Steeler Friday!

We wrapped up our first week of the new year with a Steeler Friday! Everyone wore their black and gold finest to support our team in the first play-off game.

Our story for the week, Storm-a-Dust, was discussed in our readers' cafe. Each of us prepared one of each role, and the discussions went well. We could see throughout the story, how the setting had an influence on the characters and general mood. Our next cafe will be devoted to the kick-off for our new novel, The Wednesday Wars. Setting will play an important role in this book as well. We will join with Ms. Rader's classes to learn more about the '60s! It was a groovy time! Our spelling list was reviewed with a round of soup today! Enjoy the slideshow!

SHARE YOUR TEST PACKETS AND HANDOUTS WITH YOUR PARENTS! CONSIDER PARTICIPATING IN THE SCHOOL-WIDE MUSICAL! TRY-OUTS WILL TAKE PLACE ON WEDNESDAY, BUT YOU NEED PARENT PERMISSION!

Homework:
Reading - Quiz on Wednesday
Spelling - Quiz on Wednesday
Social Studies - Quiz on Monday
Music - Complete your Music Ace work!

Being Assertive

Assertive or aggressive? What's the difference? Today, during our class meeting time, we discussed this very topic. We identified differences between assertive and aggressive behavior in bullying situations. We determined that aggressiveness is usually considered a negative response to anger, while assertiveness is a positive, healthy response. During class we practiced assertive ways to deal with bullying. We want to respond to a bully in a confident, assertive way in an effort to end the bullying rather than cause it to escalate. The slideshow above shows bullying scenarios being acted out in class. Everyone had fun, but we realize the courage it takes to stand up for ourselves and others in real situations.

TOMORROW IS STEELER DAY! PROUDLY WEAR YOUR BLACK AND GOLD!

Homework:

Reading - Prepare your role for tomorrow's discussion in cafe.
Math - 2nd part of Firecracker sheet and simplifying fraction activity
Spelling - Study your words

Ready for the Bees!

Congratulations to Dom, Sarah, Lauren, and Clarine! Dom and Sarah will represent our team in the school-wide Geography Bee sponsored by National Geographic on January 17th, and Lauren and Clarine will represent our team in the Spelling Bee Finals in February. We are proud of them!

Our discussion in Language Arts today centered around natural disasters. Our story, Storm-a-Dust, takes place on a farm where a family is battling a drought. To prepare, we charted various disasters that occur and the effects of those disasters. We also learned about new vocabulary that will be seen in this story. Some words are interesting, and we're curious about how they'll be used, such as spindly and peculiar. Tomorrow we will read Storm-a-Dust and discuss ways that the setting influenced the characters' moods and actions. Although, we will not begin our new novel, The Wednesday Wars, until next week, we'll be having McD's Cafe this Friday. Brief roles for Storm-a-Dust will be prepared tomorrow. In Social Studies, we continued to explore and learn about the cultures in Mexico. Main ideas of the lesson were supported with details on our study guides. When Social Studies resumes on Friday, we'll receive our project for the nine weeks.Homework:Reading - Cafe on Friday. Be prepared with short role.Math - Firecracker worksheetSpelling - page 30VISIT 'IF IT WERE MY HOME' UNDER THE LINKS ON THIS BLOG! COMPARE THE U.S. TO A LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY!

Brrrr...ing On Winter!

Wow! What a beautiful snowy day we had! Many of us were excited to be back, but it was hard to take our eyes off the beautiful scene outside our windows. Part of our homework assignment tonight is to make a few snow angels and see how many flakes we can catch on our tongues.It was great to see everyone at school today in this new year. We enjoyed sharing stories about the holidays, and most of us were happy to have visited with family and friends that we seldom get to see. Some were excited to share about gifts they received or things they were able to do, such as Katie getting to skate in Pittsburgh around the big tree.

McD's Cafe groups will be changing this week, as we prepare for our new novel assignment. We looked more closely at setting today, as an important literary element. We looked at the way an author gives us details to reveal the setting and how it can influence what happens to a character, how a character behaves, and the general mood of the story. We applied the skill to a short story called The Glittering Cloud. Our new story this week is Storm-a-Dust! We will continue to think about the importance of setting as we read this week.Today in Social Studies, we began to explore the cultures of Mexico and Central America. Soon, we'll begin a special assignment incorporating things we've learned about the geography and culture called Dinner and Dialogue. It should be interesting and fun. FOR SOME REASON MY POST IS NOT POSTING IN PARAGRAPH FORM TODAY! I WILL CONTINUE TO LOOK INTO THIS. SORRY FOR ANY CONFUSION.Homework:Reading - Share your 'Family Times' for the new story and skills.Math - Complete your assigned sheets for practice Spelling - Trace +2 new listPLAY IN THE SNOW!!