The kids are counting down to the winter holidays. Man there is a lot of energy in the air!! :) We are still working hard, with plenty to do before the break. Please be sure to remind your children that when they are absent, they need to check in with both teachers to see if there is any make up work that needs to be completed. If you wish, you can set up a time to come by and pick up work on the day of your child's absence so he or she doesn't get too far behind.
In Language Arts this week, we are finishing up our first novel (book study.) We are reading The School Story by Andrew Clements. We have read it in a variety of ways including shared reading (I read, students follow along), partner reading, and independent reading. The story is great because it's about a girl who writes a book. I've seen a spark in many students who are now writing every free minute they get. That warms my heart. We have found many examples of Show-Don't-Tell and are recording them for reference. We are also keeping track of the story on a large plot pyramid. We reached the climax of the story now and will finish it by Wednesday. Simultaneously, we've been learning about drama. Today students practiced finding an example of dialogue in the book that needed to be read a certain way (facial expression, body language, tone, etc) and rewrote the line as a line of script with stage directions in parentheses.) They had a lot of fun, and it sets us up nicely for what we will be working on next week, which is to take one chapter from the book and convert it to script form. Students will then get to read the scripts aloud as a Readers' Theater. They are really excited about this.
Along with script writing, we are practicing a new technique called "Cubing," in Writing. Essentially, since a cube has six sides, we look at six different ways of explaining something. Today we started with the anecdote. We practiced writing to a prompt with just a short anecdote. After all six sides are introduced, students will actually make a cube that they can use to assist them in writing expositories. It's a fun way to get practice, and hopefully it will stick with them in future writing assignments or tests when they are brainstorming for ideas.
In Social Studies, I'm grading and hanging the explorers books as quickly as possible. They are so cute. I think you'll enjoy seeing them if you come up to school to visit. We are continuing our study of Spanish missions and understanding how they not only affected the Native Americans who lived in Texas at the time, but also what changes the missions brought for Texas' future, including the beginning of ranching.
That's all for now. I hope you have a great week. Stay warm and dry.