Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Author John Archambault Visits RES

Today we were privileged to hear some stories from John Archambault who writes children's books.  Many of them are inspirations from stories his grandmother told him when he was a kid.  He is most well known for his work on Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, a book that most elementary students know and use as they are learning their letters. It was a lot of fun for the kids!

The Great Debate Continues - Citing Sources

Today I was very proud of the students as they reviewed their argument essay. We are looking for more evidence to support our opinions. In this search, we have discovered many articles and videos with information. However, we discussed never wanting to use someone else's thoughts, words, or ideas without giving them credit.

We spent our morning learning about plagiarism and citing sources. The students then went on to revise their writing to reflect where they had found the information and began creating bibliography pages in their writing!

Veteran's Day Program

We were privileged to honor past and current United States Veterans in our school program this week. What a great experience for students to see those who have served and fought to keep our country free!

Curriculum News for November

Spelling:
Students will begin Unit 14 in Spelling this week.  Spelling Homework is due on Tuesday, November 18 and we will test that day as well.

Writing: 
This week we have typed our argument essay into a Google Document on the Chromebook.  We will begin learning how to include evidence in our writing by researching for facts that support our opinions and how to correctly cite quotations in our essay.  We hope to be able to then revise and edit and publish our final piece before the Thanksgiving break begins!

Math:
We are beginning our unit on fractions!  Fractions are a fun unit but a unit that can cause students to question their mathematical sense.  Please continue to practice multiplication facts with them as this will help us explore and learn equivalent fractions.  For example 1/3 of 9 is 3 because 3x3=9. 

Reading:  
We will be working on main idea and summarizing using the November/December issue of Storyworks Magazine.  Remember you can access the magazine at Storyworks Magazine website and sign in using the code Wallis2014. 

We will also begin Lesson 7 in Vocabulary and that test will be on Friday, November 21. 

Social Studies:
Students are currently working on Chapter 11 in their American History book.  We have discussed the electoral college,  the inauguration of George Washington and the development of political parties.  We are now turning our attention to Westward Expansion.  Please be looking for the Chapter 11 study guide to be on your child's Google drive.  They will be able to access this from home as well as work on it in class.  This test will be next week Thursday, November 20. 


Other Class News:
We will begin a canned food drive next week (Nov 17-21) so look in your pantry this weekend for some cans to bring in!

CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN SPIRIT NIGHT IS NOVEMBER 18!!!  Please be sure to bring the gold colored slip of paper to give to your waiter!

Progress reports will come home NEXT Wednesday, November 19. 

Students will not be in school November 24-28 for Thanksgiving Holiday Break!  Enjoy this time with your friends and family!

Candy Cane Run will be December 6.  Be looking for more information to come home soon.

Chromebooks are here!

Chromebooks are here and we are loving them!  Yesterday the Hoover City Schools technology team delivered the "books" to each students and made sure they were in working order.  They also helped students bookmark important websites such as our class blog and the technology help site.  This will be especially helpful to parents when the Chromebooks start coming home.

Today we are exploring a few more of the Chromebook features like sharing documents as well as ways that they will aid us in research.

First up, a Veteran's Day webquest that students used both Chromebooks, pencil, and papers to discover more about this historic and important day.  You can see what they were working on by visiting the Veteran's Day website that we used in class today.

Camp McDowell

Well, camp has come and gone and what an AWESOME time it was!  Here is a short camp video to see just a small bit of the experiences we had while at Camp McDowell.