Irresistable Sunshine

This week flew by, and we're happy it ended with a beautiful, sunny day. Since behavior as a group, in the halls and on the way to and from classes, is improving, we managed to hang onto some of our mania minutes. For this reason, we were able to enjoy a class outside today. We didn't play, but we just enjoyed our regular learning activities outside in the fresh air and sunshine. Fun!

Quizzes were given in the morning for Wilma Unlimited. We were quizzed on spelling words, vocabulary, verb tenses, and comprehension. Later, we received new roles and words for chapters 3 and 4 of our novel. Time was given to play with the words and meanings, as well as enjoy the story. We speculated, as a group, how the new words would fit into the story. This week's words are a challenge!

Homework:
Reading - Read chapters 3&4 in novel, study vocabulary, and complete roles. If you haven't finished your crossword exercise, finish for class time on Monday.
Wellness - Study for D.A.R.E. test to be given next Friday. Also, read pages 312-315 in Wellness book. Define vocabulary and answer questions.
GET FRIDAY ENVELOPE SIGNED ALONG WITH TEST PACKET. RETURN BOTH ON MONDAY. ALSO, SOME STUDENTS HAVEN'T RECEIVED A SINGLE GOLD NOTE ALL YEAR! IF YOU HAVEN'T, YOU RECEIVED A CERTIFICATE FROM CISPO AND MR. CHAMBERS FOR A FREE PASS TO ACTIVITY NIGHT. CONGRATULATIONS!

When Friends Fight

Let's face it, our friends are very important to us. Life is wonderful when we're getting along with our friends. However, friendships are rough at times. Being human, we make mistakes and say or do things to hurt each other. Today's lesson during our class meeting time was about how to examine a fight in order to find a way to solve what's happening. We learned about questions we can ask ourselves, such as How did this start? Have any of us done things to make it worse? Am I mainly angry at my friend for something he did, or am I mostly sad that we're fighting? There are other questions, too, that helped us to organize our thoughts to approach our friends for discussion. Many good thoughts and examples were shared in class today, and we used our smart projector to explore our blog's new link, It's My Life. Next week, we'll continue our lesson and learn more about how to approach a situation, as well as the importance of being able to say "I'm sorry."

McD's Cafe went very smoothly today, and our tables were buzzing with discussion about Claudia, Jamie, and their plan to run away. We are looking forward to finding out what will happen when their parents discover that they're not coming home from school. Claudia and Jamie should be hiding out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City by that time! What guts!

Homework:
Reading - Read chapters 3 and 4 in From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler for next Thursday. You will receive your new roles and vocabulary tomorrow. Also, review Wilma Unlimited! Quizzes tomorrow.
Math - 93R 8-7
Spelling - Study your words! Quiz tomorrow.
Grammar - We will continue our practice with verb tenses tomorrow (perfect), and review homework p. 63

The Perfect Tenses!

It was fun using our new smart projector today! We were studying past, present, and future perfect tenses! This was a new concept, and we had fun thinking about the examples presented. Everyone took notes, and we did really well explaining our answers during guided practice. If there are any problems with practice tonight, our notes will be very helpful.

We reviewed our atlas exploration activity today in Social Studies. There were great answers, so we are becoming very skilled with our map interpretation. On Friday, we will begin taking a closer look at the land and climate variations in this vast area.

Homework:
Reading - Come prepared for cafe! Have your completed role! Review your vocabulary!
Quizzes on Wilma Unlimited will be on Friday.
Math - Page C
Spelling - Study! Quiz Friday!
Grammar - Grammar practice p. 63 (refer to notes, if needed)
Science - Energy packet due tomorrow.

So Much to Explore

We were happy to explore our new books today! We'll be studying the region of Asia and the Pacific. Our atlas activity today made us more aware of what countries and water are found in this area. All questions pertained to each of the five themes of geography.

We continued our discussion about the amazing life of Wilma Rudolph in Language Arts. By overcoming so many obstacles in her life, Wilma grew into a person that was truly unlimited. The story was inspirational! We would do well to remember to persevere throughout life. Everything is possible!

Homework:
Reading - Study your vocabulary for Wilma Unlimited and our novel. There will be quizzes on Thursday and Friday. Reading assignment and role are due for this Thursday's cafe.
Math - E61 (only)
Social Studies - Finish any incomplete portion of your Activity Atlas for tomorrow.
Science - Energy packet is due on Thursday.

Last Day of Spring Break!

Hi! I hope you've been enjoying your time off! I wanted to make you aware of a new link I added to our blog! It's called It's My Life, and it's a blog about friendships by PBS Kids GO! It has great games and many things to think about that affect you every day! Have fun exploring this new link!

See you tomorrow!