Week of Oct. 19th

Last week, we celebrated level 3 behaviors with a cookie decorating activity. The students thought it was a delicious assignment!
Character traits have been our main focus in English. We have been discussing vocabulary terms which describe characters in stories and people that we know. Each day we continue to discuss the terms associated with elements of fiction. The words will be used for preparing students for the LPS tests and state standards. The students write daily and work on expanding their knowledge with new vocabulary words.

Beginning this week a book review will be included at various times throughout the year. We have a book review reporter, and she will be sharing with us various stories that she has read. Her comments will offer a wonderful guide for choosing special books to read.

Book: My Face To The Wind
Author: Jim Murphy
Rating: * * * * Four Stars out of Five
Summary: When her father dies, Sara Jane Price, decides to teach school in Broken Bow, Nebraska. She wants to live near her father's grave, but then she has an exciting experience
that causes her school house to collapse.

Review by: Marie Hobs

October 7th, 2009

In our English classroom this week we have been focusing on character analysis charts and reviewing the elements of fiction vocabulary. The students have done a wonderful job of linking the terms to the stories and identifying the meaning of each term from various classroom activities. We started the year with a pretest to find out what terms the students knew. Now they are beginning to show growth through formative learning experiences.
A great deal of time is devoted to learning how how to manage laptops and use them as a communication tool for English. We continue to address proper handling procedures and responsible behaviors. Responsibility is a key factor which needs to be demonstrated in order to process information with the laptops on a daily basis.
I enjoy finding out each day how talented the students truly are from the discussions we have and the work they produce. On Fridays, if the students have all of their weekly tasks accomplished, then a free time is earned and learning programs are explored through the use of technology.

Many thanks for your continued support!