This Week.In Spalding we will be continuing in list N and will (finally) begin sending home Spalding homework assignments. These assignments require students to hear words dictated to them and write them down with rules three times. You will have a copy of the words to show them if they are correct or not. You NEED NOT know the rules, and if the students do not remember what rule is what, simply send them to school knowing to ask that question. Students will learn the rules through repeated experience, so you need not try to have them memorize them. In Literature we will be starting King Arthur, by Roger Lancelyn Green. This book will be provided by the school as a class set. They are a bit beat up from previous use, we are trying to make them last one more year so please help your students take care of them. Arthur is a difficult read for many students, and every student would benefit from reading their assignments with a parent. Feel free to help them understand what their focus questions are asking if you notice their answers don't make sense based on the question. In Math we will be learning place value up to 1,000,000. Understanding place value is fundamental to being comfortable with math. The value of the digit in the tens place in the number 245 is not 4, but 4 tens. When students internalize this principle they begin to read numbers much more easily and many simple mistakes are avoided. Insist that your students describe numbers that you encounter in your every day life. Simply asking a question like "It is 110 degrees outside, how many hundreds are there in that number?" will begin to make place value a concrete concept in their minds. In History we will be learning about the birth of the Feudal system and the rise of kings like Charlemagne from the ashes of Rome. Feudalism is the system of government that dominated Europe for the better part of a thousand years, and it was the egg within which ideas about modern liberty and freedom were hatched. Be sure to ask your student about what they are learning in history class, I am sure they will have a lot to teach you. In ELA we will be learning more about pronouns. There are many different kinds of pronouns, who knew that such a simple part of speech could be so diverse? This week we will be learning about personal pronouns. I, she, we, he, they, and you. If you see any of those make sure you have your student identify they! We will also be practicing summarizing and outlining a story that they have read. The skill of summarization is fundamental to learning how to write expository and persuasive essays. Make sure you have your students practice summarizing their days or a movie that they have seen. Always expect them to be able to tell you about main characters and what happened in the story, and make sure they always use complete sentences. This verbal exercise will help improve their skills on written summarizations. Upcoming Assessments1. Pronouns Quiz on Friday (the 8th)
2. Place Value Quiz on Friday (the 8th) 3. Spelling test on Friday (the 8th) Comments are closed.
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AuthorBurk Ohbayashi is a husband, a father, and an educator. Archives
March 2018
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