January 28- February 1st

Reminders:

Saturday, January 26

 UIL District Meet

Wednesday, February 13

 Newk's Spirit Night
Monday, February 18 & Tuesday, February 19Student Holidays
Thursday, February 14th Valentine's Day Party

Wednesday, March 13

9:00 am

 Kindergarten RoundUp

Monday, March 18

Start of Spring Break


Homework:
Read nightly - 20 minutes
Dreambox- 10 minutes a night
Spelling- 5 minutes or as needed
Writing- Ungraded optional prompts

1. Use 8 of your new spelling words in a story.

2. Write a fable with a moral at the end. Please make sure
you state the moral of the story.

3. If you could design the perfect classroom,
what would it have? Please describe in detail.
You may draw a picture.

Reading-
Next week we will continue to look at Tall Tales. We will read the Tall
Tale Stormalong and use text clues to help us figure out some
of the language in the story.
We will then wrap up and review all folktales before assessing over our unit.

Writing-
We will finish up our narrative writing. Then we will talk about pitchforking sentences.
Pitchforking is a writing strategy to add detail and imagery to our sentences.
By the end of the week we will also be starting a new expository writing piece.

Spelling-
We will have a test at the end of this week. Remind your
child to spend the time they need to do well
on studying.

Social Studies-
We will be talking about Texas as a state and the
Mexican War that resulted from Texas becoming a state.

January 22-25

Reminders:

Monday January 21st - Student Holiday MLK Day

Monday, January 21

• No School/MLK Day

Wednesday, January 23

• Science Fair & Night, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Friday, January 25

• Caraway Academy

Saturday, January 26

• UIL District Meet at Caraway

Reading-

We continue to work on folktales in language arts.  

This week we will be looking at fables.  We will

 discuss morals and reading strategies using fables as

 the basis for the lessons.  We will also start out new book groups. 

Writing-

This week we will wrap up our narrative small moment stories

 and share them by the end of the week.  We will be going back

 into expository stories by the next week.  We have also been

 reflecting more frequently on grammar rules and editing during this time. 

Spelling-

We will start a new list this week on Tuesday.  

Please encourage your child to study. 

Social Studies-

We will be discussing how Texas became a state 

and the first few years of statehood. 

Homework:

Read nightly - 20 minutes
Dreambox- 10 minutes a night
Spelling- 5 minutes or as needed
Writing- Ungraded optional prompts

Here are a few optional writing prompts for students to

complete over the long weekend if they would like to:

1. Who was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and why was he important?

2. What does equality mean?

3. Why is peace important?

January 14-18

Reminders:

Monday January 21st- Student Holiday- No School- MLK Day

January 23rd- Science Night


Homework-
Homework: 
Read nightly - 20 minutes
Dreambox- 10 minutes a night
Spelling- 5 minutes or as needed
Writing- Ungraded optional prompts:

1. Write your own trickster tale with animals and a lesson learned. 

2. Write about what it would be like to live in Texas a long time ago. 

3.  Write about what you would do on a three day weekend. 

Reading-
We will be continuing to learn about traditional literature.  Last week we focused on Trickster Tales.  This week we will focus on Legends.  We will learn about the parts of or elements of these tales.  We will compare legends and look at theme and plot in legends. 
We will also be starting new book groups with a new reading partner. We will continue to learn about our reading skills through our book groups. 

Writing- 
We will be continuing the small moment narratives that we started last week.  We started looking focusing in on a moment last week and discussed how to "explode that moment" by slowing the moment down like a slow-motion scene in a movie. We also talked about using descriptive language like the figurative language we use in poetry to create a visual image in your audience's mind. 

Spelling-
Remind your child to spend the time they need on spelling every day.  They can sort the words, write them out, do practice spelling tests.  Remind them to think about the patterns being used and that these patterns can apply to many other words.  Next Friday is our spelling test. 

Texas History-
We are learning about the period of time that Texas was an independent country.  This time period between winning freedom from Mexico and joining the United States. 

January 8th-11th

Welcome back, Families!

I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break. We have a lot of fun things planned for this second semester, but we will be learning a great deal as well. Please help support your child by ensuring they read, finish any work or corrections, practice math facts, write, and study spelling. Here is what our four day week looks like...

A few reminders:

- Please make sure your child is reading every night. This is very important! They can go to the Caraway Library site to check out books or read online if they have nothing that they want to read at home.

- Please encourage your child to respond to the writing prompts I hand out (and post on this blog) every week. These are ungraded and not mandatory, but it does show me the student is taking initiative and responsibility for their own learning. Students will have to respond to a prompt on the Writing STAAR Test, and learning to respond to a variety of different prompts is good practice.

- Students who do not finish all of their work in class must take it as homework to complete. 

- If a student makes below a 70% on an assignment, he/she make make corrections to the assignment and turn it back in for up to a 70%. Please remember to check your child's Tuesday folder for any assignments that can be corrected. I am happy to work with students who need extra help during owl time. Students may make these corrections at home or at school. I remind students to quickly make corrections so that they will not be rushing to get things done when grades are due.

- Thank you for continuing to sign your child's agenda every evening. This helps you keep up with what your child is doing and gives you some areas to ask them about their day. 

- Email is the best way to contact any of the fourth grade teachers. We are busy teaching during the school day, and planning while the kids are in Specials. If it is an emergency, please contact the front office.

- Please send your child with a reusable water bottle, snack, a coat (the weather is always changing this time of year) and with shoes for PE. 

I know this last semester is going to be a great one!  :)

Reading -
We will be reviewing reading strategies this week with point of view, theme and plot.  Our reading focus will be on trickster tales and traditional literature.  We will read Borrequita and the Coyote and use the story to learn about our reading strategies over the course of the week.

Writing-
We will be getting back into personal narratives and spending a lot of time on focusing in on a small moment.  We will talk about how to "explode a moment" or describe it in a lot of sensory detail to bring our writing to life.

Spelling-
We will have a new list of words this week.  We will be using class time to study, but it is important to also have your student practice as much as they need to to be successful.  They have 2 weeks with the words and it is encouraged that they practice regularly.

Social Studies-
We have moved on from the Texas Revolution and are moving into the era of Texas as a Republic. Students will learn about the 9 years that Texas was a country and what led to Texas becoming a state.

Homework: 
Read nightly - 20 minutes
Dreambox- 10 minutes a night
Spelling- 5 minutes or as needed
Writing- Ungraded optional prompts:

1. If you could teach a Caraway Academy, what would you teach and why?
2. Write about your winter break. What was your favorite part?
3. Write down three goals you have for yourself for 2019. How can you work to achieve these goals?

Important Dates:

Tuesday, January 8

 Students 1st Day Back

Wednesday, January 23

 Science Fair & Night