Pearson ~ Cabot Middle School South ~ 5-1 Language Arts

This is an invitation that is going home with students today, May 21. 

It is time to bring our 5^th grade Aviator flight in for a landing, and you are invited to celebrate a successful year with our team.  Please join us for an afternoon celebration with team 5-1. 

Date: Friday, May 30      Time: 12:00 – 2:30 PM   Location: CMSS Courtyard 

We will grill hot dogs, play games, and visit about an outstanding school-year with the Aviators.  We hope you will join us!

All grades (thus far) for this 9 weeks have been posted.  If you check Pinnacle and see something you don’t like, please have your child locate the assignment in his/her binder and turn it in immediately.  I will accept late work through Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:00 PM.  I will not hand out extra copies of assignments as every child has been given the opportunity to get these papers (extras) throughout the entire 9 weeks.  Please remind your child to put his/her name on the paper before putting it in the LATE WORK bin located in my classroom.

The last grade I will take will be an in-class grade on Wednesday, May 28, 2008. 

Again, I will accept late work through Tuesday, May 27, 2008.

I am really working hard to finish up all of the frameworks for this year, and I am trying my best to make it fun for the kids (since the most prominent thing on all of our minds is summer vacation!). :o)

*No homework this week; No fluency this week*

Monday: Turn in Fluency (Love Song); Pick up Joshua’s Diary discussion questions #2 to be completed in class.

Tuesday: IMAX field trip

Wednesday: Continue working on Joshua’s Diary questions; discuss as a class for the last 20 minutes.

Thursday: Parts of a sentence review; Parts of Speech review

Friday: Joshua’s Diary completion activity.  Students will work in literature circles to establish what they feel was the most important event in the text.

Book Talk: Fluency - I will do the end of year fluency check for students.  They should be reading around 128 words per minute to be low-risk.

Math Enhancement: various reviews

REMINDER: Please send the black Writer’s Express textbook back to school with your child by or before Monday, May 12.

The CMSS library will be closing on Thursday, May 15 for the remainder of the school-year.  Please see to it that your child has returned any books on or before that date. 

Also, my personal classroom library will be closing on Wednesday, May 21 for the remainder of the school-year.  This will allow me to collect my personal books for storage over the summer months.  If you see a book at your home with PEARSON or MONROE written on it, please see that it is returned promptly.

Finally, I will be collecting the 2 items that were checked out to your child for Language Arts on Monday, May 12.  Please send the black Writer’s Express book and the Handy Pages pamphlet with your child to return.

I appreciate your assistance with getting school property returned before the end of the school-year

Track & Field day is Thursday!  Make sure your child wears his/her Aviators team shirt!

 Monday: Turn in fluency (Lean on Me); Pick up fluency (Love Song) - due Monday, May 5.  Today we will continue with “Joshua’s Diary” - students will work on vocabulary and discussion questions.

Tuesday: Pick up HW #15 - Subject/Predicate - due Friday, May 2.  Today we will continue with “Joshua’s Diary” - students will work in literature circles to compare work from class yesterday.

Wednesday: Today we will continue with “Joshua’s Diary” - students will work in literature circles to read the text and answer discussion questions as they read.

Thursday: Track & Field Day!  Wear team t-shirt!

Friday: Turn in HW#15. Hopefully, we will complete “Joshua’s Diary” today.  We will review (as a class) the answers to the Discussion Questions #2 handout, so students will have correct review material for their test.  Students will have another review in class on Thursday, May 8.  The test will be Friday, May 9.

Book Talk: Students will have Monday and Tuesday to complete their Social Studies Pioneer paper in class.  If the student does not complete the paper in the alotted time, he/she is responsible for finishing the paper and turning it in by Friday, May 2, 2008.  Any paper turned in later will be counted as late.  Each student has been given a rubric to use while writing the paper.  Each student has also had the opportunity to get direct feedback from me (Falcons & Starfighters) or Mrs. Snider (Thunderbolts class).

Students were given the following handout today for the 4th 9 weeks book presentation.  There will be no class time given for students to work on this assignment.  It is due Monday, May 19.

31 days of school remaining!

Monday: Pick up fluency (Lean on Me) due Monday, 4.28; continue poetry unit: rhyming pattern

Tuesday: Pick up HW # 14 (Author’s Purpose) due Friday, 4.25; continue poetry unit: Onomotopoeia

Wednesday: contine poetry unit: Haiku

Thursday & Friday: Teacher’s Pick for Team Read - Joshua’s Diary.  We will start and end this unit as a class by reading the book in class only.  Students will be responsible for keeping track of vocabulary words, and answering questions for a quiz at the end of the book.  Also Friday - turn in HW #14.

http://www.readwritethink.org/beyondtheclassroom/summer/grades3_5/

 Please visit this site for some fun literacy activities you can do with your child. 

Again, this will be a busy week preparing for next week’s Benchmark Exams.  Please let me know if you have any concerns about your child and the tests next week.

Monday: Turn in Fluency: Willow & Ginko - There will be no new fluency until after the Benchmarks.  Also, remember that there will no longer be Home Reading Logs for you to sign.  Today in class we will have a Limerick contest.  We started this form of poetry last Thursday, and students will write their own limericks today for a try at bonus points.

Tuesday: Poetry quiz scheduled for today has been moved to tomorrow due to a G/T field trip to Memphis.  Benchmark practice comparing two poetry passages.

Wednesday: Poetry Quiz; Poetry - rhyming pattern

Thursday: Students will write their own poem with an established rhyming pattern.  Benchmark practice - open response and multiple choice. 

Friday: Rock out the Benchmark - students will be allowed to write down their fears/concerns, etc. about the test next week.  They may choose to free-write, or write a poem (free verse or limerick).  Once completed, students will share their writing with the class (if they want to) and then we will put them in a box and lock them away for next week.  We will spend the remainder of class reviewing testing strategies.

Book Talk: commas, compound subjects & verbs, silent reading

Math Enhancement: fractions

Along with no Home Reading Logs this 9 weeks, there will also not be an Independent Reading Rubric.  Students will not be required to read a certain number of books for a grade.  Student grades will be reflected from classwork and homework given by the teacher.