Weekly Update with the Alites-October 12th

Welcome to our blog!  This week your children are the authors.  Read on to find out about all of the wonderful things going on in our classroom.
-Alites

National Holidays

By Emilie, Austin, & Sakina

On Tuesday we looked at a PowerPoint that our teachers made on national holidays. We created study cards.  All week we reviewed our holiday cards for our test on Friday. 

       Did you know that Election Day is always held the Tuesday after the first Monday in November? The reason is that on Mondays most people are always crazy. Also, did you know that Thanksgiving is on November 22^nd this year?

                                            

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

By Chris & Trevor 

 

          Our class has just finished Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and it was great. We all took a quick test when we reached the end of the book.  On Thursday, we wrote our own essays on how Joey changed from the start of the book to the end.  We began by making webs comparing Joey in the beginning of the book and again at the end.  Joey really transformed!  We had to turn in our books because they are getting signed by the author Jack Gantos who we will be meeting on Monday.

Making Meaning

By Logan & Kyra

         This week in Making Meaning, we have been focusing on text features in expository text.  We have been learning about captions, subtitles, text boxes, table of contents, glossary, the index and more. We have looked at articles on rainforests, tornadoes, and dinosaurs.  We created lists of the text features we found in the articles and shared them with the class.

Writer's Workshop

By Jared, Rachel & Trevor

 

This week in writer’s workshop we were discussing “Show Not Tell.” We played charades. Everyone got a scenario that they acted out for the class to guess.  For example, Caitlin pretended to be a baby in a crib, Trevor was a mailman and Jared was a doctor fixing a patient's leg.

The following day, we were given sentences like, “The pizza is delicious.” and we had to expand on it and describe it to make the reader want it. We had a lot of fun doing that!

Finally, we watched clips of Tom and Jerry and Charlie Chaplin because there were no words or sound in those shows, just animations and actions and they were really funny.

F.L.E.S

By Adam and Becca

          In FLES we are learning Italian. The teacher’s name is Mrs. Seymour. This week we learned greetings. We had to write a skit and perform it in Italian. We had to include 2 questions, a greeting, our Italian name, and a scenario. We learned breathing techniques. She used a bell chime to direct us when to start breathing. We had fun in FLES. Ciao!

Art

By Stephanie & Brian

     In Art, we are making Artist Trading Cards. What is an Artist Trading Card?  An Artist Trading Card, or ATC, is a 2½ by 3½ card. Each card looks different, based on the artist. We use paper with designs, metallic markers and pencils, glue, shiny little jewels, punchers, newspapers and magazines. It will take a few more weeks to finish, because most people are on their second card and we have to make six. Brian is doing his on his newly created country, Steph is creating a neon card, and Adam is creating circles.

Little Benderly Buddies

By Madeline & Sanjyot

     We each got paired up with a little buddy that we will have for the rest of the year. We meet with them once or twice a month. We do reading and writing programs with our buddies. We teach them how to spell new words. Sometimes we just play with them or do crafts. The first project we did with them was a get to know you project. We asked each other questions and wrote them down. If they did not know how to spell something we would help them. We also drew pictures of each other. We love our Little Benderly Buddies.

Math Class

By Steven, Yunseo & Michael

         In math class this week we learned about multiplying three digit numbers by three digit numbers. We learned about multiplication. We also learned how to estimate using rounding. Every day we have a math drill. If you are wondering what that means... it means that we have 5 minutes to compute products. It is very intense because we try to beat our personal best time. We also learned about magic zero and Mr.Smiley.

Computer Lab

Caitlin & PJ 

       Right know we are working on Presidential PowerPoints. We each have our own president. We have to write about their early life, education, positions held before the presidency and three major accomplishments as President.  Did you know that Bill Clinton plays the saxophone? Did you know that Andrew Johnson is famous for saying,“Senators, my blood,  my existence, I would give it to save this union.” 

Show Not Tell Charades

Scenario: Madeline and Rachel are at the carwash.

Scenario: PJ is an angry driver stuck in traffic. 

Scenario: Becca is pretending to be a dog begging for a treat from Stephanie.

Scenario: Trevor is delivering mail to Sanjyot.