Holiday How-to's

The past week we have studied Procedural Reading. These readings are meant to have the reader create or learn how to do something. For example, cookbooks, art crafts, and simple directions are all types of procedural readings. We have learned the various features such as: introduction, materials/supplies/ingredients, steps, transition words, pictures, tips/suggestions, and of course a conclusion.

As we match our reading with our writing, students have written a "How-To" this week on something they consider themselves to be a master at. They wrote using each of these features to teach a person the skill they have mastered. Topics ranged from making brownies to riding a scooter. They have really enjoyed sharing their knowledge.

If you need some extra activities over break below are some crafts to make. See how well you can follow directions and bring your craft in to share in January.

Enjoy!

Winter Crafts

Crafts for Kids

Helping out the Humane Society

To foster our holiday spirit, our class has decided to help out the Jacksonville Humane Society. After discussing different ways the children can help out the community, they voted on helping out this wonderful organization. Students thought the best way to help is to adopt one of these wonderful cats or dogs, but there are many other ways to help out the shelter. We will be delivering all of the collected items on the 17th after school. We would love for the children to meet us there and really understand the impact of giving.

Below is the list taken from the Humane Society website of items they are in need for.

Humane Society

-We accept unopened bags of dog and cat food.
-Circulating fans (20-22 inches in diameter)
-A/C window units
-Misting systems
-Kiddie pools
-Puppy Milk Replacement (Esbilac)
-Kitten Milk Replacement (KMR) in Powder form
-Dog Crates (Medium & Large)
-Kuranda Dog Beds (40x25) (Click the link to donate directly from Kuranda)
-Cat Carriers (Small & Medium)
-Dog/cat Treats
-Cat Toys
-Stainless Steel Food & Water Bowls (small & large)
-Towels
-Blankets (no stuffing) (please no sheets or pillows)
-Paper Towels
-Clorox Bleach
-Dawn Dishwashing Liquid
-Laundry Detergent
-Playtex Rubber Gloves
-Tug-a-Jug Interactive Dog Toys
-Hard Rubber Dog Toys (Kong)
-Heating Pad

-Meaty Bone Flavor Treats (18 oz)
-Lamb Meal & Rice Biscuits (24 oz)
-Milk Bone Crunchy Mar-O-Snacks (24 oz)
-TBonz Filet Mignon Flavor (22 oz)
-Milk Bone Chewy Chicken Drumstix (9 oz)
-Liver Treats Hollywood Stars (4 oz)
-Pup-Peroni Original Beef Recipe (25 oz) List of Needs for Maintenance
-Shovels
-Power Blower
-Lawn Mower
-Weed Eater (w/blade attachments)
-Chain Saws
-Pitch Forks

As you can see they are in need of a wide range of items. We appreciate and are grateful for whatever you can give. Happy Holidays!

Rap Stars are Born

This week the students were taught the various rules for making nouns plural. Students were shown how nouns get an 's, es, or ies.' However, there of course are those tricky oddballs that change completely ( tooth-teeth). The were given a cheat sheet that they glued in their Language Arts folder that explains each rule and provides an example.


Rules:
-most nouns you just add an 's'-apples, cars, students

-nouns that end in 'ch, sh, x,s,ss, or z' add 'es'-brushes, waxes

-nouns ending in consonant+y drop the 'y' and add 'ies'-pennies, nannies

-nouns ending in a vowel+y just add an 's'-toys, plays

Next, Miss Evanko entertained/scared the class when she demonstrated her mad abilities to rap about the rules for making nouns plural. Then, students got to join in the fun. Feel free to rap away all weekend and learn your plural noun rules! Or, get some practice on the website below.

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Plural noun game

Matching the correct pair

Student in the Spotlight

Get ready for a new section in our weekly newsletter! Each week we are going to spotlight a different student. This student will be selected based off of their performance during the week. Students can be spotlighted for behaviors, attitude, improvement in grades, showing kindness, respect, and responsibility. We will be looking for great role models and are excited to select our first student. Get ready this week for the first student to be spotlighted! Will it be you?

What's a homophone? Is it a cell phone? Is it expensive?

Homophones are not the newest technology in phones. However, you can get your hands on them very easily! Homophones are very common. These are words that sound the same, but mean different things. Students are aware of many of the homophone pairs/pears yet are not always sure on which/witch one is spelled a certain way/weigh. See what I mean?

As we learn and become more aware of them, below are some AWESOME games and fact sheets to help your child.

Are there/their/they're any you aren't sure of yourself???

Fact sheet that teaches homophones

learn and play games with homophones

Test your homophone skills

Homophone quiz

Jeopardy Homophones

Cause and Effect SNAP SNAP

This week we will work on finding cause and effect relationships in our readings. Every effect is caused by something. As readers, we need to be aware of the causes for the characters actions. This skill aids reading comprehension as it requires students to first think about what is causing the things to happen in a story.

Readers will learn a catchy little tune in class this week. Feel free to sing along..... Remember The Adam's Family Song????

"Cause and Effect SNAP SNAP
Cause and Effect SNAP SNAP
You will know the cause it came first.
It caused the effect to burst.
So read before to learn why.
If you look back the text won't lie!"


The book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie has many examples of cause and effect. We will be watching a DVD this week of this story and recording the examples we find. Be sure you ask your growing reader to find an example of cause and effect in their book.

Cause and Effect practice
Quiz your skills
Which is the best cause and effect?
Matching activity

Happy Monday!

We've got the main idea in our hands!

This week we have been studying how to decide on the main idea of a story. The main idea is often hard for students to grasp as it is not usually stated in a story. Students need to think critically about what everything was about. They were told to look at their hands to help them visualize this process. Their palm is the main idea and their fingers are the supporting details.

For example, if the main idea of a story is that they had a tasty lunch, the 'tasty lunch' is the palm of their hand. Their fingers would be the details that prove and support the good lunch such as: pizza, favorite drink, or whatever makes a good lunch.

Students are asked to find the main idea and supporting details on every reading test. Finding supporting details is a skill that requires them to GO BACK..... GO BACK..... GO BACK into the text. Yes, it takes more time, but is worth finding the correct answer. Encourage your child to discuss the main idea of their readings to you. Ask for details to prove their thinking.

Here are some practice sites for finding the main idea and details in a story. These are great tools for your child to use to help increase their reading comprehension. You can log these stories and they can count for your daily 20 minutes of reading as well.

Finding the Main Idea

Short paragraphs for Main Idea

See you on Monday for Open House!