MAY 19-23

We are well into our study of the American Revolution and Constitutional Issues.  We are studying why people came to the New World, and why colonists wanted to break free from England. Last week, students researched one event that led to the Revolutionary War.  This week, we will begin presenting those and students will fill out a timeline that will lead our discussions about how the war started.  This will take a few days.  When we finish those presentations, we will look at the Constitution and how it outlines our government and our rights as citizens.  Students will receive points for research and for presenting with a partner. 

APRIL 21-25

Hello, Chalupacabra Parents!

Can you believe we are STILL working on our Napping Essay!?  It really, really should be done this week, hopefully by Wednesday.  We have adjusted our schedule for testing and we don't always see all classes each day.  Students are all revising and editing now, and then will write the final drafts on Monday.  Whew! 

This week, we will be reviewing some reading concepts, like AUTHOR'S PURPOSE and MAIN IDEA.  We will read articles and practice finding evidence to support our claims about these two concepts. 

In writing, we will continue to read, score and compose parts of argumentative essays in anticipation of our essay tests on the 1st and 2nd of May. 

APRIL 7-11

Hi!  This week we will finish up our first argumentative essay.  We will also begin reviewing reading terms and skills for MSP.  I will let you know here when we have a due date for the essay. 

MARCH 24-28

Last week, we reviewed articles and other sources about taking naps.  We read closely, marked up our texts and now we are sleep experts!  The next step is to make a claim and support it with evidence.  We will be working on our argumentative essay about napping this week.  Below is a (rough) schedule of where we will be.  I will try to update this with actual due dates.  We would like to get finish the rough draft before we leave for spring break, but I'm not sure how realistic that is.  We'll see. :)


MONDAY:  compile notes (they have already been taken) and decide which side of the issue you'd like to argue

TUESDAY: look at stucture of an argumentative essay vs. persuasive essay

WEDNESDAY:  graphic organizer for argumentative essay (3 body paragraphs)

THURSDAY:  work time with help for graphic organizer and rough draft

FRIDAY:  (movie incentive day) work time for rough draft


We'll keep our fingers crossed that this actually happens.  I'll keep you updated here. 

MARCH 17-21

Hello, all six of you who read this!  I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks.  We have been trying to finish up a persuasive essay, and we are finally at the end!  Here is what is happening in Hope/Sikes LA this week:


MONDAY: 
*  am assembly, shortened classes
*  students will hopefully finish the final draft of their persuasive essay.  If not, IT IS HOMEWORK!

TUESDAY:
*  begin new essential question:  Are naps good for you?
*  read article "How Much Sleep Is Enough?" and discuss
*  locate evidence supporting and refuting naps

WEDNESDAY:
*  read "The Secret Truth About Napping"
*  read "Ask The Sleep Doctor"
*  discuss what we have learned about naps

THURSDAY:
* look at clarifying questions and answer with evidence from the articles
*  begin formulating claim

FRIDAY
*  use notes to come to a conclusion about taking naps
*  gather evidence
*  start writing argumentative essay

FEBRUARY 24-28

MONDAY, FEB. 24:
*  review main idea (also called central idea)
*  analyze "What Do You Know About Sharks?" Is it a credible source?  A credible author?
*  discuss main idea, author's purpose of "Sharks"
*  look at text features for information
* finish graphic organizers for essay

TUESDAY, FEB. 25: 
*  discuss essential question:  Are sharks dangerous?
*  Discuss evidence--what is it, what counts as evidence--do opinions count?
*  make t chart and record evidence from this article on whether sharks are dangerous
*  essay

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26:
*  add source and evidence to vocabulary notebook
*  Why should we look at more than one source when trying to answer a question?
*  new source "Great White Sharks"
*  analyze author (Peter Benchley of "Jaws") is he credible?  What about his background?
*  essay

THURSDAY, FEB. 27:
*  introduce bias, loaded language, fact and opinion
*  record evidence for essential question on t chart
*  essay

FRIDAY, FEB. 28:
*  add bias and loaded language to vocab notebook
*  discuss loaded language and drawing conclusions
*  answer conclusion question
*  essay

FEBRUARY 18-21

Hello Chalupacabras and parents!  Mrs. Sikes was sick last week, so mostly we just worked on our Mr/Ms SMS essay.  Students should have completed the t chart for three body paragraphs by the end of Friday.  We will check over these Monday to make sure students are on the right track.  Please see last week's blog for reading plans.  We will start nonfiction this week in Reading.

FEBRUARY 10-14

Hello, Chalupas and Chalupa Parents!  In Reading, we are shifting our focus from literary text to informational.  We will be focusing on main idea, drawing conclusions, finding evidence to support a claim and looking at how authors organize information.  We will continue to work with literary text, but our focus is changing to informational. 

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10:
*  introduce vocab words for informational text
*  introduce essential questions for this unit of study:  Can you believe everything you read?  Where does this information come from?  How can you tell if an author has a bias? 
*  notes on main idea and how to locate it/infer it in a text
*  work on Mr/Mrs SMS essay

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11:
*  add main idea to vocab notebook
*  read "What Do You Know About Sharks?" together, noticing the format the author chose.  Discuss
*  Discuss main idea and author's purpose
*  Essential question:  ARE SHARKS DANGEROUS?
*  Read author bio.  Can we trust her to provide us with current, relevant information? (source)  Does the date of this article matter?  Have there been other scientific discoveries since this has been written?
*  Look at text features together.
*  work on essay

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12:
*  library
*  Start collecting evidence for essential question (are sharks dangerous?)
*  make chart for evidence, begin looking for FACTS to support or refute the claim
*  work on essay

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13: 
*  add source and evidence to vocab notebook
*  discuss the need to look at mulitple sources for accurate info
*  Do source check on "Great White Sharks" -- is author a credible source?  What do you expect him to say about sharks?
*  read "Great White Sharks" and record evidence on the chart
*  essay

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14:
*SPIRIT ASSEMBLY!  WEAR YOUR TEAM SHIRT! 
*  add bias and loaded language to vocab notebook
*  locate and discuss loaded language in this selection.  Does the author have a bias? 
*  draw conclusion--are sharks dangerous?  What does the evidence say?  Can you support your claim?

FEBRUARY 3-7

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3: 
*  test review in reading--our Unit 3 test is tomorrow!  Students will make a study sheet in class and they should bring it home to study.  :) 
*  essay quiz
*  essay work

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4:
*  UNIT 3 READING TEST! 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5:
*  library
*  author's purpose practice with velcro article
*  essay

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6:
*  mood and tone in reading, poetry
*  essay

FRIDAY, FEBRARY 7:
*  read "McDonald's" poem and identify similes
*  add simile and metaphor to vocab notebook
*  write poem about a special place
*  essay

JANUARY 27-31

MONDAY, JANUARY 27:
*  add theme, compare, contrast to vocab notebook
*  vocab study for "War of the Wall"
*  read "War of the Wall"
* quiz on "War of the Wall" with emphasis on theme
* continue essay notes

TUESDAY, JANUARY 28:
*  discuss themes of "War of the Wall"
*  practice organizing MSP answer to theme question--how do we be very complete and very clear?
* BLUE DAY in writing--wear your blue to celebrate our new essay color!

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29:
*  poetry:  read "You Can't Write A Poem About McDonald's"
*  define and find similes in poetry
*  add metaphor (from last poetry day) to vocab notebook
*  introductions and conclusions (essay)

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30:
*  summary notes
* read "The Sweetest Fig" and summarize together
*  essay

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31:
*  read "What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?"
*  write summary with partner
*  discuss themes of "Fish" and fill out practice question with all parts needed:  topic sentence, transitions, details in seperate sentences

JANUARY 13-17

MONDAY, JANUARY 13
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14:

*  We are gone at a class in Olympia for these two days--the same guest teachers will be here both days and we are leaving extensive plans.  These assignments should be completed while we are gone:

*  read "Scholarship Jacket"
* vocab study for "SJ"
* vocab practice for "SJ"
* selection quiz for "SJ"
* new paragraph::  TAPF, brainstorm, t-chart, graphic organizer

These assignments will be due Wednesday so we can go over them when we return. 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15:

* library day
* finish paragraph
* discuss "Scholarship Jacket", author's purpose, vocab

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16:

*  theme notes--practice using conflicts to identify theme(s) in literary text
* practice theme with short stories

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17:

*  theme practice with short story
* vocabulary game/review
* read/write poetry with "You Can't Write a Poem About McDonald's"

JANUARY 6-10

MONDAY, JANUARY 6:
*  introduce warm ups to practice terms we need to review.  These will be done after silent reading in class, and will be worth 2 points each day.  Students will turn them in on Friday.  If your student is absent, he or she can find the make ups in a binder in our room
*  units 1 and 2 vocabulary review with partner--due today
*  rough draft, revise/edit and final draft of Two Gifts paragraph

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7:
*  warm up:  punctuating dialogue
*  Begin Unit 3 in Reading--Author's Purpose notes and discussion, practice with reading selections
*  time to finish Two Gifts paragraph--THIS IS DUE TOMORROW if it is not finished in class today.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8:
*  warm up:  TAPF (ask your students what this means and when we use it!)
*  practice author's purpose with "Insect Toppings"
*  book pass back/preview:  students will preview several books to see if they would like to add them to their list of books to read

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9:
*  warm up:  punctuating appositivies, capitalizing
*  practice author's purpose with "Play It Safe"
*  add inform, entertain and persuade to vocabulary notebook

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10:
*  warm up:  vocabulary
*  practice author's purpose with "Soda Send Off"
*  Theme notes and practice with "Too Many Tamales"