Reading Skill - Making Inferences

Our reading skill for this week is Making Inference. Infering means using clues in a text to figure out what has happened despite not being explicitly told what happened in the text. Because inferences is such a difficult skill, and because of several interruptions to our normal schedule this and next week, we will be working on this skill for two weeks. Our end of the skill test will be next Friday. We will, however still have a vocabulary test this Friday on the science and social studies words listed to the right.

Websites for Learning!

Yesterday, students got to explore two fabulous websites that will help them enormously in math and science.

The first one is www.ixl.com

This is a site where students can practice their math skills in a highly motivating and rewarding manner, where success results in medals, points, and prizes! Medals on IXL also reward students with classroom bonus money! Outside our room, and on the blog, I will post a weekly Leaderboard, showing off the top ram king students in the class! Also, starting next week, students will have homework assigned on IXL. Please make sure students have access to a computer so they can work on their homework and work to improve their skills! Student login information is located on the first page of their planner.

The second website we visited is www.explorelearning.com

This website features science and math applications called Gizmos. We will probably only have access to this site for a short time, but we will make the most of it while we can. Yesterday, students had fun trying to grow plants using a variety of variables.

A third site that we didn't have time for yesterday is www.pearsonsuccessnet.com

This is the companion site for our new math program, enVision. On the site, students can access their complete text book, along with animated lessons, manipulatives, printable practice worksheets, and games for each and every lesson in the series. The student login information for this website is the same as the student login information for the school computers, which is also printed inside their planner.

Animaniacs - Yakko's World

Here's the way cool video I showed the class yesterday! It's every single country in the world! Make sure to memorize the whole thing - test next week! <-- (kidding)

Vocabulary Test - Week of August 30th

Vocabulary Quiz - Week of August 30 » make online tests

First Vocabulary Test Tomorrow

We will have our first vocabulary test of the year tomorrow! The tests will be taken on the computer, using a multiple choice format, in which students will need to identify the vocabulary word that fills in a sentence.

They will also take a short reading comprehension test. The test will involve reading a one-page story and answering five skill-based questions about the story. The skill we've been working on this week is cause and effect. You can help your child prepare for these skill tests by reading with them at home and asking them skill-based questions while reading.

Also, a reminder - There will be no school next Monday on Labor Day. Open House will be on Tuesday night at 6:30 PM.

Look who got a haircut!!

I got a special surprise his morning when Poopity stopped by to show off his new hairdo! Check it out! The braids are gone! Darien also told me he was the only one in his class to get an A last week in his first week of middle school! You rock, Poopity!



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Plant Unit

We began our first science unit of the year today - Plants! The students studied the insides of a Lima bean to try to discover what makes it grow into a plant. Tomorrow, we'll begin a week-long experiment to observe exactly how a seed grows into a young plant.











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