What's Going On In Room 317?
Class Newsletter
After having breakfast, listening to daily announcements, checking uniforms, reciting our "Guidelines for Success" and "SAFE Rules", our day begins with Intervention Time. This is when we focus on specific skills the students need. Click here to go to the Intervention Skills page.
We focus on one story each week from the Treasures reading series and complete activities to enhance reading comprehension skills. Students receive a packet on the first day of the week that includes all the homework pages and classwork pages for the week. These packets are due on Friday with all homework pages completed and the fluency page completed. Fluency should be done two days each week at home and the chart should be filled out. Fluency will be progress monitored in the classroom as well. Students should be reading at least 125 wpm by the end of the school year.
In addition to Treasures stories/skills, the students are also expected to engage in independent reading (20 min. per night and in class after all other work is finished). This reading is written on the daily reading log. When the students finish reading their book, they take an AR test or complete a book report and add the book to the appropriate space on their Reading Genre Assignment log, which is due at the end of the school year. We have a classroom library and students go to the school library with me each week. Parents are encouraged to also take students to the public library to encourage a love of reading. Students should always have an independent reading book with them!
Vocabulary is a very important part of our instruction. Students generally receive 20 vocabulary words each week, which are a combination of the 6-8 weekly Treasures vocabulary words (blue words), 10 Vocabulary Workshop words (red words), and 2-3 Greek/Latin roots (green words). We work with vocabulary words in class throughout the week, but students should also study the words at home to be prepared for Friday tests. Click here to see the vocabulary word lists for each week. They will be added as we get to them.
Like vocabulary, spelling and grammar are taught throughout the week using technology, games, videos, music and worksheets. On the first day of the week, students take pages out of their spelling and grammar workbooks that coordinate with each weekly selection. They staple them together to make packets for the week. Spelling is addressed as needed in class, but there is a page of homework assigned each night. Grammar is addressed in class as well. Students are generally not assigned grammar homework, but should practice on their own. Spelling and grammar packets are collected for grades on Fridays. Students are assessed on weekly skills as well.
Writing is done in a variety of ways. Students write daily in their journals. They are expected to write a 5-sentence paragraph for each entry. Students also write online, as they engage in blogging. There are many opportunities for students to go through the writing process because we generate many writing pieces for displaying in the hall and for posting here on the website.
Social Studies is taught through textbook work, projects, media, technology and integration with reading. Students complete DOG (Daily Oral Geography) daily, which is counted as a classwork grade. We will work on social studies in class for the most part. However, some social studies might be sent home for completion. Quizzes/tests are given at the end of lessons and units.