Check out these three Winter Book Report Samples from Previous Years!

January Classroom Newsletter

Dear Families,

            Thank you so much for all the generous gifts and cards.  I appreciate each and every one (and the thought behind them) and thank you card went home.  I hope you saw the thank you as I was very overwhelmed with such kindness.  The true gift is having the opportunity to work with such fun kids each day. 

As we return from winter break, here’s what we’ll be up to!  As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Writing:  As a class, we are deep into learning how to add elaboration to our stories by stopping to describe.  The winter stories are turning out nicely.  We will finish editing them this week and then they will be typed up for display.  Typed stories should be printed and will be due to Mrs. Allen by January 22^nd.  I want to ask that you please read through your child’s finished story to check for typos and errors before printing.  Please have your child use Century Gothic, Arial, or Times New Roman as their font and have them use size 14 font.  We will display them once they are written in a finished copy format.  The students will complete some artwork to go with this finished piece.  Next in writing, we will be writing a fun Haiku Poem about winter as a soft landing back from the break and then we will be learning about expository writing.  Students will learn that expository writing is when we write to teach, share information, or explain step by step.  Students will learn that expository writing has DEARFD (details, examples, anecdotes, reasons, facts, and definitions) used to support their ideas.  Student will learn how to add each of these kinds of support to their writing to accurately explain their topic.  As always, please continue to reinforce the importance of good editing skills at home.  Encourage the use of dictionaries and checking all written work carefully after completion. 

Math: We will be finishing up our unit on multi-digit multiplication the week back from winter break and we will have an end of the unit test on these skills on Tuesday, January 8^th.  Then we will be moving into learning about division concepts.  Of course, knowing your math facts for multiplication is vital for learning to solve for division and higher level fraction concepts (coming in late January) so students who have not “passed” their facts through their 12s by February 6^th (the last Wednesday with math fact volunteers before winter parent conferences) will need to stay in one recess each day after that to practice their facts in partners.  Please ensure that your child is practicing their multiplication facts each day for at least 10 minutes.  I can’t stress enough that knowing these facts are instrumental to learning more advanced concepts and feeling confident in math (and the sooner, the better). Thanks again to Mrs. Kotrlik, Mrs. Harding, Mrs. Hansen, Mr. Carlson, and Mrs. Gehrmann for their help with math facts each week. 

Reading:   Our reading focus this month will be finishing up our study on Stone Fox and summarizing/main idea.  Then we will move into learning about inferencing.  To make an inference, we use text clues and what we already know (our background knowledge) to make conclusions about what the author wants us to know or learn from the text.  Our reading equation for this is TC (text clues) + BK (background knowledge) = Inference.  We will explore inferencing in our reading groups and read aloud.  Our next book report and book is well under way.  It should be a chapter book (100-200 pages) at your child’s reading level that tells a story.  The book should tell about a part of northwest history.  Some ideas could be a story about a Native American, Early Sea Explorer, or a Pioneer heading west.  The students should have already chosen a book and be actively reading the book.  Check in with your child about the book they selected and make sure they are making progress on it.  The organizer for the rough draft was sent home before the break and there will be samples posted in our class for the students to see.  I will also post sample book reports on my blog.  I will send home the final draft paper after I have seen each student’s rough draft filled out.  The rough draft of the book report is due Friday, February 22^nd.  The final copy poster is due Friday, March 8^th.  Encourage best writing on the book report including strong supporting details, excellent spelling and punctuation.  Students are to trace over words with BLACK pen for final copy.  We are continuing our High Five Book Club winter trimester.  The challenge to the students is to read chapter books at their own level to total 500 pages read by the end of winter trimester.  Each time they finish a book; they complete a summary of the book and turn it in.  They receive a star shaped punch for their High Five Reading card for each 100 pages read and once they reach the goal of five punches for the trimester, they receive a prize.  Check with your child about their progress toward this goal.  High Five Book Club summaries are due by March 15^th.

Social Studies/Science:  In Social Studies, we will be learning about famous Northwest explorers who discovered Washington State.  We will focus most on Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea and their contributions.  As part of this learning, students are to create a possible bag- a bag that an explorer or fur trapper/trader might have carried as they traveled.  The directions for this project came home before winter break.  The directions are on the front side and the pattern is on the back side.  The possibles bag is due on January 14^th and the students will present their bags to the class and share the items in their bags with the class that day. In science, we will begin learning about environments.  We will closely study how animals live together with their environment as we move into February.

POW (Problem of the Week):  You may have already seen POWs (Gray Whales in Winter was one) coming home and Human Calculators will be coming home soon.  These are released WASL and MSP items that are used to give students an opportunity to build confidence with the MSP (Measure of Student Progress) test and practice important skills.  Students complete most of the POW in class and most of the time I will check and ask students to correct missed problems.  I will have parents sign the POW so that you are informed as to how your child is progressing toward state standards.  Please keep an eye on how your student is progressing with these practice passages.

Conference Days in February:  There are two half days set aside in February for parent conferences: the 12^th and 14th. I will conference with students and parents for which I have special concerns. If you would like to request a conference with me for that time, you are welcome to.  I will contact you with days and times if I feel like it is necessary at this point.  The end of our winter trimester grading period is March 15th. 

Thank you for your support and I will talk to you soon!  Have a wonderful 2013!

Warm Regards,

Karri Allen