Week of 1/3/11 - 1/7/11

Highlights for the Week of 1/3/11 - 1/7/11 in Mrs. Bell's Classroom

Mrs. Bell's Homeroom

English - Adjectives

We will be pretesting for our new chapter on 1/3. Students who get 100% correct in three or more lessons will have the opportunity to do alternate challenge work to the textbook lessons. The first three lessons in this chapter will cover the definition of adjectives, adjectives used after the forms of the word "be", and using the adjectives/articles "a", "an" and "the".

Social Studies - Wildlife & Resources of the Southeast

We will be finishing chapter 6 with a look at the wildlife and resources of the Southeast. The chapter 6 TEST is tentatively scheduled for the week of 1/10.

Science - How Behaviors of Animals Help Them Meet their Needs

This week we will be focusing on lessons 2 & 3 of chapter 3. Students will study behaviors of animals that help them to survive, such as migration and hibernation. We will also look at instinctive behaviors versus learned behaviors.

Mrs. Bell's Reading Class

Spelling - Words with the /k/, /ng/ & /kw/ Sounds

Beginning with this lesson, we will no longer be pretesting in spelling. We spend more time focusing on the rule for the week, and with the definitions of the spelling words for the week. Workbook pages and the cursive page will be due on Friday, 1/7. The final test for the lesson will also be on 1/7.

Reading

This week, we will be working on predicting outcomes. Readers can often guess ahead of time, or predict, what will happen in a story, based on information the author has given. Additionally, readers can change or adjust their predictions as they read.

Mrs. Bell's Math Class

We will be reviewing for the chapter 6 test on Monday, 1/3. The TEST is scheduled for 1/4. Our next unit will be chapter 7, which focuses on the collection & organization of data. This week we will focus on venn diagrams, and finding the mean, median and mode for data sets.

Don't Forget...

January 3 -- Classes Resume after Winter Break

January 17 -- M. L. King Birthday -- No School

Have a happy, relaxing & safe holiday break!

Mrs. Karen Bell

Week of 12/13/10 - 12/17/10

Highlights for the Week of 12/13/10 - 12/17/10 in Mrs. Bell's Classroom

Mrs. Bell's Homeroom Class

English

Students have been busy studying figurative language while preparing to write their, "I Remember When..." descriptive paragraphs. The rough draft of their paragraph is due on Monday, 12/13. We will write the final copies in school that day.

Social Studies - The Southeast

We will be finishing our study of the climate of the Southeast.

Science - How do the Bodies of Animals Help Them Meet Their Needs?

We will be finishing chapter 3, lesson 1 with a look at natural selection. Ask your child why it is rare to see a light gray peppered moth. Students will have a QUIZ on this lesson on Wednesday, 12/15.

Mrs. Bell's Reading Class

Spelling

Our reading class will only be meeting 3 days this week due to the bowling & Tivoli field trips. Therefore, there will be NO spelling lesson this week. When we return from holiday break, we will begin a new routine for spelling. Due to the low number of students that have passed the pretest, we will no longer be taking it. We will use that time to focus on reviewing the spelling rule for the week, and familiarizing ourselves with the meanings of the words. All students will be completing the same cursive page and the workbook pages for each unit.

Reading

The first strategy that we focus on this week in reading is making inferences. A writer doesn't always explain every fact or detail about when writing a story. The writer expects that readers will fill in missing information from their own experience. Good readers do this by putting together what they already know and what they have read to make the best guess they can. When readers add information from their own experience to what is stated in a text, they are making an inference. We will also study the reading skill of comparing and contrasting. Students will practice comparing pieces of literature that are similar and different. After studying these skills, students will practice them with the story of The Polar Express.

Mrs. Bell's Math Class - Chapter 6

Elapsed time on a calendar, changing units of time and temperature are our topics for this week. We will not be testing on this chapter until after the holiday break.

Don't Forget...

December 16 - Bowling Field Trip (afternoon)

December 17 - All School Field Trip to the Tivoli

December 20 - Winter Break begins

January 3 - Classes Resume after Winter Break

The permission slip and fee for the Tivoli field trip is due by Monday, 12/13.

Hot lunch will be available for students on the day of the Tivoli Field trip on 12/17. However, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that your child bring a sack lunch that day in order to avoid the long lines in the lunch room.

There is a test in PE on Tuesday, 12/14. The test will cover the bowling unit.

Thank you to all the families who have contributed to the Project Challenge collection for the needy. They will be collecting food, toiletries & toys through 12/13.

Mrs. Karen Bell

Week of 12/6/10 - 12/10/10

Highlights for the Week of 12/6/10-12/10/10 in Mrs. Bell's Classroom

Mrs. Bell's Homeroom Class

English - Descriptive Writing

We will be taking a break from our English textbook to learn about figurative language. Students will study adjectives and similes, and will then use what they have learned to write a descriptive paragraph about a favorite winter memory

Social Studies

We will continue our study of the Southeast with a look at the resources of the region.

Science

Adaptations is our new unit in science, found in chapter 3, lesson 1. We will study how physical and behavioral adaptations of animals help them to survive.

Mrs. Bell's Reading Class

Spelling

The spelling test for this week will be on THURSDAY, 12/9. Workbook pages & contract work will also be due that day.

Reading
Next week our story will be Two-Star Day, by Veronica Freeman Ellis. It is the story of a boy who has a two very occasions falling on one day...his birthday & becoming a United States citizen. Our reading strategies are questioning, categorizing and classifying. Recognizing the question a story may raise is a good way to make sure you understand it. Classifying involves grouping like items, and categorizing involves naming the group. Grouping the items makes it easier to remember them. Students will classify and categorize the many characters and countries named in the story to help understand the story better.

Mrs. Bell's Math Class

The graded assessment for Chapter 5 is scheduled for Monday, 12/6. We will then move on to chapter 6, which covers the topics of telling time and elapsed time.

Don't forget...

We can now raise money for our district by recycling paper! You can help us out, too! Please collect any paper you are going to throw away or recycle (office and school paper, newspaper, magazines and catalogs, and construction paper---NO CARDBOARD!) and send it in with your child to school or drop it off at the green and yellow Paper Retriever bin in the Lakeview parking lot (near the fence by the Prairieview playground). The bin is available for drop offs 24/7. The more paper we recycle, the more money we can make! Do something good for our schools AND the environment! Thank you

Mrs. Karen Bell