Week of December 3, 2012

Note:  I will have a substitute teacher on Thursday and Friday, December 6 & 7 this week.  I would like to remind students of the school rules while I am out:

Be responsible

Be respectful

Give your best effort

Have integrity

Language Arts
No vocabulary/spelling words until after winter break!

We will continue our study and use of verbs this week.

Social Studies

We are diving into Chapter 5 in the textbook, Interacting with our Environment which covers natural resources, land use, and people's effect on the environment.  There will be a unit assessment before winter break.

Week of November 26, 2012

Welcome back!  It was great to see so many of you at conferences last week -- thank you for braving the wind and rain and coming in for a chat!  Hopefully everyone had a relaxing break and is ready to get back to business!  Here is what is cooking in room 102 this week (not turkey!)

Spelling/Vocabulary Words
"Graph" = writing

autobiography (n)  writing about a person's life written by that person

autograph (n) the writing of one's own name

bibliography (n) the written list of all the books used in a report or book

biography (n) a book written about a person's life

cartography (n) mapmaking; the writing involved in making maps or charts

homograph (n) a word written the same way as another word but having a different meaning (e.g. bow-hair and bow-ship)

paragraph (n) a section of writing that has a topic and a concluding sentence

phonograph (n) record player; a device that turns the writing on records into sound

photography (n) the use of light to record an image using a camera

seismograph (n) a device that writes down (records) the movements of the earth

"How-To" Paragraph
We are working in the computer lab Monday and Tuesday -- students are getting practice with keyboarding and typing up their "How To" paragraphs.  We will do final edits this week. 

Keyboarding practice at home!  Here are a few websites to visit to become a better typist!  Fun stuff!
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/keyboarding_games.html
http://www.keybr.com/
http://www.jonmiles.co.uk/games/fingerjig/

Social Studies
This week we are exploring ecomonics -- supply/demand, goods/services, producer/consumer, etc. So far, students seem to understand the basic concepts and relating the ideas to their own world!

Week of November 5, 2012

Vocabulary
"Miss, Mit" = send

admit (v)  to send someone in; to allow someone to enter
dismiss (v)  to send someone out; to let someone leave
emit (v)  to send out or give off (such as an odor)
intermission (n)   a break between acts of a play or performance during which people are sent out for snacks or stretch breaks
missile (n)  a weapon designed to be sent in the direction of a target
mission (n) a special duty or function which a person or group is sent out to do
omit (v) to leave out; to not send
remit (v) to send back (usually related to paying bills)
submit (v) to "send" yourself under someone else's control; to give in to someone else's power
transmit (v) to send something across places; to pass along