Foundational Skills/Phonics: Students will continue to learn about vowel pairs. This week we will read and spell words with the long ‘e’ sound spelled with -ie such as "field,” and “brief.” Then students will learn about syllable pattern in which -y makes the long e sound at the end of 2-syllable words. Examples of this include: “candy,” and “empty.” Then we will move on to the vowel pair -ey, reading and spelling words such as “key,” and “valley.”

Reading:  This week our focal text is “Langston Times.”

Summary: A fictional article in The Langston Times newspaper reports on the opening of Langston Elementary School. Various members of the school and local community comment on the benefits of the new building.

While reading this text we will work on a different comprehension skill each day.

Our literacy skills this week:

• Fact or Opinion
• Make connections
• Compare and Contrast
• Genre & Text Features

DISCUSS with your child the similarities and differences between this selection and the selection they read last week, Victor’s Journal.

Writing: This week students will be taking a writing assessment so that I can assess their paragraph writing skills. Students will also finish the final draft of their informational paragraphs.

Grammar: Your child will learn that colons are used to introduce a list or separate the hour and minutes when writing a time of day, and that commas are used to separate the items in a series.

Foundational Skills/Phonics:  Students will continue to learn about vowel pairs. This week we will spell words with -ee, such as “need,” “street,” and “three.” Then we will move on to the vowel pair -ea, reading and spelling words such as “beach,” “team,” and “leaf.” Near the end of the week, we will learn the vowel pair -ai that makes the long a sound in words such as, “rain,” “mail,” and “wait.”

Reading:  This week our focal text is “My Community and Me.”

Summary: Just like adults, children have a variety of roles and responsibilities. They make important contributions to their families, schools, and communities.

While reading this text we will work on a different comprehension skill each day.

• Make Connections
• Classify and categorize
• Main Idea and details
• Author’s Purpose
• Vocabulary

Writing: Students are writing an informational paragraph about a career that they have knowledge of. This week, your child will revise and edit his or her informative writing paragraph, and work on publishing. 

Foundational Skills/Phonics:  Students will continue to learn to read and spell "magic e" words with a long u and a silent E (such as "cute," and "tube"). Students will then learn about the “vowel-consonant-e” syllable, in order to read multisyllabic words such as, “reptile,” “costume,” and “pancake.”

Reading:  This week our focal text is “In My Backyard.”

Summary: A child vividly imagines the history of his or her backyard, picturing the people and animals that had inhabited that space. The journey extends backward in time, ranging from recent history to long-ago eras that include the Ice and Stone Ages.

While reading this text we will work on a different comprehension skill each day.

• Author’s Purpose
• Predicting
• Sequencing
• Inferring

Writing: At the end of last week, students began to brainstorm a topic for a new informational paragraph. This week, we will use those ideas to plan a new informational paragraph. Students are writing about a career that they have knowledge of.

Foundational Skills/Phonics:  Students will continue to learn to read and spell "magic e" words with a long i and a silent E (such as "hike," and "five"), and long o and silent E (such as “cone” and “rope”). 

Reading:  This week our focal text is “All About Earthquakes.”  

Summary: Earthquakes happen when Earth’s plates shift and rub against each other. Whether they occur on land or underwater, earthquakes can have a major effect on man-made and natural structures.  

While reading this text we will work on a different comprehension skill each day.  

• Vocabulary 

• Asking Questions 

• Main Idea and Details 

• Author’s Purpose 

Writing: This week students will continue to work on their informative paragraphs. Students will finish publishing (typing) their paragraphs. We will begin pre-writing for a new paragraph. This time students will be choosing a career to write about.  

Foundational Skills/Phonics: We will learn to read and spell words with –ir, -ur, and -ear (such as “bird,” “turn,” and “learn.”)

Reading: This week our focal texts are “River of Ice,” and “What Makes the Earth Shake?” With these texts we will be focusing on a different comprehension skill each day.

Our comprehension skills this week:

• Main Idea and Details
• Text Features
• Author’s Purpose
• Clarifying
• Visualizing

Writing:  This week students will continue to work on their informative paragraphs. Students will finish drafting and begin to revise and edit their work.

Foundational Skills/Phonics: We will learn to read and spell words with spelled -al, and -il, such as petal and fossil.

Reading: This week our focal text is “Mattland.” With this text we will be focusing on a different comprehension skill each day.

Our comprehension skills this week:

• Visualizing
• Vocabulary
• Cause and Effect
• Making Inferences

Writing: This week students will be finishing their opinion paragraphs.

Foundational Skills/Phonics: We will learn to read and spell words with schwa and / әl/ spelled el, le, al, and il.

Reading: This week we will finish up with our story, “The Final Game.” Then we will begin our next story, “Ellie’s Long Walk.”

Our comprehension skills this week:

• Compare & Contrast
• Sequencing
• Predicting
• Vocabulary
• Ask and Answer Questions

Writing: This week students will be writing an opinion paper about a topic of their choice and use examples to support their opinions.

Foundational Skills (Phonics, Decoding, and Spelling) 

Last week, students learned to read and spell words with -ck and -dge. -CK comes at the end of a 1-syllable word, after a short vowel. The kids learned the rule, “at the end of a short word, after a short vowel.” Examples include thick, stuck, rack, check, etc. The rule for –dge is like –ck, “at the end of a short word, after a short vowel. The d is silent.” Examples include judge, dodge, edge, bridge, etc. 

This week, students will learn to spell words with the -tch. -TCH also comes at the end of a 1-syllable word, after a short vowel. The kids will learn the rule, “at the end of a short word, after a short vowel. The t is silent.” Examples include match, pitch, fetch, etc. 

Reading  

Last week, we focused on the nonfiction passage, “Ants and Aphids Work Together.”  We focused on these comprehension skills:  

• Clarifying 

• Vocabulary 

• Main Idea and Details 

• Compare and Contrast 

• Author’s Purpose and Text Features. 

This week, we will begin a fable, “The Bat, Birds, and Beasts.” In this story, the Birds and the Beasts compete in a yearly basketball game. Bat wants to play also but does not know which team to choose since he has characteristics of both birds and beasts. Bat’s decision has long-term consequences and teaches him that winning isn’t everything. This week, we will be focusing on these comprehension skills:  

• Asking and Answering Questions 

• Vocabulary 

• Classifying and Clarifying 

Please read to your child each night and have them read to you! It is all beneficial. 

Writing 

Last week in writing, students continued writing their opinion paragraph drafts. Students continued through the writing process by revising and editing them. We will begin this coming week by learning how to make a final copy of the paragraph. During our half-day on Friday, we will have an “Author’s Chair,” and some students will be able to read their paragraphs to the class.  

Grammar  

This week, your child will learn the difference between common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns refer to generic, unspecified people, places, and things, and begin with a lowercase letter. For example, boy, girl, store, etc. Proper nouns refer to a specific person, place, or thing, and begin with a capital letter. For example, Jack, Jill, Target, etc. 

Literacy:  

Students took the NWEA MAPS Reading Assessment on Tuesday morning.  

Foundational Skills (Phonics, Decoding, and Spelling) 

Last week, students learned the /ar sound. Students learned to read and spell words with /ar/ sound, such as car, art, park, and sharp. 

This week, students will learn to spell words with the -ck. -CK comes at the end of a 1-syllable word, after a short vowel. The kids will learn the rule, “at the end of a short word, after a short vowel.” Examples include thick, stuck, rack, check, etc. 

Reading  

Last week, we focused on the story, “The Mice Who Lived in the Shoe,” and worked on a different comprehension skill each day:  

• Vocabulary 

• Inferring 

• Cause and effect 

• Character and setting 

This week, we will begin a new passage, “Ants and Aphids Work Together.”  Ants and aphids are different kinds of insects that depend on each other. They live near one another because the partnership benefits both animals. Together, ants and aphids find food, shelter, and protection that help them survive. This week, we will be focusing on these comprehension skills:  

• Clarifying 

• Vocabulary 

• Main Idea and Details 

• Compare and Contrast 

• Author’s Purpose and text features. 

Please read to your child each night and have them read to you! It is all beneficial. 

Writing 

Last week in writing, students learned about the structure of a paragraph, including that a paragraph has a topic sentence, 3 details, and a concluding sentence. Students also learned about the writing process. By the end of the week, students should have written the plan for their opinion paragraph. 

This week, we will continue through the writing process, by writing our drafts, and then revising them. If we have time, some students will begin editing and making a final copy.