Meet Ledger Wynn Ruddick!!

6lb 15oz 18in

 

 

Blessed Beyond Words!!!

So that's where I've been, cuddling on the couch with this little guy.:)  It feels good to be back.  I sure have missed these kiddos at school.  Starting Monday we will be reading Howling Hurricanes and focusing on nonfiction text features.  Also, we will start writing an informational story about sea turtles.  I hope to see everyone at parent teacher conferences!

Open Response Questions

Whew!!  To ACE an open response question takes a lot of practice and hard work.  We have been working on mastering open response questions for a few weeks now, and we will continue to answer these types of questions for the rest of the year.  I am really trying to conference individually with the students and take this process slow before I let them answer on their own.  I expect them to be over the top answers when I do let them start answering individually. :)  They have an example in their reading notebook that they can refer back to at anytime and hopefully will use when they start answering on their own to make sure they meet the criteria.  In reading I will grade these questions for the content, so I will be looking to see if ALL the questions were answered correctly with evidence.  Also, I will be taking a writing grade on these questions.  In writing they will be graded over the open response format. 
1. )Topic sentence with an answer in the students own words 
2.)  Use a sentence starter
3.)  Cite evidence stating exactly what the text says and cite ALL questions 
4.)  Correctly use language (indent, sentences begin with capital letters, sentences end with punctuation marks, comma after sentence starter, beginning and ending quotes on evidence, spelling)
    *words that can be found in the story or question should not be misspelled*
5.) Write in complete sentences



 

Open Response Question Example

 

 

Open Response Question Rubric

Students can take their journals home any time.  Please make sure that if they do take their journal home they return it the next day, because we work out of the journals daily.

The Lightning Thief

We are starting The Lightning Thief next week.  Students love this book and it is my favorite thing to teach!  While reading the first section we will continue discussing characterization.  We will go deeper and discuss how the character acts, what the character says, and what other characters think of this character.  Throughout the chapters the author makes allusions to Greek gods and goddesses.  Students will be required to research the gods and goddesses to create notes in their Greek mythology scrapbook.  These are a couple of websites that will be used to help the students with research.


Zeus

http://www.rickriordan.com/books/percy-jacksons-world/percy-jackson-and-the-olympians/the-lightning-thief

Poseidon

http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/



Reading Ineractive Notebook

We are moving right along.  The students are really enjoying Sideways Stories from Wayside School.  As we are reading we are visualizing and creating character traits for each character.  I thought I would post some pictures of our reading interactive notebook the students use to help them with these strategies.  Students are welcome to bring the notebook home each night but please make sure they return it the next day.

 

 

I can not begin to tell you how GREAT your kids are!  I am so excited about this school year, and it has been the smoothest start to the school year I have ever had.  Thank you for allowing me to teach your child!

 



Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Can you believe its the end of the first week of school?  Let's get started by meeting the crazy and hilarious characters from Wayside School.  As we read each chapter we will meet a new student.  As we read we will describe these characters with character traits and examples of each trait from the book.  Throughout some of the chapters we will visualize and create pictures in our mind of what is happening in each chapter.  Your child is welcome to take a book home each night to reread and review with you.:)  They can also bring home their reading journals to help review character traits and visualizing.:)

Summer Reading

Happy Reading!!!  I hope you all enjoyed reading Shiloh as much as I did.  It is a classic read and loved by many!  Hopefully one day for a treat we will get to watch the movie and compare it to the book.  You may begin taking an AR test anytime now for the grade book. 

Welcome to Fourth Grade!

Welcome back to school!! Summer has flown by, and I am excited to start learning.  I hope everyone completed their summer reading requirement, and I hope you are ready to dive in and learn.  Parents, please subscribe to our classroom blog and follow the weekly classroom updates.  The blog was created for you to see upcoming assignments, skills, and important dates.  With your support we will have a year full of FUN and learning!