Writer's Life

• We started the day with our daily reading practice and then they had 20 minutes of silent reading.
• Next, we started really working on our writing PBA.  Students did a lot of thinking and pre-writing yesterday and last night, but today we did modeling of how to really get started.  I created a set of characters, setting, and problem that dealt with being committed to the environment.  Then I modeled writing an opening paragraph that introduced the characters, setting, and the problem.
• Students were given over 40 minutes to strengthen their writing plan and start writing.  Their homework is to finish their draft so they can co-edit and revise tomorrow and then write their final draft for turn in tomorrow.
• The students were very well behaved today so I was quite pleased.  HOWEVER, many students are not doing homework or reading at night like they are supposed to.  Reading levels should be getting better each time we test.  I made cards for each student so you could see their two tests.  Many have progressed quite a lot, but shockingly, several have either stayed the same or gone down.  That means they are not reading.  READING IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS!  Please make sure your child is reading daily for 30-45 minutes and sign off on their reading contract.

Homework:

• Reading Independent Book - 30-45 minutes (sign reading contract)
• ELA - I LIKE IKE - skill practice - summary
• WRITING - complete draft of PBA