Quotation Mark Mania!!

Hi! This week the students will continue to work with using quotation marks in dialogue. Remember to use quotation marks around what someone says. Here is some practice and videos to help.

Captain Cluck
He Said/She Said
Rags to Riches: Quotation Marks
-This reviews a little more than just dialogue, but it is still a good preview and review.
Quotation Mark Quiz
Quotation Mark Lesson
Quotation Mark Song by the Grammarheads
May I Quote You on That? Song

What's the Theme?

Hi! Theme can be a pretty tough concept for students to figure out. Theme is the general idea of a story; It is often connected to the lesson. Students must be able to pull out the bigger idea - the "real-life" connection. This is different than the main idea we have talked about recently. For example, in the story  "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", the main idea might be that the young boy learns not to lie to others.  A possible theme would be about honesty or the life lesson would be that lying causes others to lose trust. Here are some practice activities and games to help with understanding theme.

Determine the Theme of a Story Video
All About The Theme
- This ones site gives a lot of different activities that deal with theme.
Understanding Setting, Plot, and Theme
Create a Story with Theme!

Branches of Government Song!!!

          Ok, I can't resist. These songs always seem to help the kids remember important information, so here is one about the branches of government that we will be learning in class!

Branches of the Government Song

To the tune of “Happy and You Know it” 

The Legislative Branch makes the laws. 

The Legislative Branch makes the laws. 

Its the Congress you can bet,

That’s the House and the Senate. 

The Legislative Branch makes the laws. 

The Executive Branch enforces laws. 

The Executive Branch enforces laws. 

President and the Cabinet,

Highest office you can get.

The Executive Branch enforces laws.

The Judicial Branch makes sure its fair. 

The Judicial Branch makes sure its fair. 

As for judges, there are nine,

They can serve for a lifetime.

The Judicial Branch makes sure its fair.  

Government is Great!

          Our next unit in Social Studies will cover American Government. This will include the three branches and how our power is split at the local, state, and federal level. We will be completing lots of activities in class to help with this as it is a tougher topic. Of course, we have songs, videos, games, and other activities to help the kids along. Enjoy!

Three Ring Circus Schoolhouse Rocks

Three Branches of Government

I'm Just a Bill Schoolhouse Rocks

We the People Liberty Kids

Ben's Guide to Government for Kids (Review)

-This one and the site below are wonderful!!

Ben's Guide to Government for Kids 

Sequencing can be Spooky!

We are continuing to work on using details from the text in order to sequence events this week in Reading. Note: Students will start being required to use more advanced transition words when writing events in order. Instead of using "first", "next", and "last", they will use words such as "in the beginning", "afterwards", and "finally".  

Story Scramble with Binky
Carving a Pumpkin
FCAT Chronological Order Practice
-This is GREAT standardized test practice, but it is a little challenging!
Reading Skills Rocket 1
Now Trending!
Sequence of Events Reading Strategy Video
Now Trending! The Tortoise and the Hare
Sequencing Using Transitions Words and Context Clues Strategy
-This is a great video lesson that shows how a student highlights information in the passage as she looks for context clues and transition words in the passage.

Purrrfectly Plural Nouns

Hi! Plural pronouns are the topic for the week in language. We have already learned this year that "plural" means more than one. We have also learned that for most nouns, you just add -s or -es. This week we will be looking at words with the consonant and -y ending and how to "drop the -y and add -ies". Here are some helpers and games to help practice this skill.

Plural Noun BrainPop
Herman the Worm Plural Noun Review
Plural Nouns Video
-This one is a little advanced, but completely covers our standard.
The Plural Girls (game)
Forming Plurals Flashcard Practice Game
Bug Catcher (game)

Parent Corner

How do I help my child determine main ideas and supporting details?

Something to remember with this is that the main idea is what the WHOLE passage, book, or selection is about. The main idea should be more general than specific. Help your child look for titles and headings as these are usually clues to the main idea. Also check the first and last sentence (or paragraphs for longer texts) of the selection since most authors start and end their writing by identifying the main idea.

Supporting details are facts/information that describe the main idea. They must match the main idea. When looking for supporting details, help kids look for the "five W's": Who is this about? What are they doing? When did this happen? Where did this occur? Why did this happen?

This is a skill that the children will be using for the rest of their lives. Try to practice this often if possible. It doesn't have to be a "sit down and let's practice" time. You can practice main idea at dinner, in the car, or on a walk! One way to talk to them about main idea and details by asking about their day, then having them give more details about it. Talk about main ideas and details from movies, books, pictures, even the cereal box! Your conversations may look like this:

Parent: How was your day?

Child: It was great!

Parent: Why was it great? What happened today that was so good?

Child: My class and I sang a really fun song this morning, and I got to stand in front of the class to lead it! We also had pizza for lunch, which is my favorite...

(You may need to prompt more, of course.) :)

You can even practice this by playing the Main Idea Game. One of the player give the the main idea and have the rest of the players give details that match that topic. Try it backwards! Give the details and have your child try to figure out the main idea. Let your child lead the game, too!

Watch to make sure that your child's details relate to the topic. Many kids will give tons of wonderful details, but some of those details may not explain the main idea given. Another thing to watch for is the amount of details given. In school, your child will most likely not be able to stop writing after listing just one or two details. They will have to expand on the topic enough to give a clear picture of what they have learned. 

Oh, me! Oh, my! Main Ideas and Details!!

We will cover identifying main ideas of nonfiction texts and supporting that main idea with details from the passage this week. Remember that the main idea is what the whole selection is about, whereas supporting details explain more specific facts about the main idea. Several of the activities below will be used in our lessons this week, but they would be great to review again for extra practice!

So What, Polar Bears? Helpful Hints
What's the Big Idea? Game
Main Idea Song Gangnam Style
Detective Dete's Text Analysis Unit (Cartoon)
Room Recess: Storm Cloud
Main Idea BrainPop
Main Idea Song
Main Idea Practice
Test Tutor: Yippee-Yay!
Main Idea and Supporting Details Powerpoint

Subject and Object Pronouns (and their Antecedents!)

This week in grammar we will be identifying and using subject and object pronouns and their antecedents. Remember that subject pronouns replace a noun in the subject and object pronouns replace a noun listed after the verb. Antecedents are nouns in the subject that are referred to again later in the sentence, but by using a pronoun so there is less repetitive wording. Here are some practice, games, videos, and more notes to help with this skill.

Panda Game
This site is really helpful as a review. It covers what both subject and object pronoun are, has typing practice, then follows with the panda game at the end.

Space Invaders/Crocodile/Pirate Waters!
This is a very easy game for basic identification of pronouns.

Pronoun Clubhouse
I like this game especially because the students have to type in the correct answer. Eventually the new Georgia Milestones standardized test (computerized) will have similar type questions. It is great practice!

Traveling Pronouns
This site too requires the kids to type in the answer.

Pronoun Song from Grammaropolis
This song goes a little farther with different types of pronouns than we need right now, but it starts off the song by talking about antecedents (which I am having a hard time finding references to right now!)

Pronoun Song PBS Kids

Pronoun Schoolhouse Rocks
This is my personal favorite. :)

Hi! Here are some more review activities for tomorrow's test over Paul Revere. There are videos and other neat sites to help the kids study.

Paul Revere's Ride
And then What Happened, Paul Revere? Video
Paul Revere Liberty Kids Movie Part 1
Paul Revere LIberty Kids Movie Part 2
Facts about Paul Revere

Whew, Abstract Nouns!

Abstract nouns can be really tough for kids to learn. This is mostly because they cannot be touched, seen, heard, etc. Kids usually have a hard time imagining or making a connection to abstract nouns, such as bravery or justice. Remember to have the kids ask themselves: Can I see/hear/touch/feel/taste this? If the answer is no, then it might be abstract!

Concrete and Abstract Nouns

Concrete and Abstract Nouns 2 

     *This is the same song as the previous link with a different video.

Noun Town Song

Noun Sort

          *This game is a bit of a challenge!

Pick the Noun

Mr. Nussbaum's Review

Cause and Effect

For this short, upcoming week in Reading, we will be working again with determining causes and effects. Here are some helpful games, videos, and practice for this skill. Some of these will be used in class but would still be fun to watch again later. :)

Cause and Effect Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWK0PF_-fc8

Cause and Effect with Bob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMTIuPvU6Lc

Powerpoint with Examples of Cause and Effect in Movies: http://www.slideshare.net/kevcummins/cause-and-effect-in-movies-and-texts

Ice Cream Match up: http://www.roomrecess.com/pages/CauseEffect.html

Practice with Combining Sentences: http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/causeconnect.html

Practice Slides: http://www.fcatexplorer.com/media/parent/tiplister/flash/tip129a.swf

Maze with Flippy: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/book_buddy/montigue/skill_ae.html

Of course, there is also a new song for the kids to learn! One thing to remember is that the more senses you apply to when learning a skill, the easier that skill is to remember. Using songs when learning something helps kids (or anyone) make a visual, auditory, tactile, and verbal connection!