mother who was hospitalized. She is much better now, and I appreciate how sweet the students were in showing concern while I was gone. I have given students the opportunity to correct and return some of the assignments they completed while I was gone, since I know they didn't necessarily give their personal best on some of those assignments. You will see "correct and return" or "C+R" on papers when I am offering the opportunity to correct them. I try to give them a "do-over" when possible and average the two grades. This is a great opportunity for them to slow down and analyze their work. Did they rush through? Were they sick/tired that day? Were they confused by the directions? Are they continuing to struggle with comprehension or vocabulary? I do not ask them to turn those back in, so it is completely up to them (and you at home) if they do this. I will normally put them in their mailboxes or directly into their yellow folders to show you. Hopefully they take advantage of the opportunity! I did let them work on these in-class this week, since I was gone when they completed most of them.
Language Arts News:
*We are focusing on
identifying the main idea and supporting ideas/details when reading books, passages, articles, and printed text.
identifying the main idea and supporting ideas/details when reading books, passages, articles, and printed text.
*We are focusing on making connections with what we see and read. Text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text connections should be happening as we read.
*In small group we have been working on making annotations and asking questions as we read new and familiar texts. Our brains should naturally be asking questions as we read new (and even old) information. I wonder why... I thought that... I'm confused by this, because... Where did they go... Why did they... ? (you get the idea) If you are working or reading with your child, check to make sure this is happening. If it isn't, they may not be fully engaged in what they are reading or they may not understand what they are reading because the Lexile is too high (vocabulary complexity) or they are having difficulty comprehending the plot.
*Growing Our Vocabulary, Chapter 2, is our new focus for the next two weeks. This includes the root words pater/patr, mater/matr, and frater. We are also focusing on the suffix -ism. The test will be next Friday, September 23rd and your child should have their study guide in the outside clear cover of their yellow take-home folder. Don't forget to check out my QUIZLET link for easy practice at home (if you have internet or app access). If your child has not shown you our Google Classroom Language Arts page, have them do so. We took our first "Google Forms" vocabulary test last week and the students loved it! Please let me know if you have any questions!
Happy READING!
