Happy December! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The students came back from break and got right back into our routine! They continue to show me hard work.

Reading: Last week in reading, we completed our review week We covered all of the skills from Unit 2 in Reading Street such as drawing conclusions, main idea and details, author’s purpose, and text features. We read short passages and then applied the skills. Students also worked on a short cause and effect writing piece. This will come home in the Friday folder after I finish scoring them. I did put the Benchmark 2 test in Friday folders this week. The benchmark is very long and I’m proud of the students for staying focused while completing it. We will move into Unit 3 this week and work with the main selection titled How Do You Raise a Raisin? Our focus skill is drawing conclusions.

Writing: Almost all of the students are finished with their personal narratives. I did not expect the pieces to take this long, but the students are working hard to complete the writing process and are publishing their work on Word. We will be moving to an expository piece next to prepare for our next writing sample.

Math: We focused on area last week. The topic fit nicely with our multiplication unit. Students explored what area is and found the area of various shapes through counting squares. At the end of the week we looked at the similarities and differences between area and perimeter and found both for different sized rectangles. This week we will move to geometry. Students will continue to work with area, perimeter, and multiplication in small groups. I have asked students in my small math group to practice math facts at home. I sent home flash cards that can be used, but students should use a method they are most comfortable with. We will be taking “Mad Minute” quizzes at the beginning of math groups for students to practice fact fluency.

Social Studies: We have started our new unit in Social Studies. Communities is our focus and students will be exploring the features of a community this week.

Odds & Ends:

Wednesday, December 11 is a 1/2 day.

Wednesday, December 11 is  the due date for gifts for our Christmas family. We will be wrapping gifts Friday afternoon.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon!

Thank you,

Miss Gentile