Friday, February 3, 2012

February 3, 2012

Important Dates
Feb. 7 Math Practice STAAR Test
Feb. 10 Donuts for Dads
              Vocabulary Test 10
February 11 MDE Auction
Februrary 14 Valentine's Day Party 2:00-2:45

Social Studies
We have been working on a project about 1800s history. We have studied about Stephen F. Austin and all of the people who came to Texas.  The students now are writing a newspaper to show what they learned about it. They will include why people should have come to Texas at the time, and a persuasuive letter will be written persuading Stephen F. Austin to let them come to the colony.  We are typing the newspaper in the computer project room and  then the students are each drawing a picture of what their land would look like if they were part of the old 300 who came to Texas.

Math
We have be focusing on measurement. We have studied Customary and Metric measurements such as: temperature, mass, weight, length, and capacity. We are also making conversions within each type of measurement.  For example: How many ounces would equal 6 pounds?  
The students will take a practice STAAR Math test on Tuesday, Feb. 7. 

Reading
We have been working in our book clubs together and focusing on character traits. The topic of theme has also been studied, and we have talked about how it is the underlying idea that usually runs throughout a book.  If we took away the plot, setting, and characters, the theme would he what is left.  Theme is sort of abstract, so sometimes it is harder for students to grasp. We will continue studying it as the year progresses.
We are contiuing to read our read aloud titled Ruby Slippers and the students are given silent reading as well, to be able to enjoy their own self selected books.


Writing
We have been working with adjectives and studying how they can fall after a linking verb in a sentence. We have also studied articles: a, an, the.  Our expository paper will be finished this week and we are going to focus again on narratives next week.

Science
We have been learning about Life Science.  We have been studying ecosystems, habitats and biomes and how they all interact with each other.  Food chains and food webs are going to be part of our study for this unit too.