Sunday, February 26, 2012

Report Writing Super Stars

Have you heard there are a bunch of animals running all over the class? Well this is quite true as we have begun doing our animal reports. I'm not 'lion'!We have leaped right back into learning here in our classroom.



We began studying Non-fiction Reading and Writing. First, the students brainstormed possible topics they were interested in. After this, I went to the Media Center to retrieve books for them to research with. However, some books were not long enough to gather enough details to write a report. As a result, we discussed other ways besides reading books to learn information on their topic. One way is to visit the Internet.






Here are some websites I have found that your child can go to and print out information for their animal.










Also, you can always visit other libraries to find more books. The Pablo Creek Library here in Jacksonville is wonderful. It is right down the road from Walmart on Beach Blvd. You can check out the magazines and books they have to choose from for free!


Happy hunting!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Being the best you can be- Doing the extra practice

This week we have been discussing the importance of responsibility and motivation. As the 3rd grading period is almost half way done, students will soon be off to 3rd grade.In each grade they will continued to be challenged and their minds will be stretched as this is when students make the most discoveries about learning AND themselves. We want students to be proud of themselves, set goals, hold high self-worth, and be self-motivated. This was shown as several students have already gone above and beyond to practice skills at home and by using games on the blog. Students were shown another fabulous site to assist with spelling in class.


Spelling City- You can enter your spelling list, take a test, be taught the word/meaning, or play a game. Print off your practice and earn CLASS BUCKS!


Destination Succes-Reading, Lang. Arts, and Math practice! The password/username is the same as their student log-on in their planner.


I have been so proud of all the improvements I have seen in class with each student. You all have done an amazing job and have grown so much already this year. Bravo and keep reaching for your goals!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Learning Suffixes

This week students will learn about suffixes. They are a small chunk of letters added to the end of a root word that changes the meaning of the word.

Example:

-ly (doing something in a certain way) ie. sadly (doing something in a sad way)
-less (without) ie. hopeless (without hope) endless, homeless, careless, thoughtless
-ness (being) ie. darkness, kindness, greatness, brightness, happiness
- ful (full of) ie. truthful (full of truth) beautiful, peaceful, careful
-er (someone who does) teacher, driver, boxer, singer,
-est (comparing meaning the most) ie. kindest, softest, loudest, quietest,

However, they also found out there are plenty of new rules to learn as well when using them! Rules for: CVC doubling, Silent E, and words ending with 'y'.

1. CVC-Consonant doubling: If you add a suffix that starts with a vowel, and it is a CVC word, double that last consonant. (run+er=runner)
2. Y RULE-Changing y to i:When the suffix starts with a vowel and there is a consonant before the ‘y’, drop the ‘y’ add i (happy+est=happiest, fly+=flier)
- Vowel+y just add the suffix-play+er=player
3. SILENT E- When a word ends in silent e, take out the silent ‘e’ and add the suffix if it starts with a vowel (er, est, ing) ie. make+ ing=making
-If suffix starts with a consonant,(ness, ful, less) just add suffix.
ie. Hope+ful=hopeful

Here are a few websites to practice!
Suffix Fill in
Pick the correct suffix Millionare Game
Pick the correct Suffix
Matching Game