Thursday, January 29, 2009

Spelling List

1. powder
2. burglar
3. rapid
4. value
5. bushel
6. actor
7. equal
8. publish
9. tractor
10. pedal
11. polar
12. aware
13. matter
14. single
15. sparkle
16. humor
17. behave
18. quarter
19. whistle
20. needle
21. mayor
22. sorrow
23. parlor
24. mortal
25. gentle
26. lunar
27. shoulder
28. jewel
29. legal
30. wedding

Spelling List

My Sister Ate an Orange
by Jack Prelutsky

My sister ate an orange,
I’m astonished that she did,
she swallowed it completely,
she’s a disconcerting kid.

My sister ate an orange,
first she chewed it for awhile,
then digested it entirely
with a silly sort of smile.

My sister ate an orange,
it’s a novel thing to do,
then she ate a yellow
and a purple and a blue.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Spelling List

1. jewel
2. sparkle
3. angle
4. shovel
5. single
6. normal
7. angel
8. legal
9. whistle
10. fossil
11. puzzle
12. bushel
13. mortal
14. gentle
15. level
16. label
17. pedal
18. ankle
19. needle
20. devil

Challenge
mineral
influential
vital
neutral
kernel

Poem of the Week

January

The days are short
The sun a spark
Hung between
The dark and dark.

Fat snowy footsteps
Track the floor
Milk bottles burst
Outside the door.

The river is
A frozen place
Held still beneath
The trees of lace.

The sky is low
The wind is gray
The radiator
Purrs all day.

by John Updike

Friday, January 16, 2009

Poem of the Week

Louder Than a Clap of Thunder!

By Jack Prelutsky

Louder than a clap of thunder,
louder than an eagle screams,
louder than a dragon blunders,
or a dozen football teams,
louder than a four-alarmer,
or a rushing waterfall,
louder than a knight in armor
jumping from a ten-foot wall.

Louder than an earthquake rumbles,
louder than a tidal wave,
louder than an ogre grumbles
as he stumbles through his cave,
louder than stampeding cattle,
louder than a cannon roars,
louder than a giant’s rattle,
that’s how loud my father SNORES!

Spelling List

1. equal
2. parlor
3. collect
4. closet
5. perhaps
6. wedding
7. rapid
8. value
9. arrive
10. behave
11. shoulder
12. novel
13. tulip
14. sorrow
15. vanish
16. essay
17. publish
18. aware
19. subject
20. prefer

Challenge
device
skittish
logic
sincere
nuisance

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Spelling List

1. theater
2. actor
3. mirror
4. powder
5. humor
6. anger
7. banner
8. pillar
9. major
10. thunder
11. flavor
12. finger
13. mayor
14. polar
15. clover
16. burglar
17. tractor
18. matter
19. lunar
20. quarter

Challenge
oyster
clamor
tremor
scholar
chamber

Poem of the Week

Homework! Oh, Homework!

Homework! Oh, homework!
I hate you! You stink!
I wish I could wash you
away in the sink,
if only a bomb
would explode you to bits.
Homework! Oh, homework!
You’re giving me fits.

I’d rather take baths
with a man-eating shark,
or wrestle a lion
alone in the dark,
eat spinach and liver,
pet ten porcupines,
than tackle the homework
my teacher assigns.

Monday, January 5, 2009

States Unit News

Dear Parents,
Happy New Year! We start our busy January with a States Unit. As part of that unit, each student will complete a brochure on a state. This brochure will be created using the computer program Pages. Students who complete packets early and also finish their Pages brochure will be allowed to create an “old fashioned” brochure which can be laminated.
In addition to the state brochure, we will be completing a States Unit. Information will be grouped as packets of yellow, green and blue sheets. If a student correctly completes the yellow packet, he or she will receive an M; yellow plus a green packet earns an M+; and yellow, plus a green, plus a blue packet is an E. We will also learn to identify and label all the states and their capitals. We will be having quizzes over different regions, and a final exam over them all. You may assist your child by helping him/her study state names and capitals for the quizzes and the geographical position and shape of each state, and by monitoring his/her progress in completing the packet(s).

Dates to remember:
New England/Middle Atlantic States Quiz - January 12
Southern States Quiz - January 16
Great Plains States Quiz - January 23
Southwest, Rocky Mountain, Pacific States - January 29
Total Test - February 6
Packets Due - (yellow, green and/or blue) February 6 (Yellow sheets minimum)
Brochure Due - February 6

Spelling List

1. happily
2. minute
3. beautiful
4. usually
5. instead
6. stretch
7. lying
8. excite
9. millimeter
10. divide
11. until
12. writing
13. tried
14. before
15. Saturday

Challenge
fatigue
antique
accumulate
camouflage
tongue

Poem of the Week

There is no poem this week due to play auditions on Friday.