Hip! Hip! Hooray!

A big congratuations goes out to Dominique for her commitment to her Reading! She made a huge leap today during her Words Per Minute test! Way to go Dominique! We are all proud of you!

FL Achieves

All students who have at least 50% of the FL Achieves program for Reading done on Wednesday and have an average of 75% or higher will receive a sweet treat at lunch on Thursday! The entire FL Achieves program should be completed by March 10, 2008.

It will be the best one yet!

BOOK LOG CHECK AND RESPONSE DUE

The January Book Log check will be Monday, January 28th. All students are required to have read 450 pages for the month of January and have them written properly in the back of their agenda.

A response is due this month for a book that has been read during the month of January. The response must be in Response to Literature format. No exceptions!

Bring this into class!!!

In an effort to get students to visit the blogspot I have hidden a message to the students in the comment section of a posting that is near the bottom of the archive list. Check it out and lets see who comes to class with the mystery item needed.

Homework for week of Jan. 22nd

Check back all week for updates!

Tuesday-
Homonyms sheet (Mrs. Elmore's class only)
Home Reading Log (This should be stapled in your agenda)
Study for verbs/homonyms quiz. Quiz is tomorrow
Finish friendly letter draft (Be sure to spell your student's name correctly)
Write spelling words 2 times each in cursive.

Wednesday- Study Spelling words and Revise Friendly Letter

Thursday-
Spelling pg. 120
Check the blogspot for updates.
Finish any corrections to your friendly letter and be ready to publish tomorrow in class.
Complete 2 assignments on FL Achieves

Friday-
Book Log check for January is Monday, January 28th. You must have one response in Response to Literature format completed and ready to turn in.
Address and decorate your envelope for your 4th grade buddy!

Congratulations!

The following students deserve some celebration!

Serina, Arlie, Kiana M., and Lyric made an A on their Reading test!

Way to go guys! We are super proud of you!

Scholastic Orders

All Scholastic book orders are due tomorrow, Tuesday, January 22nd.

Vocab Test on Tuesday

Lesson 10 Vocabulary

weep- If you weep, you cry about a great sadness.

beseech- If you beseech someone, you beg them in an anxious way.

convenient- Something that is convenient is handy because it is easy to use or works well in a particular situation.

sympathize- If you sympathize with someone, you show that you inderstand their feelings about something.

hoax- A hoax occurs when someone creates a pretend situation and tries to make people believe that it is real.

respite- If you get respite from something you don't like, you get a short break from it.

just- If something is just, it is fair and right.

prodigious- Something that is prodigious is very large and impressive.

Check this out! You can study all by yourself!!!!! http://quizlet.com/set/156421/
Directions: Click on the link and when the page comes up, click on learn. Once you have practiced, then go back and click on test!!! Let me know how it goes!!!

Friendly Letter Activities and Games

On these sites, you can take a an online quiz to see how well you can identify the parts of a friendly letter and also to create your own friendly letter by typing in the information!

http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/letter_generator/

http://www.quia.com/pop/7318.html

After -school skit practice

Dear Parents and Students,

I will be staying after school on Tuesday to work with the participants of the skits for Parent Night. Students will come to my class after school and work on reading their lines and practicing on stage. All students should stay until 5:30 p.m. (Students who have tutoring on Tuesday will stay for tutoring and then participate in the practice.)

If you have questions, please contact me at herreraf@dreamsbeginhere.org of call 696-8758 ext. 167

Inferencing

This is a excellent game- http://www.quia.com/pop/43335.html (I got them all right! Can you?)

Want to play Inference Battleship?
Click here-->http://www.quia.com/ba/41785.html

This site is a MUST. Everything you wanted to know about inferring is right on this site. It is interactive and allows you to see how well you can infer. http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/rcinf1.htm

Let me know how you do!

Friendly Letter Information

Use the website and helpful hints below to organize your friendly letter.

Elements of a friendly letter:

• Heading (Date and addess)
• Greeting (Dear ___________, )
• Body (the words of the letter- be sure each paragraph is on topic)
• Closing (Yours truly, Your friend, etc)
• Signature (Your name)

website: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~kha1/Friendlyletter.html

What is the difference between a homophone and a homgraph?

http://www.all-about-spelling.com/homonyms-homophones-homographs.html

Verb Help

Visit these sites for help with helping verbs and linking verbs...

http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/verb/1help.htm

http://www.quia.com/rr/121293.html (This one is a game.)

http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/verb/1htest.htm (Online TEST)

http://www.geocities.com/fifth_grade_tpes/helping_verbs.html

Linking Verb Help!!!!!

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/linkingverb.htm

http://www.wecosoft.com/School/English/verbs3.htm

http://www.wecosoft.com/School/English/verbs4.htm

Response to Literature Format Guide

1st Paragraph

• Engaging beginning
• Title and author
• Summary including specific events from the story. (Be exact with characters names, the setting, the plot, etc. )

2nd Paragraph

• Favorite part of the text or least favorite part of the selection
• Why you did or did not like it
• Author's purpose
• The message that the book portrayed to you or the lesson that it taught you. You could also mention what it really made you think hard about.

3rd Paragraph

• Your connection to the story. (be sure to not use the words we have laid to rest in class)
• Tell why you connect that way. Be sure to tell what exactly you connect to in the book. Mention what happened, what the event was, etc.
• Give a recommendation. tell who (what audience) should read this book and why should they read it.

Important dates

Parents,

If you click the link below, you will be connected to some of the important dates for your student concerning FCAT and other topics! I hope you find this helpful!

http://www.dreamsbeginhere.org/static/parents/firststeps/calendar08.asp

Welcome!

Welcome new students Caylin and Nichler! We are excited that you are here at Sheffield!

FL ACHIEVES COMPETITION

How are you coming on www.florida-achieves.com???

Any student that has at least 10 tests completed and a total average of 75% or higher will have lunch with me on Monday! I'll have yummy snacks too!

Contest for groups

Tomorrow when you walk in class, you will see a new chart on the board. You and all your group members must encourage each other to return all homework assignments, log in on your reading log, be sure to return papers that needed a signature, get on Florida Achieves, etc.

Every time a group gets ten stickers on their chart, they will get to enjoy a group surprise!

I am so excited to see who will get ten stickers first! This must be a positive activity where you encourage each other. If it turns negative...your group will lose stickers!!!! AAAHHHH! Let's don't let that happen! Teamwork! Teamwork! Teamwork!

Welcome to 2008!

This is a site where you can come and find out information about Ms. Herrera's Class. Please check back often. I will post information here as frequently as possible.

Scholastic News Book Club Information

Here are some great titles that are located in the order forms that are coming home today along with the final progress report of the 2nd nine weeks.
Scholastic Book orders are due on Tuesday, January 22nd.

Arrow Catalog

Title Level
Poetry Pack Y
Boys Rock! S
The Chronicles of Narnia T
Don't Know Much About Pack U
The Wedding Planner's Daughter Pack S
Ulysses Moore Pack S
Where I'd Like To Be V
To Be A Slave Z
The Seventh Tower W
Hurricanes, Tsunamis, and ... T
Black Duck T

Also please visit this website link to look for more titles on your level. This link will take you to the Fort Caroline Elementary site. You may click on the fifth grade link and see if your title is listed and then find out the level of that book to ensure that it is appropriate!

http://www.dreamsbeginhere.org/fce/Level%20Book%20List.htm

Be sure to also check out that CLICK! order form. There is super cool stuff inside this order form too!