Christmas Book Report Week
The students will present the Christmas Book Report this week to their classmates. The children choose the children's Christmas Story that they wanted to read. They will then tell us about the story and tell us the main message of the Christmas story. They then will tell us which character in the story needs a special gift in their life. We, as a class, will try to guess what gift the character would need in their life. After guessing, the child will unwrap the present that they brought and tell us why they thought the character needed that gift.
This week in Reading we will be reading the true story of "When Marian Sang". It is a true story of Marian Anderson and her life. The theme of the story is to help us understand that a person can rise above prejudice to realize their dreams. In addition to reading this story, we will also be acting parts of this biography out in class. As we read we will record questions that we would have liked to ask Marian Anderson about her life. We will travel to the computer lab on Thursday to research first hand accounts of people who have overcome prejudice or adversity to acheive their goals. On Friday, we will watch the Disney movie, Ruby Bridges. This is also a biography of Ruby Bridges, the young girl who was the first African American student to be intergrated into an all white school. Norman Rockwell painted a famous picture of Ruby as she was escorted to school by Federal Marshalls.
This week, the students enjoyed the novel, Hatchet. After reading this selection, the students created a news radio story detailing the rescue of Brian. Each group delivered the newscast using voice modulation to help emphasis their news story.
On Thanksgiving Morning, our parish has a beautiful family Mass at 9:00. The fifth graders will host the Mass. Please be at church no earlier than 8:40am. We encourage you to come and spend just one hour enjoying the music of our combined choirs and excellent musicians. The Mass is a wonderful way to reflect on the abundance of God~s blessings in our lives. Hope you will be able to come. Mr. Sabatini from Franconello~s has again generously donated loaves of bread to be brought home with a table blessing that we hope will be said at hundreds of houses where our families will gather for Thanksgiving.
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Two reading classes are enjoying the novel, The Westing Game. This week we will be reading chapters 5 through 14.
The other reading class will be reading the novel, The Giver. This week we will be reading chapters 5-15. Please note that your child will have reading homework each night as we are having "book club". It is their responsibility to read the chapters assigned for that evening. If they do not and are unable to join in the class "book club" discussion, they will not obtain the points given that day for participation in the "club".
Please refer to the previous post for directions and information about the Saint Project. The students will be in the computer lab on Tuesday and Wednesday to work on their project. The dates for the presentation will be given out this week.
Besides working in the computer lab, the students will be studying (Monday and Thursday)about saints in our textbook. We will appreciate the church's saints and identify qualities of a good leader. We will create a venn diagram to compare and contrast qualities/skills that a church leader and a president should have for the job. They will also explore and identify examples of mercy in every day life. They will reflect upon the saints in our textbook and understand that the burder of power is responsibility. The students will be working in small groups ( on Thursday) to plan an adveritsing campaign to popularize the saint they were given from the textbook. On Friday, we will use our Venture magazine to explore how we show love to ourselves and our neighbors. The beauty of this magazine is that it reflects the gospel readings for Sunday mass. The children ususally perform a play about the gospel so that when you travel to church on Sunday, the gospel becomes something that they have heard and understand due to the fun we had with it on Friday.
We are off to Navy Pier! Please wear your gym uniform. Check the weather to see if you will need a sweatshirt. After the Imax movie, we will have PLENTY of time to walk the pier and enjoy the sights of Navy Pier. Don't forget to either bring your lunch or money to purchase you lunch. It should be a great day.
During the week of Halloween, your child will present a one minute speech about a saint that was chosen from a saint lottery. We will use the computer lab to research information about their saint. We have two days booked in the lab to complete this project! There were simple questions the children needed to answer (in their notebook). The website will also be written in their notebook. The students are to take this information and write a short, one minute speech about their saint. The speech will be written as if the child is that saint. The children are to dress as if the saint would dress. For example, one student has St. Martin. An appropriate dress for this saint would be a sword and either robe or bedsheet to use as a cape. For St. Christina, an arrow would be an appropriate costume piece. This is to be a simple representation of the saint and a basic speech. The children are not allowed to bring a paper with them as they tell us about their saint. Please don't get caught up in the costume idea. It should be very basic and easy. If you are having trouble with the idea, please email me. This should be a fun, learning experience. Thank you
1. Near the end of the selection, why did Twig and Craig dash downstairs to "get the hamburger" when the crows first arrived?
2. What evidence did the author give that crows are secretive?
3. Name one thing the author did to keep the readers interested.
Vocabulary
materialize
migration
frustration
agressive
tolerated
detect
dubiously
Ist accelerated reader is due October 16th.
2nd accelerated reader is due when we finish the novel (Oct. 29th)
The book report for October will be done in school based on the novel that we read in class. More information will appear later.
This week in reading we will continue our fact/opinion excersises. The students completed the computer project that we did in class last Friday. We will prepare to read the next story by learning the vocabulary for "When Crowbar Came". On Tuesday, the students should preview the story for homework. We will listen to the story on Wednesday with group discussions following the story. The test for the story will be on Thursday. The students will be allowed to use their book to refer back to selections that they need. The students will be responsible to know the vocabulary words and definitions for the test. NO SCHOOL on Friday or Monday. We will not have reading class on Tuesday due to the fun-filled field trips planned for that day. On Wednesday, we will put our reader aside and start "book club". Each homeroom will be given a novel to read and discuss. More details to follow. Have a great week and enjoy that long weekend. Go Falcons! Good luck at homecoming!
