Theodore Roosevelt School
November 2019
Important Upcoming Dates
November
25th & 26th: Parent Conferences (must be scheduled in advance through the office)
27th: Half day for Staff and Students
28th & 29th: School Closed/ Happy Thanksgiving!
December
6th: Trimester 1 ends
17th: TRS Winter Concert
20th: Report Card Day
20th: Half day for Staff and Students
Winter Break runs from 12/23 through 1/1
School will reopen on 1/2
Spotlight on Reading Classes
Grade 3 Reading
Welcome Aboard Everyone !
During the month of November in Ms. Calzaretta's Readers Workshop, students are working on story mapping, problem and solution, as well as learning good habits to apply to their reading technique. Students work in various centered activities which promotes blended learning. The next lexile assessment will be given on November 21st, 2019. Our class continues to use the online resource Get Epic to explore different genres of books.
Grade 4 Reading
In Fourth Grade Readers Workshop, the students transitioned into a new unit that focuses on nonfiction reading skills and strategies. To prepare for our unit, we became more familiar with the nonfiction books in our classroom library. Mrs. Darcy previewed several nonfiction texts and discussed the different writing styles of informational texts, such as narrative nonfiction, expository nonfiction, persuasive nonfiction, and mash-ups. Then, the fourth grade students took initiative and divided all of our informational books into categories based on specific subject matter. They worked in groups and created labels for each section. Some sections include: places, inventors, animals, insects. This allowed the students to gain a better understanding of the types of nonfiction books that are accessible in our classroom library.
I am so impressed with how the students worked together to decide how they’d like the library categorized. This activity also provided them time to think about which books they’d like to read during independent reading time this unit. The following day, the students picked out nonfiction books of their interest. We look forward to learning about various text structures, the types of text features, and how to find the main idea nonfiction texts. Additionally, we will be working with nonfiction books, articles, magazines, online articles, and informative websites like Wonderopolis where we will gain information and build upon our knowledge of various topics. Make sure to ask your child about the nonfiction topics they are reading about in class so you can learn from your child! :)
Grade 5 Reading
In Fifth Grade Reader’s Workshop, students were able to explore different types of nonfiction books. Students have enjoyed read alouds from narrative nonfiction books, expository nonfiction books, and mashup books. Students enjoyed a read aloud of an expository text The Tragedy of the Titanic. They explored various text features and learned how text features can help them navigate through texts.
One book that students seemed to enjoy and love was a narrative book, POP The Invention of Gum. Students learned both about the inventor and how gum was invented. Students learned how narrative nonfiction texts can be put into a story form. We were also able to see how the inventor of gum, Walter Deimer, had trouble at first with his creation. Students also explored a mashup text of What If You Had Animal Teeth. We were able to identify that mashup texts have text features like expository text but also have a story form as narrative nonfiction texts. Soon we will be wrapping up our nonfiction unit and begin our fiction unit!
Grade 6 Reading
Contact Information
Website: weehawken.k12.nj.us
Location: Theodore Roosevelt School
Phone: 201-422-6140