2nd Grade:In Class: Wow, the end of the year is definitely approaching faster than I had planned. We were able to finish sending off letters that the kids wrote last week and we heard from a few students who were absent last week. Today we completed a "This year I learned..." worksheet. I collected these and will include them in their portfolios. Next week students will create covers and I'll have an in class project/review time. At Home: Please finish any unfinished writing to return week 29. Continue to read and write in their reading response journal! I would highly encourage and recommend that you continue writing even after FHG ends. As 3rd graders next year, the writing expectations will increase. Please work diligently on your Living Wax Museum Presentation (see week 24 from history on the website). 3-5th Grade:In Class: All classes completed a review of different sentence structures. Please check your student's blue spiral for their notebook pages we completed in class. We also heard the BEST inventive writing about "If I lived in ancient times..." This was by far some of the BEST writing I have heard all year. Well done!
Lesson 27, page 213, at the bottom says The Assignment. I asked the kids to only write 1-2 paragraphs this week based off one of the prompts listed. Again, this should be a relatively painless writing assignment this week. However, if you and/or your student desire to write 2-3 paragraphs then that is wonderful! At Home: Please write 1-2 paragraphs based on the two optional prompts from lesson 27. This is your FINAL writing assignment in IEW. Next week in class will be a review time and a chance to decorate and create their covers for their portfolios. *Please use this time to work diligently on the Living Wax Museum presentation! If you have any questions on the presentation, please refer to week 24 from the history page on the website! 2nd Grade:In Class: We built a "sentence buddy" to review the elements of a complete sentence. The students also took home a worksheet to practice identifying different parts of complete sentences. Some students didn't bring their finished letters and I forgot to bring envelopes! At Home: Please write 1 paragraph from any topic from their brain inventory list we created in lesson 13. Please add a picture too! Have a great week! 3-5th Grade:Wow, we should have incorporated more poems into our IEW writing this year. All the classes did a fantastic job on these poems!
In class: We went over lesson 26 on pages 207-209. Please READ the entire lesson. The 4&5th graders were asked to write 2 paragraphs with an introductory sentence that reads like this (or similar to this): If I lived in ancient times, I would miss my ____________ and ____________. I would miss my __________ because...... Then, the second paragraph (which is the second item they would miss), will begin "I would also miss my....." OR "Another reason I'm glad I don't live in ancient times is...." For 3rd graders- Please complete 1 paragraph and if your mom says to, then you can finish the 2nd paragraph! The example in the book about the unicycle is a great example to follow. Please make sure they make a reference of comparison. For example, if your student mentions how they would miss going to the movies, then they should write how "if I lived in the ancient world I would have to watch brutal gladiator fights instead of movies." Some reference to what they do now compared to what it would be like in ancient times! Bring Back Next Week: 2 paragraphs for 4 &5th graders and 1 paragraph for 3rd! Picture sheet information was placed inside your student's IEW folder. Please check their folder/binder!2nd Grade:The second graders did a wonderful job today! We missed Joshua, Kielyn and Scotlyn, and hope to see you all next week. We started our day with an egg hunt! All kids found different eggs and had to decide if the word inside was a verb/noun/adjective. It was a great review. I read the book Dear Mrs. La Rue, Letters from the Investigation to introduce letter writing. The students all have a sample friendly letter format glue into their spirals (or they should). Then, I handed out 2 sheets for their friendly letters. I am asking them to write 2 friendly letters. One letter needs to be to a living person: relative, friend that moved away, a singer, a pastor, a non profit organization???? The second letter is to their favorite/any book character! Due Next Tuesday: Please bring both letters on the given paper, along with the address for the living person, and the student's home address. I will provide stamps & envelopes to address in class and I'll mail them out next week! I'll email you the video of our class singing "Parts of a Friendly Letter!" 3-5th Grade:Today was one of my FAVORITE days in IEW. First of all, your kids all worked diligently at their cumulative report on Ancient Rome. This paper is something they should be proud of. The students ALL went on an egg hunt during their class time. Each egg was disappointingly filled with elements of style from IEW. They had to share or give an example/definition of whatever was inside their eggs. Don't worry, they all enjoyed an "egg-tra" treat at the end. For the assignment this week: please read through the challenge portion of Lesson 25. I am asking 5th grade to push themselves to include alliteration and even extra lines to make the sentences more complex and/or poetic. All students are to return with a poem including some pictures. I'm uploading some images for the pages from the book. The template for the poem is on student page 204, and page 205 is the brainstorm page. This week should be breath of relief in IEW. 2nd Grade:Here's a brief slideshow of some of the grammar work from Week 24. In Class: Today we listened to quite a few reports on chickens and bunnies! Great job getting work done. We are on lesson 13. We spent most of the time creating a Brain Inventory master sheet. The details are in the book. The kids have a list of topics they can now write about. They are to ask themselves the Creative Writing questions and formulate a KWO based on their answers. EVERYONE'S will be different. At Home: Please read through Lesson 13 carefully and return 2 paragraphs based on topics from their own Brain Inventory! 3-5th Grade:![]() HMMM....There's a challenge assignment in Lesson 25 and my student is eager to do it. What should I do??? Answer: Please DO NOT do the challenge portion of Lesson 25 this week. I purposely broke down lesson 25 into two weeks. We will ALL do the challenge poem next week.. This week is kinda hefty. We are putting together our 3 paragraphs into 1 large report. Your student will need to add an introductory sentence to their very first paragraph. And then the entire report will be need one final closing sentence. Also, please go over transition words for each paragraph. Some students naturally wrote paragraphs like "Another impressive ...... is......." Please go over transitions between each paragraph to make sure it all reads smoothly. I'm uploading a sample transition word list to help your student see the variety of options. Last item is the bibliography page. All the classes completed at least the first source on page 201. Students are to complete all 3 resources and practice citing them correctly. This is great practice for the wax museum project ! The 3rd graders just copied down the first two sources from my notes on the board. Citing work can be quite complicated. I would not stress too much on all the details. Just follow the lesson and the information and do your best. The bibliography needs to be on its own page at the very end of their cumulative report. Due Next Week: Final report put together (plus turn in all 3 separate paragraphs from previous lessons) + the bibliography page attached at the back.
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Kelli HeacockThe Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) equips teachers and teaching parents with methods and materials which will aid them in training their students to become confident and competent communicators and thinkers. Archives
May 2017
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