9/18-9/21/17

Reading: This week in reading we continued to Read to Self, but added in Word Work and Work on Writing. We also learned about context clues, and the students worked in pairs to create a made up word and put it into a sentence using context clues. The pairs read their sentence to the class and the class guessed what their made up word meant. They were very creative. The sentences will be up in the hall if you'd like to check them out. We also finished up our read aloud book, Third Grade Angels. The kids loved it so much that on Monday we will read the follow up book, Fourth Grade Rats.

Next week we will start learning our Greek/Latin prefixes and suffixes. We will also be learning about the protagonist and antagonist in a story. On Thursday, the students have their first spelling test. We will also be starting our book clubs next week. 

Writing: This week in cursive, we finished learning the lower case letters and started learning upper case. We also went through the writing process and wrote a rough draft on our opinion of the Birthday Cake Oreo. The students learned about using transition words and adding supporting details to their sentence topic. Next week, we will be learning about ants and writing another opinion piece using facts to support their opinion.

Grammar: This week, we learned about plural nouns, and the different rules for irregular plural nouns.They took an assessment on Thursday to check their understanding. Next week, we will be learning about concrete and abstract nouns, and adjectives. The students will have an assessment on both of these topics next week.

Projects: This week we continued learning about simple machines. We created a ramp (inclined plane) and a simple pulley machine. On Thursday, we went on a scavenger hunt to see what simple machines we could find around the school. I challenged them to continue to identify simple machines this weekend when they were at home and out and about. Next week, we will be starting our Egg Drop Challenge. The kids will work in groups to come up with two prototypes of simple machines that will help keep their egg from breaking. 

Homework: Read 20 minutes everyday.