Welcome to our classroom website!  
Please check frequently for important information about what we are learning!

Important Dates:
November 19: Music/P.E.
November 20: Word Study Quiz un; il; ir; non 
November 20: Reading Quiz

November 23: Thanksgiving Lunch at School
Each student can sign up to bring a dish from their culture. Please let me know if you are planning on sending something to school for this event.

Homework:  Reading: Students should read 20 minutes each night.  Word Study: Usually the homework pattern is as follows:  Monday-No Homework if the Gators win; Tuesday: Make flash cards for "word study" words; Wednesday: Worksheet or write words in sentences; Thursday: Worksheet or study for quiz the following day. Writing: Students will sometimes be asked to finish work that they have not finished in writer's workshop.  This will usually be a small amount of work (a paragraph or two), unless the student was not prepared for class that day.

Reading:
For the next few weeks in reading we are focusing on "before-reading" and "during-reading" reader behaviors that your child can apply in their own reading to think more deeply about the text.  These reader behaviors include thinking about personal background knowledge (schema), making connections (text-self, text-text, text-world), questioning, and inferencing.  As your child reads independently each night, you can try asking them questions that relate to the behaviors we are learning.

Book Report: Information has not been sent home yet about the book report that will be due for the 2nd nine weeks in January.

"Book Club" 
All students are invited to participate in the Sunshine State Young Reader's Award "Book Club."  This is completely optional and can earn your child some extra credit in reading, as well as a lunch at the end of the month provided by the 5th grade reading teachers.
Book for November:  The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming and/or Ingraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke
Date for completion:   November 30 (student must bring a note from a parent stating that they have read the entire book.)

Word Study: 
Right now we are learning about word parts and are focusing on prefixes.  You can help your child at home by encouraging them to notice words that have these prefixes.  Ask your child to figure out the meaning of the words by thinking about the prefix or other parts of the word.

Writing: 
We are finishing up our narrative unit and have been writing some pretty exciting tall tales.  Next, we will be moving into report writing and focusing on biographies.