Room 322 at Endeavor Elementary School

We’re here! It’s been a great year, and I appreciate all the support I’ve gotten from parents and families throughout the year. Just a few things to remember:

- Our Awards Ceremony is at 8:30 on Tuesday. Our third grade party will follow immediately afterwards in the Outdoor Classroom. We’ll do pizza in the cafeteria for lunch.

- If I’m not mistaken, report cards will go home on Thursday. They’ll be available for pickup at the front desk next week.

Thanks again!

Wrapping up a year!  

Wow—we’re almost there! It’s been a quick year, in my opinion, but it’s been a busy one! We’ve learned a lot, and it’s almost time to move to the fourth grade.
   Just a quick note concerning our pond—we’ve finally got it installed! Last week was a time for environmental education: Tuesday was the pond, and Thursday and Friday we had our EE days. It was a lot of fun, and I think everyone enjoyed it.
   In reading this week we’re working with a story called Two Bad Ants. It’s one of my favorite stories, and the students always enjoy it as well. Our comprehension skills are plot and theme and visualize.
   In language we’ll be taking at look at commas and continuing to work with our writing.
   In math we’re concentrating on fractions as well as continuing our work with division and a few smaller topics. 
   In social studies the students are still studying American history. We’re learning about the American Revolution and working through a video series called Liberty’s Kids.
   In science we’re working in our unit on Earth materials/geology. We’ll wrap that up this week.

Other notes and information
School is almost over, but we’re not quite there yet. Please encourage your student to try (I know it’s hard!) to stay focused for the last days of school. Despite a rumor I heard on Thursday, we’re still taking grades and I’d like for them to stay up there!

Our awards ceremony and class party will be next Tuesday morning. The awards ceremony is at 8:30, and the class party is immediately afterwards. We’ll be meeting in the outdoor classroom (you’ll get to see the pond!) and things will wrap up at 10:00.

Here are our spelling and vocabulary words for this week:

1. leadership
2. gracefully
3. refreshment
4. uncomfortable
5. overdoing
6. remarkable
7. carefully
8. unbearably
9. ownership
10. unacceptable
11. impossibly
12. reappeared
13. unprepared
14. oncoming
15. misbehaving

Challenge Words
16. outrageous
17. incomprehensible
18. undoubtedly
19. independence
20. disadvantage

This week’s list consists of multisyllabic words

Vocabulary words
• crystal  a hard, solid piece of some substance that is naturally formed on flat surfaces and angles.
• disappeared  went out of sight
• discovery  see or find something for the first time
• goal  something that is desired; aim
• journey  a long trip
• joyful  feeling, showing, or causing great happiness; glad
• scoop  a tool shaped like a small shovel, used for taking up substances
• unaware  not knowing or realizing

   Our community is still in the recovery phase from the disaster of two weeks ago. I know that our class has experienced its share of tragedy and loss. Please let me know of ways I can help. We’ve got a long way to go, and we won’t be able to do it alone.

   There has been a plan to install our pond a few times over the last month. This week it looks like all of the stars are lining up and we’ll actually make it happen. It’s scheduled for Tuesday—more below. If you’re interested in helping, please let me know!

   In reading this week we’re working with a story called Talking Walls: Art for the People. It’s a story about murals and the impact they can have on a community. Our comprehension skills are fact and opinion and answer questions.

   In language we’ll be taking at look at combining sentences with conjunctions and continuing to work with our writing.

   In math we’re concentrating on probability as well as continuing our work with division and a few smaller topics. 

   In social studies the students are still studying American history. We’re learning about the American Revolution and working through a video series called Liberty’s Kids.

   In science we’re working in our unit on Earth materials/geology.

Other notes and information
   Believe it or not, on Tuesday we’re installing a pond at Endeavor Elementary School. It looks like the weather is actually going to cooperate this week—we’ll see! Each student at the school will be involved with the process. Please make sure your student dresses appropriately. We won’t get too dirty, but we are going to be working with rocks and sand and plants. Also, we still need gallon-size plastic milk jugs for the project. Please send those in (rinsed, please!) if you have them.

 Here are our spelling and vocabulary words for the week:

1. question
2. creature
3. furniture
4. division
5. collision
6. action
7. direction
8. culture
9. vacation
10. mansion
11. fiction
12. feature
13. sculpture
14. vision
15. celebration

Challenge Words
16. fascination
17. legislature
18. manufacture
19. possession
20. declaration

This week’s list consists of words with -tion, -sion, and -ture

Vocabulary words
• encourages gives courage, hope, or confidence to; urges on
• expression the act of putting thoughts or feelings into words or actions
• local having to do with a certain nearby place
• native a person who was born in a particular country or place
• settled made a home in a place
• social having to do with people as a group
• support to help

   April is coming to an end–incredible! We’ve got a lot to do this week, and one of the highlights will be helping to install our pond on Friday. We’re hoping the weather will cooperate. Please see my note below.
   Mrs. Ratledge is finishing her time teaching the class this week; I’ve enjoyed watching our class help her to develop as a teacher. As I said last week, she’s learned a lot, the students have learned a lot, and I’ve learned a lot watching her bring some new ideas to our group. It’s been a lot of fun, and we’ll miss her when she leaves. I wish her all the best as she moves into the next chapter of her life!
   In reading this week we’re working with a story called Happy Birthday Mr. Kang. It’s a story about a man who makes an important decision about freedom and re-learns an important lesson about friendship. Our comprehension skills are cause and effect and graphic organizers.
   In language we’ll be taking at look at abbreviations and continuing to work with our writing.
   In math we’re concentrating on probability as well as continuing our work with division and a few smaller topics. 
   In social studies the students are still studying American history. We’re learning about the American Revolution and working through a video series called Liberty’s Kids.
   In science we’re wrapping up forces and motion and moving into our unit on Earth materials/geology.

Other notes and information
Our Boosterthon has been a huge success—thank you!  We have, as a school, COLLECTED over 30,000 dollars! 

Friday we’re installing a pond at Endeavor Elementary School. Each student will be involved with the process. Please make sure your student dresses appropriately. We won’t get too dirty, but we are going to be working with rocks and sand and plants. Also, we still need gallon-size plastic milk jugs for the project. Please send those in (rinsed, please!) if you have them.

Here are this week’s spelling and vocabulary words:

1. above
2. another
3. upon
4. animal
5. paper
6. open
7. family
8. travel
9. afraid
10. nickel
11. sugar
12. circus
13. item
14. gallon
15. melon

Challenge Words
16. character
17. cardinal
18. Oregon
19. particular
20. dinosaur

This week’s list consists of words with the schwa sound.

Vocabulary words
• bows  bends the head and body in greeting, respect, worship, or obedience
• chilly  cold; unpleasantly cool
• foolish  without any sense; unwise
• foreign  outside your own country
• narrow  not wide; having little width
• perches  comes to rest on something; settles; sits
• recipe  a set of written directions that shows you how to fix something to eat

   It’s hard to believe that we’re down to just six weeks of school left! The year has gone by so quickly; summer will be here before we know it!

   Mrs. Ratledge is continuing to teach the class this week; I’ve enjoyed watching our class help her to develop as a teacher. She’s learned a lot, the students have learned a lot, and I’ve learned a lot watching her bring some new ideas to our group.

   In reading this week we’re working with a story called The Statue of Liberty. It’s a story about, well, the Statue of Liberty and how it came to be a symbol of liberty and freedom in America. Our comprehension skills are main idea and text structure.

   In language we’ll be taking at look at capital letters and working with descriptive writing.

   In math we’re concentrating on data and statistics as well as continuing our work with division and a few smaller topics. 

   In social studies the students are studying American history. We’re learning about the American Revolution and working through a video series called Liberty’s Kids.

   In science we’re still working with forces and motion.

Other notes and information

Our Boosterthon has been a huge success—thank you!  We have, as a school, had over 30,000 dollars pledged!  Now comes the hard part: collecting money.  I do appreciate all of your support, and I look forward to wrapping this up as soon as possible.

Thursday we’re installing a pond at Endeavor Elementary School. Each student will be involved with the process. Please make sure your student dresses appropriately. We won’t get too dirty, but we are going to be working with rocks and sand and plants. Also, we need gallon-size plastic milk jugs for the project. Please send those in (rinsed, please!) if you have them.

Here are this week’s spelling and vocabulary words:

1. few
2. school
3. true
4. goose
5. fruit
6. cookie
7. cushion
8. noodle
9. bookmark
10. balloon
11. suit
12. chew
13. glue
14. Tuesday
15. bushel

Challenge Words
16. bamboo
17. mildew
18. soothe
19. barefoot
20. renewal

This week’s list consists of words with the vowel sounds in tooth and cook

Vocabulary words

• crown  a head covering of precious metal worn by a royal person, such as a queen or king
• liberty  freedom
• models  small copies of something
• symbol  an object, diagram, icon, and so on, that stands for or represents something else
• tablet a  small, flat surface with something written on it
• torch  a long stick with material that burns at one end of it
• unforgettable  so good or so wonderful that you cannot forget it
• unveiled  removed a veil from; uncovered; revealed

   Testing is behind us! I’m looking forward to a normal week—I think everyone is.  Mrs. Ratledge has the class this week; I’m looking forward to watching our class help her develop as a teacher! Also, we’ve got one more week until Spring Break and, though it’s hard to believe, only seven more weeks of school.  Wow!
   In reading this week we’re working with a story called Me and Uncle Romie. It’s a story about a boy who spends the summer with his uncle and learns about his extended family as well as what it’s like to live in the city. Our comprehension skills are author’s purpose and prior knowledge.
   In language we’ll be taking at look at conjunctions and working with descriptive writing.
   In math we’re concentrating on data and statistics as well as continuing our work with division and a few smaller topics. 
   In social studies the students are studying American history. We’re learning about the American Revolution and working through a video series called Liberty’s Kids.
   In science wrapping up our work with weather and going into forces and motion.

Here are this Week’s spelling and vocabulary words:

1. rocky
2. foolish
3. rainy
4. childhood
5. selfish
6. treatment
7. movement
8. neighborhood
9. childish
10. parenthood
11. crunchy
12. bumpy
13. payment
14. sleepy
15. shipment

Challenge Words
16. assignment
17. livelihood
18. stylish
19. environment
20. guilty

This week’s list consists of words with the suffixes -y, -ish, -hood, and -ment.

• cardboard  a stiff material made out of layers of paper pulp pressed together, used to make cards, posters, boxes, and so on
• feast  a big meal for a special occasion shared by a number of people
• fierce  wild and frightening
• flights  sets of stairs from one landing or one story of a building to the next
• pitcher  a baseball player who throws the ball to the catcher
• ruined  destroyed or spoiled something completely
• stoops  porches or platforms at the entrance to a house
• treasure  any person or thing that is loved or valued a great deal

   The Alabama Reading and Math Test is behind us, and the SAT is still ahead. We’ll test reading on Monday and Tuesday, and wrap up with math on Wednesday. It will be nice to have that behind us!
   In reading this week we’re working with a story called Jalapeno Bagels. It’s a story that shows how people from different cultures all have things to contribute to the group as a whole. Our comprehension skills are drawing conclusions and summarizing.
   In language we’ll be taking at look at comparative adverbs and working with descriptive writing.
   In math we’re concentrating on data and statistics as well as continuing our work with division and a few smaller topics. 
   In social studies the students are studying American history. We almost finished our projects last week, but not quite. We’ll wrap those up this week.
   In science we’re still learning about weather.
   One additional note: Mrs. Ratledge starts teaching full time next week! She’s doing well, and the class seems to be enjoying the change of pace (I’m sort of bored, though…).

Here are this week’s spelling and vocabulary words:

1. thought
2. fought
3. bought
4. taught
5. caught
6. walk
7. cough
8. talk
9. daughter
10. ought
11. sought
12. brought
13. trough
14. chalk
15. stalk

Challenge Words
16. sidewalk
17. distraught
18. afterthought
19. overwrought
20. beanstalk

Like last week’s list, this week’s list contains words with the vowel sound in ball.

• bakery  a place where breads, pies, cakes, and pastries are cooked in ovens
• batch  a group of prepared or gathered together
• boils  liquid gets hot enough to bubble and give off steam
• braided  woven or twined together
• dough  thick mixture of flour and water that is usually baked
• ingredients  parts that go into a mixture
• knead  stretch out, fold over and press dough
• mixture  something made up of different things that are put together

   This is the first week of our testing cycle. We’ll start on Tuesday with the reading portion of the Alabama Reading and Math Test (ARMT). On Wednesday we’ll complete the math portion of the ARMT. Next week we’ll be taking the SAT on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

   In reading this week we’re continuing to work with the story we started last week, Goodbye 382 Shin Dang Dong. 

   In language we’ll be taking at look at adverbs and working with descriptive writing. We’ll be completing another five-paragraph descriptive essay. We’ll also continue to work with last week’s list of spelling words.

   In math we’re continuing our work with division while working with a number of other topics as well.  

   In social studies the students are studying American history. We’ll finish our projects this week. A few parents have sent in completed projects. I appreciate the effort, but we’ll be adding some additional formatting elements in class. I’ll email those home when they’re completed.

   In science, we’re learning about weather.

An additional note concerning testing: (This is the same note I sent home last week, but it’s worth repeating.) Please encourage your students, make sure they’re at school on time, and try to help them understand that the tests are important, but that they’re not something to get too stressed out about. Some students actually get sick over them—that’s not necessary. We’ve learned a lot this year; this is our chance to show it.

Other notes and information

Because of the guidelines passed down by the state department, we will not be conducting any quizzes or tests for the next two weeks.  We will, of course, continue to learn and work with new subjects, but we’ll hold off on formal assessments until the testing cycle is over. This will have an impact on the 3-week progress report because it will only reflect the tests that were taken last week. Since testing is a major (60%) part of our grading system, the grades reflected on your student’s 3-week progress report (and any grades viewed on INOW from home) might be lower than expected. That situation will quickly correct itself, though, as soon as we begin to take tests and quizzes again.

   Road trip! This Wednesday is our field trip. More info is below.

   In reading this week we’re working with a story called Good-Bye 382 Shin Dang Dong. It’s about a girl who moves from Korea to Massachusetts with her family. Our comprehension skills are sequence and monitor and fix-up.

   In language we’ll be taking at look at adverbs and working with descriptive writing.

   In math we’re continuing our work with division while working with a number of other topics as well. 

   In social studies the students are studying American history. Check out my note below concerning our projects!

An additional note concerning testing: Next week we begin our “testing cycle” with the Alabama Reading and Math Test. Please encourage your students, make sure they’re at school on time, and try to help them understand that the tests are important, but that they’re not something to get too stressed out about. Some students actually get sick over them—that’s not necessary. We’ve learned a lot this year; this is our chance to show it.

Other notes and information

Our field trip is on Wednesday. Information went home last week.  If you haven’t returned your permission slip or $5, please do so as soon as possible. Don’t forget that we’ll be eating in the classroom when we return, so pack a lunch (or let me know you want to get a bag lunch from the cafeteria). Also, wear your class t-shirt!

Our class will be continuing to work on our PowerPoint project this week.  Each student will complete a simple presentation on a topic from Chapter 8 in our social studies book. An example of what we’re doing can be found at this site:                  http://room322.wikispaces.com/Transcontinental+Railroad+Project

Here are our spelling and vocabulary words for the week:

1. small
2. almost
3. always
4. because
5. straw
6. drawn
7. also
8. author
9. false
10. already
11. flaw
12. sausage
13. applause
14. walnut
15. lawn

Challenge Words
16. awesome
17. altogether
18. awning
19. faucet
20. laundry

This week’s list consists words with the vowel sound in ball.

Vocabulary words
• airport  an area used regularly by aircraft to land and take off
• curious  strange; odd; unusual
• delicious  very pleasing or satisfying; delightful; especially to the taste or smell
• described  told in words how someone looks, feels, or acts; to record the most important things about a place, a thing, or an event
• farewell  parting; last
• homesick  very sad because you are far away from home
• memories  persons, things, or events that you can remember
• raindrops  the water that falls in drops from the clouds

Moving toward the SAT and ARMT

   I know, you’re thinking “there are still ten weeks of school left…how can we be testing already?” It’s a long story, but that’s what’s happening—we’re two weeks away!  Our daily routine won’t change much, but we will be starting some review as well as finishing up our introductions to a few “small” topics in math.

   In reading this week we’re working with a story called How My Family Lives in America. It’s about people who have moved to the United States from other countries.  Our comprehension skills are fact and opinion and text structure.

   In language we’ll be taking at look at comparative and superlative adjectives. Third graders are big, fifth graders are bigger, and high school students are biggest!

   In math we’re continuing our work with division while working with a number of other topics as well. 

   In social studies the students are studying American history. Check out my note below concerning our projects!

Other notes and information

Spring pictures will be taken next week. Information went home last week.  Please let me know if you need another order form!

Our class will be starting a PowerPoint project this week.  Each student will complete a simple presentation on a topic from Chapter 8 in our social studies book. An example of what we’re doing can be found at this site:     http://room322.wikispaces.com/Transcontinental+Railroad+Project

Here are our spelling and vocabulary lists for next week:

1. to
2. too
3. two
4. week
5. weak
6. our
7. hour
8. stair
9. stare
10. flour
11. flower
12. write
13. right
14. new
15. knew

Challenge Words
16. their
17. there
18. they’re
19. weather
20. whether

This week’s list consists of homophones!

Vocabulary words
• admire  to look at with wonder, pleasure, and approval
• custom  an old or popular way of doing things
• famous  very well known; noted
• mention  to tell or speak about something
• overnight  during the night
• popular  liked by most people
• public  of or for everyone; belonging to the people
• twist  a braid formed by weaving together three or more strands of hair, ribbon, or yarn