Week of 5/14/12 - 5/18/12

Highlights for the Week of 5/14/12 in Mrs. Bell's Classroom

Spelling - Silent Consonants

This week's spelling list will focus on words that have silent consonants. The final TEST on this lesson will be given on Friday, 5/18. The workbook pages OR challenge work will also be collected that day.

Reading - I Can Make Inferences

Our reading strategy for next week is making inferences. Readers must make inferences, or "read between the lines", when the author doesn't tell the reader everything. Readers can do this by applying what they already know to story clues given by the author. We will be practicing this strategy in our book clubs.The date of the first meeting of our Peg Kehret Book Clubs has been changed to Monday, 5/14. During the meetings, students will use their discussion sheets to guide the conversations about the books that they are reading.  Students will take turns being the group leader, who is responsible for controlling the discussion. I will be observing two groups at each meeting, and students will be graded on the how well they participate in the discussion, and how well they listen and respond to others.  The second meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 5/17.

English-Pronouns

The last unit in English this year will be pronouns. Students will be taking the pretest to qualify for challenge work on Monday. This week we will cover what is a pronoun and subject pronouns.  We will also learn a new Schoolhouse Rock song called, "Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla".

Social Studies - Time for Kids / Illinois
Students will be taking a comprehension QUIZ on the 4/20 edition of the Time for Kids magazine that was discussed in class on Friday, 5/11. They will use the magazine to complete the quiz.  We will spend the rest of the week learning about the state of Illinois.  Students will work in partners to complete a scavenger hunt that will take them on a journey through the symbols, history, economy and geography of the Land of Lincoln.

Science - Simple Machines

Information about the Catapult project was sent home on 5/10.  This project will be completed at home, and is due on Tuesday, 5/22. The TEST on chapter 17 (Simple Machines) is scheduled for Wednesday, 5/16. The next unit that we will study in Science is "Rocks and Minerals".


 
Mrs. Bell's Math Class - Understanding Division

We will spend the first part of the week learning the process of dividing a two digit number by a one digit number.  Students will be taking a QUIZ on lessons 1-3 of chapter 11 on Wednesday, 5/16. We will finish up the week by taking a look at how to use patterns in division to do mental math, and how to estimate in division.

Don't forget...

5/18 - Early Dismissal - Students will be dismissed at 11:00 


Please enjoy these pictures from last week's luau.  We had a wonderful time!

Mrs. Karen Bell