Towards the end of the week the students will receive a study guide for the end of unit test which will take place on the 22nd. I will post the completed study guide for reference at the end of the weekend so you can help your child study. If your child did well on the test last week they are in a good position to do well on this one as well. They will need to study things they missed and some new information on the topics being added as we wrap up the unit this week. Once again please sign and return the completed study guide to let Mrs. B-W and I know that you were aware of the test and your child studied for it.

Mrs. Liberty's Science 11/14 - 11/18

This week in Science we are wrapping up our Earth unit with studying volcanoes. We will look at the types of volcanoes, eruptions and lava. We will also be looking at where they form.

Towards the end of the week the students will also receive a new study guide for the end of unit test. This test will take place on the 22nd. Those students who did well on the test on the 8th are in a good position to do well on the final. Some of the same information will be covered as well as some new information on earthquakes and volcanoes, especially related to the structure of each. I will post the study guide answers at the end of next weekend. Once again please sign the study guide to let me know you were aware of the test and your child studied for it.

Tests On Tuesday! 11/8

On Tuesday there will be tests in both Science and Social Studies classes. The following are study guides the students have had since mid-week last week. We will go over their answers in class on Monday, but they should have had them filled out prior to coming to class. The ones posted here have the answers included for parent to help study on Monday night. Please make sure the guides are signed and returned with your child on Tuesday for credit.

Science Study Guide

Social Studies Study Guide

Villastrigo Reading

I am so pleased to see so many students taking AR tests. It seems that a large portion of students procrastinated a bit and are feeling some stress with getting done and the good news is most are looking poised to make reading goals or very near to it.

We are getting to the heart of the mystery in Walk Two Moons and many students are really enjoying the reading. I have a few missing tests for the book because students walked out with If your child has checked out a book to complete an assignment at home, please encourage him/her to return it.

Villastrigo Language

We are working on our final narratives, which will be typed in the computer lab next week. The oral anecdotes were amazing practice and helped students to articulate components of a great story. This week we have a spelling test coming up (Friday) and another content knowledge grade for linking verbs/helping verbs on Thursday. We will move into explanatory paragraph writing and persuasive writing next term.

Here is our spelling list (test Friday 11/4):

1. unruly


2. youth


3. lagoon


4. duplicate


5. numerous


6. solitude


7. caboose


8. group


9. nuisance


10. union


11. routine


12. suitable


13. jewelry


14. improve


15. consume
    *Challenge*


16. souvenir


17. crusader


18. neutral


19. illuminate


20. shrewd

Mrs. Liberty's Science 10/31 - 11/4

This week we are starting off with completing plate boundary pictures to describe what happens at the different types of boundaries. I am anticipating these being completed by Wednesday. After we finish with the plate boundary pictures we will move on to the parts of an earthquake and there impact on people.

Later in the week look for a study guide covering Layers of the Earth, Plate movement, Theories and vocabulary we have used so far in the unit. There will be a test over the items on the study guide next Tuesday, November 8th.

Science Class Survey

Students,

Please complete both of the surveys below. This will help me plan for a project we have scheduled a little later in the year.

Thank you,

Mrs. Liberty

Science Survey Part 1

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Science Survey Part 2

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Mrs. Liberty & Mrs. BW Social Studies 10/17 - 10/20

In Mrs. Bosch-Wilson's class they are a few days behind Mrs. Liberty so please refer to last weeks post regarding the graphic organizer. They started today and will take several to complete in it class.

In Mrs. Liberty's the students have been broken up into Allyu groups and are working on creating an Inca inspired myth and group symbol about how their Allyu was formed. This is a group project that each student is participating in. They will be graded on their ability to work with their group as well as the result of their efforts on the project.

South America Test Retakes-

Given the amount of time that the students had to study for their South America Countries and Capitals test some of the results were very disappointing. We are offering a one time only chance to retake this test. For Mrs. Bosch-Wilson the retake will be on Thursday, October 21st. For Mrs. Liberty the retake will be on Monday, October 24th. Please be checking your child's grade on this test. Grades lower than a C are eligible for the retake.

No School

Just a reminder that there will be no school this Friday the 21st of October. This is one of the furlough days that we have as a result budget cuts this year.

Mrs. Liberty's Science 10/17 - 10/20

This week we will have our Layers of the Earth test on Tuesday. We filled out the study guide last week and the students should have been studying every night for the past several nights in preparation for the test. The final step was to get a parent signature on the study guide saying that they had studied.

We are wrapping up this first section on plate tectonics this week. We will have a virtual lab on Tuesday after the test and then put some vocabulary in our notebooks for future reference. Thursday I am planning a lab on convection for the students. Those that have good behavior will be able to participate in the lab, those that do not will go to the library to write a research essay on the process of convection.

Next week we will be moving on to Earthquakes.

Mrs. Villastrigo

Language Arts

• We wrapped up subject/predicate successfully and are moving on to review verbs.
  


• We started a spelling program this week. This seems to be an area of great need in our group, based upon ISAT scores and a pre-test students did at the beginning of the year. We have many outstanding writers and I think we can really improve writing through working on this peice. I found a research based program arranged by spelling patterns and similar vowel sounds and I am really excited about it! We will work about every other day on spelling and spend about two weeks before we test learning word patterns, sounds, strategies.
  


• Students will begin telling anecdotes on Friday, on a volunteer basis. We will sign up for about 5-6 students a day and will go through next week, dedicating part of the period to this. After performing the 5 minute anecdote, students will submit a neatly written or typed final copy. The story does not need to be memorized, but should not be read directly from the paper.
  


• We will work to create well-developed settings in a narrative next week!

Short Vowel Sounds

1. unselfish


2. possible


3. accent


4. messenger


5. publish


6. snapshot


7. withstand


8. athletic


9. rapid


10. significant


11. mathematics


12. dismiss


13. penniless


14. establish


15. suspense

Challenge (required for some students)

1. velocity


2. optimum


3. discipline


4. recommend


5. necessity

Mrs. Villastrigo

Reading

• I hope you are all continuing to do your 30 min. of reading each night. Some students are close to making their goals already, it is so exciting to see all this enthusiasm for reading!
  



• Hopefully everyone is enjoying our book, Walk Two Moons. It is certainly a unique book, in that it is not written in chronological order. The characters are very interesting and the mystery in the book seems to be holding student interest in class.
  



• We are about a quarter of the way through our fluency contest. I love this activity because students get to practice as much as they want and I am always amazed at the level of oral reading demonstrated. It will also be a content knowledge grade. We will give out reading awards sometime next week and this is always a great way to celebrate reading. *If you are absent, don't forget to check out a book to take home. We really breeze through the book with each student reading a page for the contest and we don't want anyone to miss the story.
  



• We added some new vocabulary words this week and few new words last week. We will keep practicing the words often with our "hand signals" in class. We will also complete sentences for the second half on Friday. Next week we will do a review and take a test to demonstrate your wider vocabulary. Here is the second half of our list from our book:

Chapter 5 & 6

1. distress- in trouble, in need of help



2. dismantled- all in pieces, taken apart



3. diabolic-evil or devilish



4. primly- fussy about appearance or behavior

Chapter 7-10

1. precisely- exactly



2. veer- to change direction or course



3. lunatic- insane or crazy person



4. vivid- very strong or bright



5. pandemonium- a wild uproar



6. potential- possible

Mrs. Liberty's Science 10/10 - 10/14

This week we will be taking notes on the layers of the Earth. There will be a test at the beginning of next week (I am currently thinking the 18th) where the students need to draw, label, and describe each of the layers.

After we finish with the notes on the layers we ill look further into plate movement and what we can learn from the spreading of the sea floor. (Jason Project pages 100-102 if you want to have your child show you online.) We will talk about the types of plate boundaries, mid-ocean ridges, rifts, and the Theory of Plate Tectonics. This should take us to the end of this week, maybe into the beginning of next. When we are done with this section we will have our first lab of the year.

For the lab I do need something like a metal pizza holder, think of the ones at restaurants where they have the lit candle under the pizza to keep it warm. If you have one you could lend me next week or know where I could get one, it would be greatly appreciated.

Mrs. Liberty & Mrs. B-W Social Studies 10/10 - 10/14

This week in Social Studies we are starting off with an assignment that is worth 50 points. The students have read and discussed The Inca People and The Sapa Inca in class. They need to pick one of those 2 sections to create an illustrated graphic organizer of the information from their section. They will need to include the following elements:

• Title
• 6 sections (Introduction and the 5 more headings from the book)
• 3 main facts from each section (18 total)
• Graded on Spelling, capitalization, and using periods
• Graded on neatness and effort

I am initially planning the due date for this assignment on Wednesday, October 12th at the end of the period. I may extend it if it looks like the students need more time.

After we finish the graphic organizer we will talk more about the Allyu. The students will be put in groups and need to create their own Allyu with an appropriate symbol and creation myth. For the myth we will ant them to think about the elements that were included in "The Rod of Gold" that they read in Reading with Mrs. Villistrigo.

UPDATE: The graphic organizer will be due on Thursday at the end of class.

Book Orders

It is time for the October book orders. If you are interested in ordering something please have the order to Mrs. Liberty by Friday. You can also order online at www.clubs.scholastic.com You will need to set up an account and then enter our class code J4JKY to place the order through our class. There are some great scary stories available this month in honor of Halloween. Our order should be in in plenty of time for those books to arrive and start reading before the 31st!

Thanks for your order!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences are this week! They will be both Wednesday and Thursday nights from 4:00 to 7:00. They will be located in the MPR of Annex A (the 6th grade building). Please try to make it as we are looking forward to talking with each of you about your child's progress so far. If your child comes with you so they can contribute to the conversation we often have extra credit available! 

We are all looking forward to seeing you there.
The Purple People Eater Team

Mrs. Liberty & Mrs. B-W Social Studies 10/03 - 10/07

This week we are delving more into the Inca. We will finish looking at where they came from in Origins of the Inca then move to the expansion of their empire in The Empire. The students will need to complete and turn in a graphic organizer outlining the 3 most important ideas from each section of the reading.

Towards the end of the week we will Read about the Inca People and the Sapa Inca the students will create a graphic organizer in the form of an illustrated concept map. This will be due early in the week of the 10th.

On the 7th will be the South America Countries and Capitals test in both classes. The students need to be able to identify each country and it's capital. They will also need to spell each item correctly.

Blank South America Map
List of Countries and Capitals

Mrs. Liberty's Science 10/3 - 10/7

This week we are Discussing the Structure of Earth. We are using resources located on Jason.org Each student has a log-in for this site and can access the book and other activities and assignments from any computer with an internet connection. Please feel free to have your child explain the following concepcts this week:

The Theory of Continental Drift
convention currents
Name and describe each layer of Earth

Villastrigo Reading/Language Arts

Reading:

• We started off with a pretty light work load and students should have great work habits grades for coming in ready to give some good effort every day. I hope exploring learning styles and study skills was helpful to students and that they can use these techniques throughout the year. I will be integrating more study skills along the way.



• Students are creating storyboards to represent the Inca legend, Rod of Gold. This is a story that was passed down through generations to explain how the civilization's capital city and culture came to become so successful. The work I have seen in class is excellent. Storyboards should break the legend into six parts. There should be a "sixth grade quality" depiction of each part and a caption that explains the picture. Captions must be in complete sentences and be neatly written or typed. We started late last week and storyboards are due tomorrow (the exception is 4th period, due Thursday because of a late start). Students have class time tomorrow to work, but many decided to take it home for homework in order to have time to AR read.



• We read the first three chapters of Walk Two Moons and are studying vocabulary words from the book. Students learned hand signals to represent the words and will create sentences using our vocabulary on Thursday in class. Here are the words we are learning:

Chapters 1 & 2peculiar- Different from the usual or normal; odd; strange
tottery- moving unsteadily; staggering
ornery- having an irritable disposition
caboodle- group; whole bunch; whole collection

Chapters 3 & 4devour- eat up greedily or hungrily
dignified- respectable; serious; proper
gnarled- twisted and knotted, like a piece of wood or a tree
cadaver- corpse; dead body
astounding- amazing; puzzling

Language Arts:

We took a quiz over the four sentence types Monday and those will be handed back and in the gradebook this week. The quizzes I have graded so far look great! We did some extra practice with subject and predicate and will wrap that up for most students Thursday. Tomorrow we will do some creative writing, focusing on unique perspectives and setting.

New Social Studies Teacher

We are very excited that we were able to hire our new Social Studies teacher! Many of the students had the opportunity to meet her on Friday while she spent some time in Mrs. Liberty's classroom. You all should have received an email through Skyward as well letting you know about the changes. We were planning on having new schedules to hand out to students for Monday, but unfortunately we discovered a small problem with our plan. This week will be the last one for the first half of the trimester. With that comes time for progress reports. Skyward, despite it many great qualities does have it's limitations, one of which is that if you move a student to a new class their grades have to be transferred manually. With our progress reports only a week away we would not be able to get all the students grades transfered to their new schedule.

With that being said, Monday Mrs. Burger and the Purple People Eater Team will sit down together on Monday to determine exactly how we want to proceed for the next week until we can put the new schedules in place after the progress reports are completed.

Mrs. Liberty's Social Studies 9/26 - 9/30

This week in Social Studies we will be reading about the Origins of the Inca people and their Empire. We will be working with graphic organizers to help synthesize the information we read in class. Within the graphic organizers we will be focusing on the main ideas of the different sections of text and what we can learn from identifying those main ideas.

Mrs. Liberty's Science 9/26 - 9/30

We are about ready to dive into new material on the structure of Earth. Monday and Tuesday we will be reviewing mapping skills and learning about the different types of maps we will be using in this unit. Wednesday we will go to the computer lab for an introduction to the Student Center for the Jason Project that we will be using for this unit and will take a pre-test there online. Thursday and Friday we will delve into the Mission and the students will begin learning about the sea floor and how by mapping it we are able to learn how the Earth is constantly changing.

Progress Reports

It seems like we have just started yet we are already in the 5th week of school! Progress reports will be here very quickly. The cut-off to turn things in for progress reports is on September 30th. Please help your child by logging into Skyward with them to see if they have missing work or a test/quiz that needs to be retaken.

Heads up- Parent Teacher Conferences will be October 5th and 6th from 4-7.

Mrs. Liberty's Science 9/19 to 9/23

This week in Science we are completing Kid's Discover Earth magazine in class. We started it last week by reading together and going over expectations for how to answer questions in complete sentences. We completed the first few pages as a class and now the students will be finishing up with partners. I hope to have this wrapped up by the end of class Wednesday.

After we finish with Earth Magazine on Thursday I am planning to move into a short review of map skills we have already covered, which will be needed prior to starting on Layers of the Earth early next week.

Mrs. Liberty's Social Studies 9/19 to 9/23

This week we are moving from the Political Maps to the Physical Maps of South America. Each student will be expected to identify the major physical features. I am planning for this map to be due at the end of the period on Wednesday. Don't let the information from the political map disappear yet. There will be a test over the countries and capitals of South America right after Parent Teacher Conferences on the 7th of October. This should give everyone pleanty of opportunity to study for the test and memorize the locations.

Also, at the end of this week we will be starting to turn our attention to the Inca. We will start with a KWL and then move into the origins of the Inca people. We will be reading out of a book on the Inca and completing some work sheets.

Mrs. Villastrigo reading

We did a mini-unit on study skills this week.  Every student should be able to share their particular preferred learning style or styles.  We looked at two particular study techniques that all three learning styles can use well.  One is the picture method (draw a picture that reminds you of the concept) and the second was the use of mnemonic devices (ex: Never Eat Soggy Waffles, to remember the cardinal directions).  Next week we will begin reading about the Inca and start our novel.

Mrs. Villastrigo Language Arts

Great job on the sentences test!  Now we want to see you use those skills in all your classes this year.  We did some narrative studies and did some creative writing of our own.  Students told a story about one of their earliest memories.  We did a DLR test today, which will be a work habits score because it is open notebook, using the notes from warm-up each day.  We will finish a fun assignment we started today, using magazine pictures to write and identify each of the four types of sentences.  Next week we  will try a second narrative, focusing on fiction this time.  We will also continue to work to commit those four sentence types to long-term memory. 

Villastrigo Reading and LA 9/12-9/16

Reading classes:

We will be taking a reading test to determine reading level and also help to individualize personal reading goals for each student.  If all goes as expected with the reading test program, Accelerated Reader goals should be distributed by Wednesday.  Students, don't forget to read for thirty minutes each night.  If you would like to track this in your planner with your family, it may assist you in meeting this goal.  Everyone seems very excited to get started with AR!  I hope it will be a tool that helps each reader to improve in his/her skills and enjoy reading.  We will also be studying learning styles and study strategies that work best for each style.  I hope students are enjoying the novels chosen by each class, which I will read aloud at the start of the period.

Again, don't forget your homework-- 30 minutes of reading each night :).


Language Arts class:

This week we reviewed complete sentences.  We will do a final review activity and check for understanding with a quiz.  This is an especially important skill because teachers across the curriculum will expect the use of complete sentences on assignments.  We will begin to study the different types of sentences next.  Over the next few weeks, we will explore narrative writing through looking at samples of writing, as well as begin some of our own.  

Box Tops

Do you have Box Tops that you have been collecting? We are starting our Box Top campaign for the year. The Purple People Eaters have chosen to collect them as 1st period classes. Please gather them up and send them in to help us earn money that will go toward much needed supplies this year. The classes that collect the most earn extra money!

We always have great incentives for the collectors, like one pass to get out of the Ihli lap :) and the top collectors have prizes as well! Please make sure that the Box Tops are in an envelope or plastic bag with the student's name on them so we know who to give the reward to. They can be turned in to 1st period teachers.The first collection date will be toward the end of September.

Thank you all for your support in this area!

Book Orders

Mrs. Liberty's bookshelves for student checkout are looking a little bare these days so Mrs. Villastrigo has graciously given her the opportunity to run the book orders this year to try and earn some free books! The first one will be sent home on Monday. There are several ways to order: You can send the order and the money in to Mrs. Liberty just like has always been done. A second way is to order online at Scholastic. You will need to create a username and password for yourself. Then there is an account code J4JKY that you will need to type in to access the orders available through our class. Mrs. Liberty earns points with every order that she can put back into books for the classroom shelves. There are also eBooks available. Mrs. Liberty is looking into their compatibility with popular e Readers and operating systems. At this point it does not look like they have any for Mac users.

Orders will be due by Friday, September 16th.

Mrs. Liberty's Science Sept. 12-16

This week the students will be finishing up their Personal Timelines. They will have Monday and Tuesday in class to work and they are due Wednesday morning. After that we will be moving into studying the Earth's Structures. In this unit we will look at the layers, volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, and the rock cycle.

Mrs. Liberty's Social Studies- Sept. 12-16

This week in Social Studies we are taking our first test over the continents and oceans on Monday. Tuesday we will begin moving into the geography of South America. The students will have political and physical maps to complete.

Continent and Ocean List for quiz:

Africa
Antarctica
Asia
Australia
Europe
North America
South America
Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Southern Ocean

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog this year. Mrs. Villastrigo and Mrs. Liberty are very excited to have each of you in our classes. We hope that this blog will be a great tool to help us keep the lines of communication open between parents, teachers and students. Please sign up to follow the blog so that you can get updates as soon as we post them.

We are looking forward to a great year!