Our Play is Almost Here!

Our class play is this Thursday at 7:15. Please have your child here by 6:45. We will be meeting in room 205 (Ms. Evanko's room).  We need students here a bit earlier to get  everyone in place and go over a few last minute reminders. They are to wear blue jeans/shorts and a plain white, red, or blue shirt. We have been working very hard on these songs the past few months. We hope you all come and enjoy the show!

Test-Taking Strategies

 As the upcoming FSA approaches, we have been reviewing several strategies to help on the reading test. Students are instructed to use each of these when they take they bi-weekly comprehension tests.  Below is a list of all the strategies we have taught and are encouraging students to use. Make sure you check over their reading tests when they come home to ensure they are following directions. 

*Remember, Achieve 3000 is a great tool to help build their reading comprehension and provides great practice. 

Read all answer choices before answering!

 Bubble in one answer for every question!  Bubble in more than one bubble  on questions with 5 choices. READ how many it wants you to find. If you leave the answer blank, it will be wrong. 

Check over your work! 

1.  Make sure you have an answer for every question

2.  GO BACK and make sure what you underlined matches what you bubbled in!

3.  Pretend you’re taking it all over again!

 Underline the key words in the question stem – so you understand what the questions is asking you to think about.  They are usually bold, italized, or in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Scramble Our Eggs: When answering a sequence of events question, locate each of the events listed as an answer choice within the story by placing the question number and letter beside the event.  Also locate the event listed in the question stem.  Then determine the order in which the events occurred to answer the question.

  STOP and THINK – Is What I’m Reading Making Sense? If not, go back and reread!

  SNAKE FINGERS- Skim the text using your “snake fingers” to locate key words from the question stem in the story and find the answers.  (Reread the complete paragraph where the key words are located to get all the important details/information within the text.)

  RIDICULOUS and WRONG (50/50 Chance Strategy) – Process of Elimination- look for answers that are ridiculous or obviously wrong.  By eliminating at least two answer choices you increase your chances of getting it right!

Plug-It-In – When answering a vocabulary question, replace the word from the story with all answer choices to determine which word means ALMOST the same and makes the MOST sense.

 The Tortoise and the Hare- Pace yourself!  Not too fast and not too slow.  Steady and consistent.

Jump Rope Strategy – Don’t spend too much time on a challenging question.  SKIP OVER IT and come back to it later!

Dictation Practice

One of the skills we continue to assess is a student's ability to properly write a sentence they are told.  We use dictations to check that students are using all of the skills they have been taught since kindergarten. Students are graded on punctuation, spelling,  and capitalization.  We expect students to be apply the knowledge they have been taught in class.  Students are expected to start with capitals, add commas, quotes, and ending punctuation. We also will use sight words in the sentences. 

Dictation promotes many skills at once:
* writing (accuracy: spelling, punctuation)
* listening
* vocabulary
* grammar

Every other week on their spelling test there are two lines where students record the two sentences that they are told. If you child is struggling with this, it is an easy skill to practice at home. Simply speak a sentence to your child and see if they can write it correctly. They can also dictate their favorite songs!

Please review over the dictation sections with your child if they are struggling. One of the common mistakes involves quotes. Students sometimes forget to start with a capital and add a comma after the talking tag. Another thing is putting a question mark after a question. Many students end with a period. 

We want to hold students accountable for their writing and hope all the skills they learn will always transfer into their writings. :) 

What's the Mystery?

This week we began mystery book clubs. Students voted on their top three books and were then placed in reading groups. At the first meeting, students decided on how much was a reasonable amount to read each night. Then, in class they were able to discuss and create a chart to monitor the suspects and clues. They held each other accountable for their reading.

Students have done an amazing job collaborating with their peers. They have had very productive talks with their group members. The students discuss vocabulary words as well.  We taught common words you use in a mystery book.

Alibi: An excuse that an accused person uses to show that he or she was not at
the scene of the crime
Breakthrough: A discovery that helps solve the crime
Clue: A fact or object that gives information toward solving the crime
Crime: An action that breaks the law
Deduction: Drawing a conclusion
Detective: An investigator looking for and gathering clues
Evidence: A thing or statement that helps to prove who committed the crime
Hunch: A guess or feeling not based on facts
Motive: A reason that a person does something — can include anger, hatred, love,
or greed
Mystery: Something that is unknown
Red herring: A false clue that throws the investigator off track
Sleuth: An investigator
Suspect: Person who has a motive to have committed a crime
Witness: Person who has knowledge about a crime

Everyone in class is so excited to keep reading on to solve the crimes in our books! Keep being dedicated students and good luck solving the crimes.

Inferencing time

Last week we reviewed what an inference was. Students learned that an inference was an educated guess using story clues and brain clues. Inferencing can be a harder skill for some students as you can not find the answer directly in the story. Students need to guess the answer using clues in the text and their prior knowledge (schema).

For example,  if you went to sit by your best friend at lunch and she got up and moved as soon as you sat down, you could infer she was mad at you.  Students are constantly making inferences to know how a character feels.

We practice inferring in class using a 'thinkmark'. A thinkmark is a bookmark where they record the book clues, their brain clues, and the inference they made. It is important that students use both text and brain clues. Often they rely solely on brain clues and do not notice details in the story.

Here a few websites to practice inferring. Many students had lessons on inferring on I-Ready Reading so they were ready to sharpen these skills!

Practice Quiz
Inference Millionaire
More practice site

Stop and Jot

Stop! Jot....and ROLL! Okay, not so much rolling, but we have been practicing a reading strategy in class called, "Stop and Jot" this  week.  Strong Readers "stop and jot" to think and interact with the book they are reading. They learned to write down their thinking after every few pages to ensure they are comprehending the story. Students learned what qualifies as a worthy "jot":
*You learn something new about a character
*The character acts unusual or does something surprising
* You or the character feel a strong emotion
*You notice a pattern in the text or with the character
*You have a prediction with evidence from the text
*When you disagree with an event or a character's choice
*When a  BIG moment or climax occurs
*When something in the text is just screaming at you to talk about
*When the story makes you wonder or you have a question

I hope students continue to use this strategy as they read from home. They can jot notes in a notebook or on post-its to monitor their thinking throughout the story. 

Remember to read yourselves awake and keep on jotting!

Science and Social Studies eBooks

Great news! We have eBooks for science and social studies that your child can take advantage of at home. Their user names and passwords are on a label inside their planner. Follow the links below to access the sites. Keep stretching your brain and be a learner for life!

Science eBooks

Social Studies eBooks



*Mention to your teacher  you were on the blog and the secret word "buckeye" and be entered in a drawing for a special gift!