Week of May 14-18

Reading

We are so excited for your child to take the STAAR tests this week. They have worked so hard all year learning at such a higher rigor and pushing themselves to reach a mastery level of their comprehension.  We know they will do a fine job on their tests Monday and Tuesday.  Please make sure they get plenty of rest and have a well balanced breakfast both mornings.  Also, please make sure they dress comfortable and bring a light jacket.  The building is usually a little cooler on testing days.

Homework

 

Even though we have STAAR, the students will still have Read Works homework.  Read Works: Read article: How Soccer Can Help Us Learn Physics and answer questions-due Friday, May 18th. 

 

Social Studies

Due to the STAAR testing on Monday and Tuesday, we will only have social studies on Thursday.  On Thursday, May 24th, students will be taking a social studies benchmark.  This Thursday, students will receive a study guide for the benchmark.  We will work in class to prepare for the test, however, students will still need to study each night for the test.  

Grammar

This week, we will be learning how to properly place modifiers in sentences.
Monday and Tuesday are STAAR testing days.  Please be sure your child gets a good night's sleep and eats a healthy breakfast on these days.  Students should also wear comfortable clothes.

Reading

This week, we will be working on STAAR like reviews using anchor stations, question stems, and games.  We will continue to increase our independent reading time to support our stamina for the STAAR test as well.  We are encouraging our students to continue to read at home every evening for at least 30 minutes if not more.  Thank you for all your support this year with their Reading Logs.  Many students have shared how they have discovered "new" genres through our reading logs.  This is always great news to hear!!

Homework

Read Works: Where Does Your Food Come From: read article and answer questions

Vocabulary: Unit 15: Synonyms, Antonyms, & Completing the Sentence

Both are due Friday, May 11th

Social Studies

This week, we will be finishing up our unit on Southeast Asia.  The remaining topics we will be covering are Singapore's Growth and Malaysia and New Media. We will have an open book test on Southeast Asia on Thursday, May 10th.

Writing/Grammar

This week in grammar, we will work with run-on sentences.  We will learn three ways to correct run-ons.

Last week, we started writing our memoir's.  On Tuesday, we will edit and revise our papers and begin our final drafts.  On Thursday, we will finish the final draft.  Memoir's will be due at the end of the period Thursday, May 10th.

Reading 

On Monday, we will watch a presentation during class and work with classmates on learning how to play a game that was created by those same students.  The rest of the week, we will be working on STAAR like reviews using anchor stations and question stems.  The student's Reading Logs are due Friday, May 4th for a major grade.  Your child completed their Reading Project last week, so please ask them to show you their hard work.

Homework

Read Works: Hiking the Appalachian Trail: read article and answer questions

Vocabulary: Unit 14: Completing Sentences & Vocabulary in Context

Both are due Friday, May 4th

Social Studies

This week, we will start a new unit on Southeast Asia.  Some topics we will be discussing include religious traditions, regional languages, and governing fragmented countries.  We will also learn about migration within Indonesia.  Students will be completing activities and notes as we read through these sections.

Homework:  Students will be assigned a vocabulary word that they are to illustrate and turn in on Thursday.

Writing/Grammar

This week in grammar we will be working on varying sentence length and varying sentence beginnings.  

We will be starting a new writing assignment this week.  Students will learn about memoirs and begin to write their own.  Students will go through the writing process and turn in final copies on May 10th.

Week of April 23-27

Reading

This week, we will be working on our Reading Project for a major grade.  This project will be completed in class.  The students will have all day Monday and Wednesday to complete the project.  Wednesday will be our last visit to our school library.  Please help your child remember to return their books.  On Friday, we will have our monthly Read-in to help our students finish up their Reading Log that is due Friday, May 4th for a major grade.  Please remind your child to record their books on their Reading Log.

The year is sadly coming to an end, so can you please keep a look out for any of "our" class library books at your house.  We will start to send home notices for any books that need to be found or paid for.  Thanks.

Homework

 Read Works: Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Vocab Unit 14: Completing the Sentence and Vocab in Context

Social Studies

This week will be a short week for social studies.  On Tuesday, the students will be taking a Math Release STAAR test.  On Thursday, the students will be taking a test over South Asia.  There will be no study guide.  The test is open book, and students will be able to use their text book.  

Grammar

Also on Thursday, we will be covering simple and compound sentences during our grammar/writing time.

April 16-20

Reading

This week on Monday, our students will be presenting their slideshow they created to display their research paper information to the other classes.  On Tuesday, we will be taking a District Math Benchmark and on Wednesday, we will be taking a Release Reading STAAR test. We will be "running" these days just like the "real" STAAR days.  We would like for our students, especially our new students to get the feel of what those kind of testing days feel like before the actually testing days come.  On Friday, we will continue to work on paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting text.  Our students will also continue to reading independently to build their stamina in reading.

Homework

Please continue to read daily and record your books on your Reading Log which is due on Friday, May 4th.  The students will be completing their reading project for their reading log the week of April 23rd.  This will be completed at school for a major grade.

Read Works: Tea Time!

Vocabulary: Unit 13: Choosing the Right Word, Synonyms, & Antonyms

Both are due Friday, April 20th  

 

Social Studies

This week on Tuesday, students will be taking a math benchmark test.  We will resume social studies on Thursday the 19th.  We will finish our unit on South Asia.  Our final topics are the impact of urbanization, Pakistan's changing government, and fighting poverty in Bangladesh.  Students will complete reading notes as we read these sections.
 
Writing/Grammar

Last week, students started a research project on a topic they chose.  They were required to write a research paper on their topic and create 5-10 slides on Google Slides highlighting information from their research.  Both portions of the project are this Monday.

This week in grammar, we will cover prepositions and prepositional phrases.  

Week of April 9-13

READING

This week, we have the privilege of having one of our District Literacy Coaches, Mark Smith, here to guide our reading classes through several different STAAR-like review lessons and games.  We will also spend majority of the week on our last research writing assignment.  The students will work on this assignment throughout the week, and it will be due Monday, April 16th for a major grade.  They will be required to research their topic, compose a writing masterpiece, and create a media component to display their findings.  

HOMEWORK

Please make sure your child is reading every evening and recording their books on their reading log.  Their reading logs will be do Friday, May 4th for a major grade.  The week of April 23rd, the students will be completing their last reading project in class.

Read Works: Playing with Sounds

Vocabulary: Unit 13: Read pgs. 164-165; Complete Vocabulary in Context & Completing the Sentence

 

 

Social Studies

 

This week, we will be continuing our unit on South Asia.  Some topics we will explore are Hinduism, traditions, daily life, popular culture, democracy, economic growth, and the Golden Quadrilateral.  Students will complete activities such as making travel brochures and completing reading notes to display what they have learned.

 

Writing

 

This week, we will introduce our next writing project.  Students will be given a list of topics to choose to research.  They will research their topic and write a research paper.  They will also create a media presentation using the information from their research.  In grammar, we will be working with direct objects and indirect objects

 

 

Week of April 3-6

Reading

This week, we will complete our Drama unit of study.  We will read the play Charlotte's Web.  The students will compare the play to other genre text using their Elements of Drama vocabulary.  We will end our week by comparing and contrasting a dramatic text and a cinematic adaptation of Charlotte's Web.  Please make sure your child is reading every evening for at least 30 minutes if not longer.  As we get closer to the STAAR tests, it will be very important for them to build their stamina and reading for a lengthy period of time is extremely helpful.

Homework

Read Works: Read article and answer questions: The Song of Wandering Aengus

Vocabulary: Unit Review 10-12: Read p. 156; Complete pgs. 157-158

Social Studies

This week, we will continue our unit on South Asia.  We will discuss various topics, such as, early civilizations, historic empires, religions in South Asia, colonialism, and Gandhi and the Bhagavad Gita. As we read, students will complete activities for each topic.

Last week, students presented their Real Estate Ads.  They worked very hard on this project.  I was very proud of their hard work.

Grammar- We will be learning about finding the subject in sentences beginning with there or here  and finding the subject in sentences inverted for emphasis.   

Week of March 26-30

Reading

This is a short week, so on Monday we will begin our Drama unit of study.  The students will be discussing the Elements of Drama.  They will read in their Reading groups a play then relate the Elements of Drama vocabulary to each part of the play read in their groups.  The students will then complete a Plot Pyramid using the play.  Wednesday will be our scheduled library day, so please remind your child to return their books.

Just a friendly reminder, Reading Logs will be due Friday, May 4th.  Please make sure your child is reading every evening and recording their books on their sheets.

Homework

Read Works: From the Earth to Outer Space

Vocabulary: Unit 12: Completing the Sentence, Vocabulary in Context

Social Studies

This week, we will begin a new unit over South Asia.  The topics we will be discussing are
South Asia's physical geography, the Himalayas, monsoons, resources and land use, conservation, and South Asia's water crisis.  Students will be answering monitoring questions with each section we discuss.  Students will also continue to work on their group project over Asia.  They will finish and present on Thursday.

Homework:  On Tuesday, each student will receive a new vocabulary word for the South Asia unit in which they will illustrate and turn in on Thursday.  

Writing/Grammar

This week in grammar, we will be learning about the subject of a command or request and how to find a subject in sentences beginning with there or here.
  

Week of March 19-20

READING

Welcome back from Spring Break!! I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing week away from school.  It is hard to believe we only have one quarter left of school; however, we still have a lot to learn.  The students were given their new Reading Log on Monday, March 5th, and it will be due Friday, May 4th. The students will complete a reading project in class at the end of April.  

This week, on Monday, we will read a story and discuss the vocabulary and sensory language within the story.  On Wednesday, we will analysis our District Reading Benchmark and discuss together the areas your child needs to focus on to be successful on the STAAR test in May.  We will continue to build our stamina by increasing our in class reading and responding to our reading.  On Friday, we will dissect STAAR-like questions to look at the verbs and try to determine why the author used this type of question.  We will then look at the passages and make connections between the questions and passages.   

Social Studies

This week, we will finish our study of East Asia.   We will be discussing many topics including the Communist Revolution, Bullet Trains, China's Economy, the Three Gorges, the Republic of China, and Japan's Economic Future.  On Tuesday, we will be introducing a new project over the regions of Asia.  Students will be working in groups and will create a real estate ad for their region in which they are assigned.  Students will research the physical features, climate, natural resources, bodies of water, etc.  They will have to list three positive reasons why people would want to live in the region and list two hardships people might face living in the region.  Students will have to include three hand drawn illustrations to go on the real estate ad.  Each group will present their ad to the class. This project will be done at school in class.  

***A note from Ms. Taylor

I just want to thank you for all the sweet cards, beautiful bouquets of flowers, candy and snacks, gift cards, etc. that I received for my birthday.  I appreciate everything that I received.  Thank you for making my day special. 

Week of March 5-9

Reading

This week, we will continue to work on our poetry unit of study.  We will review figurative language and imagery. We will also dive into analyzing narrative poetry using the elements of plot and evaluating characters within poems.  On Wednesday, we will make connections across different types of text and genres.  The students will create their own questions from poems read in class then they will switch with other classmates.  We will use Friday to complete our week of poetry by reading poems line-by-line to create an image in our mind then check to see if "our" imagine matches with the "correct" imagine.  

Homework

Read Works: China Today: China's Biggest Cities: read article & answer questions

Vocabulary: Unit 11: Students complete: Completing the Sentence & Vocabulary in Context

Both are due Friday, March 9th

Social Studies

This week, we will continue our unit on East Asia.  Topics that will be discussed are silk roads and trade, Confucianism, China's inventions, and China's Population Policy. Students will complete various activities in groups and independently relating to these topics.

There will be a district checkpoint test on Thursday.  Study guides for this test were given to students last week.  This test will be taken for a major grade.  Please encourage your child to study for this test.  

Week of February 26 - March 2

Reading

On Monday, we will review genres that we have studied thus far.  We will use this day as a review for our District Reading Benchmark assessment that the students will take on Wednesday, February 28th.  On Friday, we will begin our poetry unit.  We will discuss figurative language and imagery using several poems.

Please do not forget your child's Reading Log and Reading Project is due Friday, March 5th.  Both of these assignments are major grades.  

Homework

Vocabulary: Unit 11: draw pictures for words; complete Choosing the Right Word; Synonyms, and Antonyms due Friday, March 2nd

Read Works: A Chance for Freedom- read article and answer questions. Due Friday, March 2nd

Social Studies

This week, we will begin a new unit on East Asia.  We will begin with the physical geography of the region.  We will also discuss China's rivers and plains and the Korean Peninsula.  Later in the week, we will study the Island Arc of Japan and Mongolia's Desert Landscape.  

Writing

Our next writing assignment will be integrated with our study of the Korean Peninsula.  Students will write an expository paper comparing North Korea and South Korea.  They will begin with creating a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the two countries.  They will make a claim based on the information in the Venn Diagram and produce evidence and explanations supporting their claim from what they read in the text book.  

 Homework 

On Tuesday, students will be assigned a vocabulary word from our East Asia unit.  They will write the word (visibly) at the top of a piece of copy paper and draw an illustration depicting the definition of the word.  The illustration should be colored, and the vocabulary word in color as well. Work should be neat and not messy.  They should NOT write the definition on the paper. This is to be done at home for homework.  It is due on Thursday, March 1st.

Week of February 19 - 22

Reading

I hope you all enjoy your day off on Monday...hopefully your child can use this day to read for their Reading Log and complete reports for their project.  On Wednesday, we will have a reading common assessment.  There is not a study guide for this test.  This test will help us determine any areas your child still needs to work on before our STAAR Reading test.  We will use the data from the assessment to make small groups to reteach any concerned areas.  On Friday, we will have our monthly Read-in.  We designate this day for your child to have an opportunity to read to help build stamina and to help them in completing their Reading Logs and project.

Homework

Vocabulary: Unit 10: Choosing the Right Word & Completing the Sentence

Read Works: An Urgent Message: read article and answer questions

Both assignments are due Friday, February 23rd.

Social Studies

This week, we will finish our unit on Russia and the Eurasian Republics.  Our last topics we will discuss are St. Petersburg, the Soviet Collapse, and Russia's Government.  

We will be having a test over Russia and the Eurasian Republics on Thursday (Feb. 22).  Study guides were given out last Tuesday.  The study guides need to be completed by Tuesday (Feb. 20).  We will go over the study guide in class on Tuesday.  Students will need the online text book to complete their study guide.  The website, user name and password were given in class.  In case your child was absent, it is as follows:

myngconnect.com

Username: wcgtxstudent

Password: explore

Homework- Study for test