Mr. Blanc's Class

Next week will be shorter for students. Friday, November 3rd will be a teacher grading day. There will be no school for students. Reading Students have their usual weekly reading and vocabulary expectations. Our reading mini-lessons are beginning to focus on characters and noticing patterns in their actions and looking for ways they are changing. Have your students tell you about the main character in the book they are reading. How would they describe the character? What challenges are the character facing? Idiom of the week : turn a blind eye Writing Last week we practiced some different strategies for starting our narrative stories. The strategies we attempted were starting with action, dialogue, or a vivid description that establishes characters and the setting. Next week we will go over different strategies to bring our stories to a close.  Math In math we will continue to solve multi-step word problems using addition and subtraction. Students are working on commu...

Reading Last week was not our best reading log completion week. Please check in with your student and make sure they are reading and recording the expected three hours outside of school each week. Another way you can help your student progress as a reader is to have them tell you what their current reading goal is. They should know. Idiom of the week : jump the gun Math Next week students will begin solving multi-step words problems that involve addition and subtraction. They will be expected to show all of their work, create a visual representation of the problem, and use rounding to assess the reasonableness of their answers.  Inquiry On Monday students will begin working on the action that will represent their values, culture , or community. This will be the c ul minating acti v ity of our inquiry unit with the central idea of people bring their cultural and personal beliefs to a community of lear ners. Students will be given three hours of class time to complete th...

It was great to get a chance to sit down and chat with each of you about your child! My hope is that you left with a clear picture of what your child needs to work on to be successful in our class. Reading Last week students used a rubric to assess themselves on a reading assessment. Then I met with each of them to make sure they understand what they can do to improve. The students will take another reading assessment in a few weeks, after we finish our unit studying characters in realistic fiction. I'm not concerned with their score on the first assessment, my goal is that they now understand what they can do on the next assessment to demonstrate improvement.  Idiom of the week: playing with fire Math  Next week we will begin using rounding to help us estimate. Students will visually represent rounding using a number line. This skill will later be used in story problems as a way to prove that an answer is reasonable.  Inquiry  Students will wrap up th...

Conferences Because it is the week of fall conferences, there will be no school on Thursday, 10/12 or Friday, 10/13. If you have not signed up for a conference yet, please go to the link below to sign up. You can also call the office to schedule your conference 503-356-2510. https://www. ptcfast .com/schools/West_Tualatin_View_Elementary Reading  We are in a pretty good routine of students working on their reading goal at this time. Many of the students are doing a nice job of working on their goal the first couple of days after receiving it, but they tend to forget about it later in the week. You can help by giving them the expectation of sharing their reading goal with you. Also, please check in with your student regarding their three hours of outside of school reading for the week. Their next reading log is due Tuesday, 10/10. Vocabulary Our vocabulary test on Tuesday, 10/10 will be on words from our read aloud book, Tiger Rising. Students were sent home with a list ...

Reading By Monday, 10/2 each student will have their first reading goal. They are responsible for working on their reading goal during their in class independent reading time. Each time I conference with them I'll check in on their previous reading goal and then give them another reading goal to work on. Your student should know what their reading goal is, have them tell you. Vocab Our vocabulary for next week will again focus on figurative language. Instead of showing an understanding of the definition, students will be given six types of figurative language and asked to write an example of each. The six types of figurative language they will need to give examples of are simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, and idiom. Idiom of the Week From this point forward we will have a different idiom of the week each week. Students are encouraged keep an eye out for the idiom of the week and share when they encounter it in their lives. Our first idiom of the w...

Reading Students will turn in their 1st weekly reading log of the year on Tuesday, 9/26. They are expected to record a minimum of three hours reading outside of school each week. Now that we have established our reading expectations for the classroom, students will begin getting reading goals next week. Each student is responsible for working on their reading goal as they read, have your student tell you what their reading goal is.  Vocab Our first vocabulary test of the year will be on Tuesday, 9/26. Students were sent home with a paper copy of the words but they can also practice the words here . One thing we have talked about this week is that figurative language is everywhere. I've let the class know that any student who notices figurative language over the weekend in a song, book, conversation, or anywhere else will be added to the classroom Wall of Fame.    Math Our focus in math has been communicating our thinking with each other. The studen...