Week of September 12-16, 2011

Friday HW
We've had a great week.  I'm really pleased with the cooperative spirit the kids show.  Well done!
Today we began a CASI practice round on our Future theme.  We'll finish and correct on Monday.  We also continued with our News Journal introduction.  Every student received a presentation date which he/she wrote into their agendas, as well as the good copy sheet to actually present the work.  This ia oral and written evaluation.  We spoke and modelled at length to distinguish between "retell" and "summarize".  We are working toward the summary form.  In Math we completed work on comparing large numbers and looked at finding multiple and common multiples.  In the afternoon we viewed some web sites that have age-appropriate news articles for the News Journal (such as http://teachkidsnews.com/ ), began Science activities and introduced a mapping task for Social Studies.  We have limited homework on Fridays:
1.  Read 20 minutes for Book Report.
2.  Begin looking for an article for your news journal presentation if your date is coming up next week.
3.  Toonie for Somalia famine relief.
4.  Stratford form and fee are due October 5.
5.  Pizza day forms.

Thursday HW
Thank you to all the parents who came out to last night's presentation in our class.  The students appreciated your notes and I welcomed the feedback I received as well as the introductions. 
Today we continued with our Unit 2 math, focussing on ordering large numbers from greatest to smallest.  We continued with our future paragraph work:  self and peer edits using tools in the class such as dictionaries, thesauruses and my COPS sheets.  The students have put a good amount of effort into planning their work and it's my expectation that they begin thinking consistently of organizing their extended writing into paragraphs with indentations.  We ended our classes together with a News Journal introduction and an art activity.
1.  Math HW book p. 16.
2.  Good copy of future paragraph in pen, coloured and trimmed.
3.  Somalia famine relief toonie.
4.  Stratford field trip form and fee.
5.  Read for Book Report 20 minutes.

Wednesday HW
1.  Math HW book page 15.
2.  Pizza Day forms
3.  Toonie for Somalia famine relief
4.  Read 20 minutes
5.  Stratford form and fee by October 5, 2011.

Tuesday HW
1.  Math HW book page 14.
2.  Rough draft of Running Shoe of the future
3.  Scholastic orders due Wednesday.
4.  Pizza day forms.
5.  Toonie Tuesday for Somalia famine relief next Tuesday.  Thank you!

Monday HW
1.  Math HW Book pages 12-13.  This book was given to each student who takes part in my Math program today.  Please return it to school each day for corrections.
2.  Good copy of "Recipe For Me" is due in class tomorrow in pen.  We brainstormed imperative, recipe-style language for it and spent 2 periods working on a rough draft.
3.  Decorated and trimmed photo of yourself in class tomorrow.  This is from a photo I gave to each student today.
4.  Scholastic orders due Wednesday.  Cheques payable to Scholastic Canada Ltd.
5.  Pizza day forms.
6.  Curriculum Night in my room on Wednesday September 14 from 7-7:30 PM.