STATE REPORTS

It's "Report Time!"
All students drew a state this week to do a research report on. Students were given a pink packet explaining what was to be included in their report, as well as how it would be graded. There are several due dates as we go through this process. Please visit this post and the comments frequently for more information.

March 25th- Pack of colored note cards due.
March 27th- Students given information about how to do notecards and bibliographies
March 27th- Students visit computer lab to gather research.
April 8th- 20 completed notecards are due!
April 15th- Bibliography draft due
April 18th- Rough draft of paper due (This includes introduction section through the closing paragraph)
April 21st- Fact pages due in class to be shown to Ms. Herrera (remember captions must be included!
April 22nd- Published reports, Art projects, everything due!

Dynomite Dioramas!

Great job on your dioramas! Look below to see the ones that were turned in for the month of March! They are awesome!

Dioramas.

National Chocolate Caramel Day!

March 19th is National Chocolate Caramel Day! This day has been established to celebrate the wonderful taste of chocolate combined with the sweet irresistible taste of caramel. Where would the world be without this delicacy. Be sure to be in class tomorrow. Our celebration will not be a "dud!"

Verb Test Thursday

Use these sites to help prepare you for your VERB TEST!

http://www.quia.com/ws/67745.html (verbs and their past tense)

http://www.quia.com/cb/1027.html (irregular verbs)

http://www.funbrain.com/verb/index.html (verb be)
click on the bees!

http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/bedford/harrisms/verbquiz5.htm (all kinds of verb help)

http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/bedford/harrisms/verbquiz6.htm (subject-verb agreement)

Let me know how you do!

GRAMMAR DAY

Here are some pics from our GRAMMAR DAY! All students went around to different stations to do different grammar activities!

MARIO DAY (Mar. 10)

How did you like Mario Day? Was it what you expected? Be sure to play some Mario this weekend. Your coupon is below!

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Redeemable at any home or a friend’s house No Expiration Date
MARIO DAY COUPON
This coupon entitles Ms. Herrera’s student to one uninterrupted round on any “Mario” video game!
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Practice Reading FCAT Scale

How well did you do? How close were you to the next level?

Level 5- 100%-95%
Level 4- 94%-85%
Level 3- 84%-75%
Level 2- 74%-65%
Level 1- 64% -0%

You guys did great on the practice tests! I am so proud of each of you. Keep up the good work and let's make this happen on the real test! Comment on this post and tell everyone what strategies work best for you! Be sure to explain them thoroughly!

Next Week's "Quirky" Holidays!

Monday- Mario day! No details until Monday!!!! Make sure you are here to celebrate!
Friday- International "Ask A Question" Day! - Come up with some good ones! I'll tell you later in the week what we are doing for this special day!

National Name Tag Day

Today is Nametag Day!
All students made a nametag and brought it in to share.
To celebrate the day, we wore our nametag proudly and were strangers only once to the people who did not know our name. Plus, Ms. Herrera through in a twist and made students be more creative. No pencils, markers, or crayons were allowed to be used to the names!
Ms. Herrera's Class

Mrs. Elmore's Class

March Book Log Check and Response

The monthly book log check will be on March 27th! (You are not in school on the 28th!)

As with each book log check, you have to turn in a response for a book that you have read that month! This month you have an option. You can either turn in a response in Response to Literature format or you can make a diorama.

I have included a few links about dioramas so you will know what they are and what they look like.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/diorama/

http://www.ehow.com/how_12761_make-diorama.html

WE HAVE NEW NEIGHBORS!

On February 29th, it was discovered that we had new neighbors in the area of our portable. They are polite and seem to keep to themselves. We did find out that they seem to enjoy Fruit Loops!

Next Week's "Holidays"

March 4- National Grammar Day- GET READY!!!!!
March 5- Learn What Your Name Means Day (This is the day to recognize the uniqueness of your own name. Does your name match who you are and what you like to do? Go on the Internet with a parent and find out the meaning of your name.) Tell us about it in class.
March 6- Nametag Day (We will do a creative project- There will be a prize!)

Author's Viewpoint and Author's Purpose help!

If you are having trouble with these two topics or would just like some extra practice, click on these links. There are practice activites and power point shows.

Go on this link and under where it says Free Presentations in PowerPoint format, click Author's Purpose. This will take you to a file that you can open and practice! Good Luck!
http://languagearts.pppst.com/readingcomprehension.html

This site has practice quizez that you can take and see how awesome you are with these topics! (Try to print them off when they tell you the score and bring them in.)
http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/ps35glews1a2.htm

Here are also some questions you should think about when you are reading to help with author's purpose and author's viewpoint.

1. What opinions or belief statements are evident in the article?
2. Why do you think the author has this particular opinion or point of view?
3. What background information about the author does the reader have that may help understand the writer’s point of view? (Point of reference)

4. Would another author have a different point of view depending on his/her background experiences?
5. What pictures does the author paint for a reader?
6. What evidence did the author include to support their opinions?
7. What facts were missing?
8. What words and phrases did the author use to present the information? (Students collect samples of the language an author uses to identify the context in which ideas are presented.)
9. Why did the author write this selection? Identifying the author’s purpose helps students recognize possible viewpoints, especially in persuasive writing.

FCAT SCHEDULE

Parents,
Below you will find the FCAT testing schedule. Please make sure your child is in school and on time during the testing period. It would be greatly appreciated if all appointments and/or trips be postponed until after testing.

Tuesday, March 11th:
Math Session I - 80 minutes

Wednesday, March 12th:
Math Session II - 80 minutes

Thursday, March 13th:
Reading Session I - 60 minutes
Reading Session II - 60 minutes

Monday, March 17th:
Science Session I - 60 minutes

Tuesday, March 18th:
Science Session II - 60 minutes

Wednesday, March 19th:
NRT Reading - 80 minutes
NRT Math - 70 minutes

HARD WORK PAYS OFF!

Congratulations to Zoya! She will be attending a "Meet and Greet" with Mike Peterson of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Zoya's name was submitted due to her hard work and continual use of strategies in her work. This has helped Zoya improve her reading and I, as well as her classmates are extremely proud of her. We look forward to her visit with Mike Peterson and can't wait to hear about the experience. Congratulations Zoya!

Attendance

THE FCAT IS ALMOST HERE. EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE AT SCHOOL EVERYDAY AND ON TIME. THE GREAT TEST IS ONLY 16 DAYS AWAY!!! WE ARE SO READY!

Parents,
Please make all appointments outside of school hours or at least after 2:45. This is a crucial time and your child needs to be here! Your child may miss something that was said in class that could be the key to the high scores on FCAT! We had over 25 absences in our classes just last month! I appreciate your help!

Ms. Herrera

Kobie's adventures!

If you haven't heard by now, Kobie has had the experience of a lifetime. He was able to ride back into port with his dad aboard an actual Navy ship. The picture below shows one of the activities Kobie was able to do. See Kobie for more interesting stories about his journey!!!

100th Day of School

Students at Sheffield Elementary celebrated the 100th day of school with 100 exercises! Here are some pics from our workout!

National Gum Drop Day!!!!

Friday, February 15th was National Gum Drop Day. Ms. Herrera's classes celebrated by wearing bright colors and eating gum drops in class!!!!

(pictures coming soon)

Red- Cinnamon
Green- Wintergreen
Yellow-
Orange-
Purple-
White-