Week of September 14-18, 2015

Thursday HW
1.  Show your test pack to a parent or guardian.  Have them sign the top page.  Make corrrections on the Dictation and the Number Sense quiz.  Do NOT correct the Morrison-McCaul survey -- it's a diagnostic.  When it is corrected and signed, return it to school and put it in the bin.  They are due for Monday September 21.  The results were good overall.  I especially liked seeing evidence of syllable breakdowns in the spelling dictation, which showed me that the students were using that practice to solidify their skills.  Well done kids!
2.  Math Makes Sense Homework book (royal blue duotang) Lesson one on pages 10 and 11.  The page numbers may have been cut off on some or all copies.  It's the first lesson.  It is due tomorrow for correction.  Hereafter I'll refer to it as "MMS HW book".

** There is a spelling error in this post.  Tell me about it tomorrow!


Wednesday HW
1.  Spelling text work on page 9 (# 1, 2 and 3, including the "Try This" section).  This work is for tonight and students should return with the books tomorrow.
2.  Photo Day on Friday September 25.

Tuesday HW
1.  Word Up dictation tomorrow.  Students were reminded to bring notebooks home to study.
The correct list to prepare with is called "Personal Word Up List"
2.  DEAR book in class.
3.  Photo Day Friday September 25.
4.  To bring to school:  completed yellow info sheets, agenda money, photo of yourself.  There are still about four students who need to do this.

I reminded students that they should not leave texts, notebooks or papers at home.  They should be returned t school each day so we can use them.  Today was the beginning of our second cycle and also the beginning of my homework tracking.  Two students did not return the math practice sheets bundle which I collected before the quiz.  A final check after breakfast before leaving for school should help students develop their own skills to stay on top of their things, a goal toward which we'll work this year.

Monday HW
1.  Finish Word Up cycle:  4 Lists and fifteen sentences, using one word in each sentence from the Word Up List.  There is a 'recipe' for the spelling cycle glued into the inside front cover of the Spelling notebook that explains the steps in detail.  We also modeled the expectations twice using document camera demonstrations.  What I am finding is that students are forgetting to skip lines in the lists (it helps them see the word in space) and they are unsure of how to number a list using a margin.  I will continue to reinforce these standard practices in class and would ask for some home reinforcement as well.
2.  Word Up dictation on Wednesday.  Students should study their Word Up lists.  We spent time this afternoon nailing down which list to study.
3.  Number Sense quiz tomorrow.  This quiz is based directly on the four practice sheets we've done and corrected.  I asked students to staple the four sheets together, use them to study, and return with them tomorrow to hand them in so I can check that they made corrections.
4.  To bring to school:  completed yellow info sheets, agenda money, photo of yourself.  There are still about four students who need to do this.
5.  A DEAR book (drop everything and read) should be in class as soon as possible.  This should be a chapter book of at least 90 pages -- no graphic novels please.  The public library is a good place to get one.  We have some silent reading most days for about 20 minutes.  Currently the students graze my book collection but I want them to form a more consistent connection with a longer book and follow the story through.