Early Release Day

Today went by quickly AGAIN. Wow.
We played Cats and Fish during language arts. The questions asked were thought provoking. Several of you asked if Mr. Sugihara's decision was the correct one. That's an ethical dilemma. He saved thousands of lives by making the choice he did.
We also did a close reading of a passage from The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. We noticed some structural things such as semicolons as well as word choice.
Today was the Topic 2 math test. How did you do?
Tomorrow we will have the Passage to Freedom story test and being Topic 3 in math. We will also have the final day of our Early Humans rotations. That test will be on Friday.

Homework:

• Reading Log
• Fluency (Mr. Sugihara), 3 minutes
• Spelling -- take a practice test
• My math group -- Review What You Know in front of Topic 3 and the sheet with 7 questions
• Studies Weekly due Friday AND worksheet due tomorrow
• Writing -- a penny falls from the top of a building. What happens?

Constitution Day

Happy Tuesday! Did you enjoy PE? What choice did you make?
Today we reread Passage to Freedom and started working on Costa's leveled questions. We'll use those tomorrow and play my favorite game, Cats and Fish.
Since it was Constitution Day, we looked at the Preamble. We deciphered the six reasons listed for the writing of the Constitution.
In math, we had the problem solving lesson. Tomorrow is your math test over Topic 2. Be sure to study tonight!
If you want to do an activity on SpellingCity, look in the comments from yesterday. I explained the steps in answer to a question.

Homework:

• Reading Log
• Fluency (Mr. Sugihara), 3 minutes
• Spelling -- choice
• My math group -- POD 2-6 and enrichment 2-7, plus make a note card for the test tomorrow
• Studies Weekly due Friday
• Writing -- what habit have you always wanted to form but never have?

It's Monday!

Happy Monday! Today we continued with Passage to Freedom. Do you agree with the choice Mr. Sugihara made? Tomorrow will be Day 4 on the story, and then you can work on your Must Do Must Do.
In math we continued with Topic 2 by identifying patterns and then writing those as algebraic expressions. I loved the Cats and Fish activity we did in my group. The math test will be on Wednesday. Study!
Our final Early Humans rotation started today. Because Miss Keisling will be out tomorrow, we will have PE (all 6th graders) tomorrow. We will finish our last round of rotations Thursday and have the test Friday. Be ready to dance the continental drift dance!

Homework:

• Reading Log
• Fluency (Mr. Sugihara), 3 minutes
• Spelling -- choose one of the activities (if you choose SpellingCity.com, search for my name and the Passage to Freedom list will come up)
• My math group -- quick check 2-5 and quick check 2-6
• Writing -- you are a newly adopted dog. Write about your first day with your new family.

Friday the 13th

Happy Friday! This week flew by (again!).
Next week we are continuing with Passage to Freedom (one of my favorites!). We will also have a Topic 2 math test on Wednesday.
Rotations will be a little different next week. We will meet in our fourth round of rotations on Monday, have a different activity on Tuesday, and the final day of rotations on Thursday. Friday will be our test and the group continental drift dance. Can't wait!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Passage to Freedom -- spelling words

Here are the spelling words for Passage to Freedom:

theme
quote
gaze
pace
preach
strive
trait
mute
sleeve
roam
strain
fade
league
soak
grease
throne
fume
file
toast
brake
microphone
emphasize
refugee
pertain
coax

I put the list on spellingcity.com also. You can search by my name (Jennifer Wells) and find the list.

FANTASTIC Thursday!

There is no other word except FANTASTIC for today! I loved everything we did. Passage to Freedom is a GREAT story; I cannot wait until we start to read it tomorrow. I have "Conjunction Junction" stuck in my head! Love!
Mental math is one of my favorite lessons. I really liked how we discussed different ways to compute mentally. I can't wait to read the leveled questions you are working on for Topic 2.
Today started our third afternoon rotations. We are almost finished with this round! Wow, it seems quick.

Homework:

• Reading Log
• Fluency
• Spelling -- missed words on pretest 5 times each
• My math group -- enrichment 2-5 and quick check 2-4
• Studies Weekly due tomorrow
• Writing -- You find a secret tunnel down a back alley in Riverside. Where does it go?

Early Release Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday! Much cooler again and I really am enjoying the weather.
We had our Hatchet test today. Tomorrow starts one of my favorite stories, Passage to Freedom. I can't wait!
Tomorrow's math lesson is also one of my favorites (mental math). I think tomorrow is going to be a SUPER DAY!
How are you doing on your AR goal?

Homework tonight:

• Reading Log
• Fluency (please mark where you finished reading)
• My math group -- practice 2-3 and reteach 2-4
• Studies Weekly worksheet due tomorrow
• Writing -- you are taking a journey along the Yellow Brick Road. What happens?
• No spelling!