A Tribute to Martin Luther King
Song by James Taylor
Check out the work crew! The construction site was small, but you'd never know it by the mess we created. Thanks, guys, for helping me to finish up!
Just a reminder, we don't have school on Friday. Because of the short week, we won't have Spelling/Vocabulary packets. (Yea, I know, the kids were upset too...) What I AM doing is using that time to get a jump start on an excellent book, The Lightning Thief. Read-alouds have great value; they develop comprehension skills and provide opportunities to discuss a plethora of literary elements. We predict, infer, analyze, synthesize... Besides, who doesn't like listening to a great story??
We'll complete Basic Explanatory Essay final drafts this week, and begin our research on the Explorer of our choice for a research report (one of the major portfolio pieces of the year...). I'll send home some information for you to use as we work together to support your child's efforts. Hopefully everyone handed in their three completed B.E.E. drafts last Friday for my perusal--I provided extra work time and support, so... no more extensions.
In Social Studies, we talked about the adventures of Marco Polo today. Everyone has a brief activity to complete by Wednesday. (Fifth grade will do this activity on Tuesday / due Thursday.) I'd hoped that everyone would take the time to watch the Marco Polo movie I put on last week's blog (as I requested), but most did not. Hopefully they'll still find the time to do it.
I'd also like everyone to take a minute to check out THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO –- INTERACTIVE MAP ACTIVITY. I keep trying to find interesting ways for the kids to learn important concepts in Social Studies--after all, the key to our future is in understanding our past...
It's late so I'll close for now; I'll be in touch tomorrow-
Teri
