Ms. Tovey's Blog

English
This week we will begin the chapter on Verbs. This chapter, like last chapter has an extensive amount of information. I do suggest reviewing it with your child whenever you get a chance. My goal is to cover pages 152 – 155 this week. The topics are action verbs and helping verbs.

Writing
On Monday and Tuesday the children will be writing a letter to a paralyzed veteran in honor of Veteran’s Day. We will mail these to Washington DC in one bulk envelope on Wednesday. The rest of the week I will spend working on alliteration.

Science
We will continue our study of the Human Body. To date your child should have notes on cells, tissues, organs and the Nervous System. I have also introduced Herman. Each child should have a separate page of notes called “The Body’s Organs” which is strictly for our study of Herman and the organs of the body. This unit will have 2 tests; one covering the chapter’s notes on cell, tissues, organs and the six body systems and one on Herman and the sixteen organs of the body. For this test the children will have to identify the organ and know a simple job for that organ.
Also, this week the children will be writing a short report on the organ of the body that they researched last week. As a class we will write the introduction and conclusion. The children will write the two body paragraphs on their own.

English
We will continue our study of verbs this week. To date we have covered pages 152 – 155. (Action verbs and helping verbs) This week I plan to cover pages 156 – 161. Like last chapter, this chapter is quite long and has an extensive amount of information. Any additional review time you can give your child will help to make the chapter much easier for them.

Writing
This week the children will be writing a paper on The History of Veterans’ Day. I have a handout that includes all the important dates. As a class we will go over the handout and then each child will create a timeline showing the important dates and what happened on each date. After the timeline is completed we will write an introductory paragraph as a class and then the children will use their timeline to write a paper explaining how Veterans’ Day came to be. When all papers are complete we will write the conclusion as a class.

Science
We will continue or study of the Human Body. To date your child should have notes on cells, tissues, organs, The Nervous System, The Digestive System and the Circulatory System. (These will be given on Monday, 11/12) There will be a quiz Friday on the Nervous, Digestive and Circulatory Systems. Please review your child’s notes with him/ her.

English

To date we have covered pages 152 – 161 in the English book. This week we will be covering pages 162 – 167 and we will be finishing up the chapter early next week. The test is tentatively schedule for Thursday, December 4th. At this point the part of the chapter that seems to cause the most confusion is helping verbs. (p. 154 – 155). I will continue to review these with your child. Any additional review you can do will be greatly appreciated.

Writing
On Tuesday, of last week most of the children finished typing their Veterans’ Day paper. We wrote this paper as a class. It was a very guided and structured writing assignment and I am very pleased with each homeroom’s finished copy.
This week the children will continue to work on their alliteration project. The directions for this project were twofold: 1. Each group was to create a name for a new shopping mall and draw the mall. The name had to show alliteration. 2. Then using each letter of the alphabet the group was to name 26 stores in their mall. Each name was to use at least three words that show alliteration. Example – Paul’s Perky Pet Shop. The kids seem to really be enjoying this project.
At the end of this week we will begin descriptive writing. The first assignment will have the children encountering an abandoned and run down house. Using their senses they will write a six paragraph, descriptive story of the house. (The senses we will be using are hearing, feeling, seeing and smelling) One paragraph will be dedicated to each sense as well as having an introduction and conclusion paragraph. The focus of this writing assignment will be on using as many descriptive words as possible to make the reader feel like they are a part of the story.

Science
We will continue our study of the human body. This week the Respiratory System will be introduced. Please remember to save the quizzes in science to use as review for the test.

English
The chapter on verbs was finished on Friday. The test is schedule for Thursday, December 6th. A review sheet will be coming home on Wednesday. The test will cover pages 152 – 165 in the English book. The hardest part of the test will be the irregular verb section. The children will have to know all twenty irregular verbs in past tense and in the past tense with have, has or had.

Writing
On Monday the children will be finishing up their descriptive writing stories. I asked them to bring them home this past weekend and have you look them over and make any suggestions or corrections. Hopefully, this happened. On Tuesday, the children will be typing their stories in the computer lab. The finished copy will be set up like a magazine article. Wednesday, the children will begin working on a Diamante Poem.

Science
We have finished the section of this Unit on Herman, the anatomically correct person. The test is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11th. The notes on this section can be found in your child’s science notebook under the heading The Body’s Organs. The test is two part: first, I will hold up the organ and the children will have to identify it by writing their answer onto the test sheet, second the children will have to write which organ goes with each job that is written on the back of the test sheet. I also, hope to finish up the chapter on the human body next week and test before Christmas Break.