Ms. Tovey's Blog

English
Monday we will review for Quiz 1 - Verbs. Tuesday the children will be taking the quiz. In the book the quiz covers pages 152 - 159. However, the best way to study for the quiz is to look over the review that should come home Monday night. This week we will finish up the chapter on verbs. Next week will be the test. (Tuesday or Wednesday)

Writing
The majority of state report rough drafts have been read and once again WOW! The children did an excellent job writing their reports. This was the first time that they were expected to write their own introductory paragraph so please be sure to ask your child to read his/her report.
We will spend a couple of days this week handwriting the good copy of the report. The final copy is due to me on Friday, December 8th.
Also, this week we will spend some time on creative writing. The children will be writing a Christmas Story. So once again please encourage your child to be the best writer he/she can be by asking to read their work.

Science
The children will continue working on the pneumonic devices that they wrote to help them to remember the planets in order. I also hope to cover Mercury and Venus. At this point your child's notebook should have the Solar System Vocabulary, notes on the gods the planets were named for and notes on the sun. If you notice that some notes are missing please encourage your child to copy them from a friend.

English
We will continue on with the chapter on verbs this week. We will be covering irregular verbs (pages 162 - 165), and spelling verbs correctly (pages 166 - 167) I am hoping, if all goes as planned, to give the chapter test on Tuesday, December 19th so as to not carry it over the long break.

Writing
This week the children will be introduced to Persuasive Writing. A Persuasive Writing organizer should come home on Monday or Tuesday. The children will be given an assignment in which they need to ask for your input. The question is: Should children be limited to the amount of time they watch TV or play video games? They will be expected to take a side and come up with four reasons to support their position. (this is where they will probably need you)
Once the organizer is complete the children will begin to write their first persuasive essay.

Science
We will be continuing the chapter on the Solar System. To date we have covered the Sun, Mercury, Venus and the Greek and Roman gods the planets were named for. (Most of the kids really enjoyed this so if you are stuck for a Christmas present you may want to consider the picture books on Mythology.) This week we will talk about Mars and the possibility of living on Mars one day. There will be a quiz on Friday. The quiz will cover the above mentioned topics. Please look over your child's notes with him/her.

English
Monday we will be reviewing for the test on Verbs. A review sheet should come home tonight. Please look over the review with your child. The test will be on Tuesday, December 19th.

Writing
The students are almost finished with their first Persuasive Essays. The topic they are writing about is, "Our lunch period should be longer." As a class they have come up with some very good arguments as to why lunch should be lenghthened. They will be finishing up their rough draft on Monday. We will not be able to get into the computer lab to type the essays until Friday, January 5th. Once they are typed, Sister Jean has agreed to come and listen to a few of the essays. The kids seem really excited about this.
Please ask your child to read his/her essay to this point and continue to encourage them to be good writers.

Science
We will not begin anything new this week. Instead we will take a more indepth look at the planets we will already covered. We will also discuss all the work that will be necessary to get us ready to live on Mars. (one day, long down the road)