Letters from Language Arts
What's Happening In ELAR, Issue 6
Parent teacher conferences
Parent teacher conferences are in full swing. We love having this time to talk with you about your awesome kids! If you have not signed up for a conference yet, please see the link from your teacher.
With Sharpened Pencils and Journals Ready,
Caitlin Mozisek and Anne Smalling
Looking for a great read? Check these out!
Book Club
Last semester students participated in a book tasting. They were able to skim several books and choose books that peaked their interest. Students were given the books and told to just read them for enjoyment. We will be rereading and tackle these books with other students in our book clubs. Research shows us that when kids read the same books multiple times, they are able to dive deeper into the text and take away more from the story.
Extra Help
If your child ever needs help understanding a topic in class, or they bring home a grade below a 70, they are always welcome to bring it back to class and get help to improve and bring their grade up to a 75. We are available every morning at 7:30am, unless we have morning duty.
Subjectively Speaking: What To Expect When You're A 4th Grade Parent
Reader's Workshop
We are diving into the world of poetry. We are discussing lyrical, narrative and free verse poems and how their structure influences the meaning.
Writer's Workshop
The kids have been working very hard on writing paragraphs for the body of their essays. We have been using several different prompts so that they can see the organization and structure of the essay does not change with each topic. In order to be successful, organization and structure is imperative.
Texas History
With Santa Anna now the dictator of Mexico, talk of a revolution is brewing. People who were once loyal supporters of Mexico are now violently opposed to being ruled by the Mexican government. The stand taken in Gonzales over a cannon had led us to the first shot of the revolution.
Expository Essay Rubric
Spelling: Words Their Way
You spoke...we listened. Spelling will no longer be done on It's Learning. Students were given a list of words on Friday (Feb 1) with a Menu of options on the back. Students will choose 4 activities from the menu to complete as homework over the week. The activities will be due this Friday, Feb 8th. We will also have our spelling test on Feb 8. At least half of the words will come from the list given, the other half will be words that fit into the plural spelling pattern.
Grammar Rules!
With the Writing STAAR test coming up April 9, we are continuing to focus on strategies to use on revision and editing passages. We are also working on using grammar skills we have learned in our expository writing and our social studies journals.
Flocabulary
Students should continue to access this resource at home and practice the new words they learn in the vocabulary section of Flocabulary.
UpComing Events
2/7: WITS
2/8: Open note Social Studies Test
2/11: Practice Writing Staar Test
2/14: Valentine's Day party 11:15am/ Early release-Noon
2/15: Early Release- Noon
2/18: Holiday
2/21: WITS
2/28: Choir Competition
About Us
We are overjoyed at being your language arts and social studies teachers. It is our goal to not only create good readers and writers but lifelong readers and writers. Thank you for making this journey with us.
Email: Anne-Louise.Smalling@springbranchisd.com
Location: https://maps.google.com/?cid=7155001544484722155
Phone: 713 251 6300
Twitter: @MDESmalling