Week of 10/14/13 - 10/18/13

Highlights for the Week of 10/14/2013
in Mrs. Bell's Classroom! 

Spelling 
Due to the short week, there will be no spelling lesson. Students should continue to practice the skills that we have studied thus far. 

Reading - "I Can Note Details"

In reading this week, the students will focus on noting details in a story. They will learn that details may give information, explain ideas, and reveal characters' feelings.  We will be reading both fiction and nonfiction passages as we work on these skills. On Friday, students will complete a QUIZ using this skill.

English - Capitalization & Punctuation

Our new unit in English is Capitalization and Punctuation (Chapter 5). On Tuesday, students will take a pretest that will assess their expertise in the topics that we will study. Students who demonstrate proficiency on the pretest will have the opportunity to do independent challenge work in place of the regular lessons. The first two topics in this unit will be writing correct sentences and writing names of people and things. Be sure to ask your child what happens when punctuation takes a vacation!

Social Studies - The Beautiful Northeast

We will begin working on individual U.S. maps that will be a year long Social Studies project. The rough draft for the descriptive writing project is due on Tuesday, 10/15, and the final copy will be collected on Friday, 10/18. On Thursday we will have our "Northeast Feast", when students will get to sample some of the products of the region, including cranberries, grapes and maple syrup.  "Chef Bell" will be whipping up some pancakes to go with the syrup :-)

Science - What are Some Life Cycles of Plants?

The worm races were a HUGE success. I was very impressed with the creativity & effort that students showed with their racetracks. The actual races were a little chaotic, but we had a "blast" (please see the pictures from the race at the end of the blog). For me, the best part of the afternoon was when students told me that they didn't care if they won or lost, they just had fun racing! I'm so proud of their great sportsmanship. Photosynthesis and life cycles of plants are the first two topics that we will study in our new science unit. We will be conducting an investigate to find the answer to the question, "Does a Plant Need Light to Germinate?".  Students will record their daily observations, and then draw conclusions about the relationship between light and germination. They will also be creating their own drawing of the life cycle of a tomato plant.  Look for the description sheet for the tomato project to come home on 10/17.

Math - Mrs. Bell's Math Class

The QUIZ for lessons 1-4 of unit 3 is scheduled for Wednesday, 10/16. We will finish the week with a look at properties of multiplication, and factors and multiples.  On Tuesday, students will take their first Multiplication Minute, in which they will be given 40 multiplication fact problems to complete in 90 seconds. They will do this four times over a four week period, and their grade will be based on speed and accuracy. 

Don't Forget...

Please support our PTO by attending the Prairieview Book Fair on Thursday, 10/17 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Classrooms will not be open that evening.




October 24- Early Dismissal - 11:00

WORM RACES...

Enjoy the holiday weekend!
Mrs. Karen Bell