Happy Friday!

Picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Enjoy the slideshow of our fun in McD's Reader's Cafe! We wrapped up our week with quizzes on the story Teammates and our ie,ei spelling list. Everyone thought that they nailed the tests! Let's hope!

Our study of Africa continued today! We visited stations to explore information about the land and animals. We colored landforms and waterways on maps, reviewed lessons using a reading guide, and explored websites with lots of colorful pictures of the land and animals. A review will take place on Monday, with a quiz to follow on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!

Homework:
Reading - Read through page 84 in The Westing Game and complete your new role. Make sure your PSSA practice is complete through p. 12 (Theme and Main Idea) for Monday.
Social Studies - Quiz next Tuesday. Study notes and guides.

No one is Perfect!

Today was busy and so much fun! We started the day with our first, true McD's Cafe! Our room looked like a cafe, and we couldn't wait to discuss part one of The Westing Game. Punch was provided by Marah, Macey, and Patrick (and their parents), and we thank them very much! We played a game called Character Mix that caused us to think about all the attributes of the many characters in the story. Mrs. Mac shared her rolls (or rather roles - haha), and we enjoyed our discussions, as well. We have many ideas about the mystery that's unfolding and are looking forward to reading on in the book. Look for a special slideshow tomorrow!

Mr. Barzan visited our group today too! He talked with us about accepting ourselves for who we are. He shared a great video narrated by students just like us, sharing feelings we all have. We enjoyed his visit!

In Library, it was book exchange day! We always look forward to picking out new books every two weeks.

Although we didn't have Social Studies today, there is a new link to the right that you may enjoy! There's so much to learn about Africa!

Homework:
Reading - Quiz tomorrow. Read to page 84 and complete your new role for The Westing Game.
Math - Study notes, complete practice. Quiz tomorrow.
Social Studies - Study notes and guides. Quiz next Tuesday.
Science - Finish Science packet
Long Term - Form A 1-12 is due for PSSA Reading on Monday.

Imagining Africa as Our Home

We continued becoming familiar with Africa's geography in class today. Important vocabulary words were reviewed and practiced, and the map we colored in class yesterday was often referred to throughout the period. We also visited an interesting website that you can checkout, to the right under links. At this interesting site, the United States can be compared to any other country in the world.

Students visited stations in Language Arts today! During this time, we concluded work on reading and roles for 'The Westing Game,' responding to a prompt regarding the courage shown by Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese in the story 'Teammates,' and reviewed our tricky spelling words on the computer. Busy, busy, busy!


Are you ready to strike a pose? There's nothing to it! Just remember to come to school looking your best tomorrow, and if you haven't already done so, bring your picture money and order.

Homework:
Reading - Come prepared with your role for McD's Cafe tomorrow! Also, there will be a quiz on Friday on Teammates.
Math - Complete #1-20 on pg. 17
Spelling - Study words! Quiz Friday!
Writing - Final copy of prompt is due tomorrow.
Social Studies - Study.
PSSA - Finish Form A (through p. 12) for class on Monday - Theme/Main Idea

School is Out of This World!

Our day was very busy! Each class period seemed to fly by! There never seems to be enough time to finish all that we want to do.

We are currently studying the solar system in Science class! Please check out the link to the right to learn more.

In Math, we are learning the value of rounding and estimating numbers. An activity was sent home for further practice.

We worked on our first prompt in Language Arts for the story 'Teammates.' Both Jackie Robinson and his friend, Pee Wee Reese, demonstrated courage in the story in different ways. We are writing about the courage they showed, and we're supporting our writing using text examples. Our organizers were completed and many of us have completed drafts which will be edited. Tomorrow, during station time, we'll complete the writing.

In Social Studies, we took a ten point pre-quiz about our knowledge of Africa's geography. We then viewed a narrated clip about each region's geography. Many of us were pleasantly surprised at how much we knew! We also colored a map of Africa to become familiar with the countries, land, and climate that are a part of each region.

Homework:
Reading: Quiz on Friday for Teammates. Also, read through p. 61 in The Westing Game and complete your role for Thursday. By next Monday, complete Form A through p. 12 in your PSSA Reading book.
Social Studies: Study notes.
Spelling: Quiz on Friday (ei, ie words).
Math: Practice sheet due tomorrow.

We are Teammates!

We, groups 308 and 310, are teammates! Today, we read and discussed a relationship between two other teammates from the 1940s, and how each played an important role for the other. Jackie Robinson was a teammate of Pee Wee Reese. Each man played the same position. They were shortstops. Jackie Robinson was a talented and courageous man. Pee Wee Reese was a supportive teammate and friend. We enjoyed learning more about these two men and the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, who wanted to change the way things were. Jackie Robinson once said, "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me...All I ask is that you respect me as a human being." It's important for teammates to support one another. We will remember that throughout the year.

Our reading of The Westing Game is coming along. Most of us have made good use of our time and are well on our way to completing the reading and our roles which are due on Thursday. We're all looking forward to participating in our cafe.

During PSSA review today, we continued our lessons practicing the skills of identifying main ideas and themes AND finding mean, median, and mode. We're applying the skills to short passages in reading and were playing a short tic-tac-toe game for mean, median, and mode in Math.

Slowly, we're becoming familiar with the geography of Africa. We reviewed our Atlas Activity today, and many came up with good answers using the maps available.

In Science, we had a solar system scavenger hunt, which was a lot of fun. We're looking forward to learning about the planets in the weeks to come.

Homework:
Reading - Quizzes Friday for Teammates. Also, read pages 1 - 61 (first 8 chapters) in The Westing Game and complete your role for Thursday.
Spelling - Spelling practice page 8 (ie, ei list)
Writing - Grammar practice page 6 (types of sentences)
Music - Quiz this week
Long-term assignment - PSSA prep assignment for next Monday.

Special Reminders